Chiefs battle back to deny Eagles in Super Bowl LVII
Kansas City Chiefs had to fight to get their hands on the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, but fight they did. The Kansas side were behind for much of the game, and there were real moments where it looked perilous. The Philadelphia Eagles flew into a 27-21 lead heading into the final quarter.
There was yet more worry for the Chiefs, as MVP Patrick Mahomes picked up some form of ankle injury that forced him to hobble up and down the sideline, almost not wanting to give up on that dream of winning the Super Bowl.
It was Mahomes that would be the provider for the Chiefs, as he provided touchdown passes for both Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore – orchestrating an excellent fight back in front of the 67,827 crowd inside the State Farm Stadium.
Adding to his game, Mahomes made a heroic 26-yard run which made the space for Harrison Butker to kick the winning field goal from 27 yards with just eight seconds remaining.
It is the first time since 1999 that a player has won the season MVP, the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl MVP – but the Reid/Mahomes dynasty is not done yet.
“I told you nothing was going to keep me off the field. I want to thank my team-mates – we challenged each other and it took everybody.”
It is always a showcase of the NFL when The Super Bowl comes to town, and this is exactly what we witnessed in Arizona’s state capital. It was the only Super Bowl to date that featured two black quarterbacks, and the first to feature two brothers on opposing sides of the white lines, Travis Kelce and brother Jason, the Eagles centre.
This was the highest scoring Super Bowl since the Eagles beat the New England Patriots 41-33 in their only Super Bowl win. It promised to be a shootout from the first quarter, as neither defence managed to stop their opposition doing the same as they have been doing all season.
Hurts already had the single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and three more on Sunday extended it to 18. The first capped the game’s opening drive, and the Chiefs replied with Mahomes finding Travis Kelce in the corner for the tight end’s career-best 16th touchdown of the season. However, there were ominous signs for Kansas City in the second quarter, despite cancelling out Hurts’ 45-yard touchdown pass to AJ Brown as Nick Bolton returned a Hurts fumble for a defensive touchdown.
The Eagles starved the Chiefs of possession, Mahomes began limping heavily, Hurts punched in his second touchdown and Jake Elliott kicked a field goal to make it 24-14 at half-time. The extended break for Rihanna’s half-time show gave Kansas City more time to treat Mahomes’ ankle and regroup, and whatever was said did the trick as they came out and put together a 10-play drive capped by a Isiah Pacheco score.
They thought they had snatched the lead moments later with another defensive touchdown by Bolton, only for the play to be reversed, and another Eagles field goal made it 27-21. But two touchdowns in quick succession, both from well-designed passing plays from the Reid playbook that flummoxed the Philly defence, swung the game in Kansas City’s favour.
Hurts kept the Eagles in it but Mahomes’ scramble up the middle allowed the Chiefs to manage the clock before making the decisive score with just seconds left.