Throughout the 2024 NFL regular season, it never mattered what went wrong for Kansas City’s offense. The Chiefs knew quarterback Patrick Mahomes would somehow save the day.
Top receiver Rashee Rice was lost for the year with a knee injury—it didn’t matter. Left tackle D.J. Humphries couldn’t earn himself a starting spot—it didn’t matter. Travis Kelce clearly lost some of his juice—it didn’t matter. The run game stopped working as well on early downs—it didn’t matter. Mahomes’s opponents and teammates alike knew that as long as no. 15 had the ball in his hands, he would be the solution to any of the Chiefs’ problems. So coming into Super Bowl LIX, nobody seemed especially concerned about the issues we’d seen in the regular season. Philadelphia had the best defense in football, but why would the Chiefs bat an eye? They had a superhero in their backfield.
Early in the first quarter against the Eagles, though, it was obvious that Mahomes couldn’t summon the same magic that gave this franchise 15 wins this season and a shot at the first three-peat in Super Bowl history. His first true dropback of the game ended with him frantically bailing from the pocket and forcing a throw into double coverage. As the punt team came onto the field, I thought, Hmm, I haven’t seen that since he played against Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV. By the end of the first, it was clear that the Chiefs were in deep trouble, having gained just 19 yards of total offense. And by the end of the second, after Mahomes’s two second-quarter interceptions led to 14 points for Philadelphia, the game was effectively over.
This game wasn’t just a crowning achievement for Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and his system; it was arguably the best defensive performance in a Super Bowl in the modern era. Before garbage time, Philadelphia held the Chiefs to a 25 percent success rate, the second worst in a Super Bowl since 2000 (when an all-time-great Ravens defense destroyed the Giants). The six sacks Mahomes took were a career high (regular season or playoffs) and one away from the Super Bowl record of seven.
Fangio’s defense won this game at every level and in every one-on-one matchup. Up front, the Chiefs couldn’t block a single member of Philadelphia’s pass rushing rotation—surrendering a quarterback hit to seven different defenders and allowing a 41 percent pressure rate without the Eagles even blitzing. The Chiefs couldn’t move enough bodies on the interior of the offensive line to find yardage in the run game either, nor did they make much of an effort to do so. Outside of Mahomes’s scrambles, the Chiefs attempted only seven rushes for 24 yards.
Because the Eagles dominated the game this thoroughly in the trenches, they allowed the secondary to do what it’s been better at than any other team this season—taking away easy passes for the opposing quarterback. Mahomes’s first read in the progression never felt open throughout the course of the game, and his 2.99-second average time to throw was the 20th longest in his pro career. Slot defender Cooper DeJean and linebacker Zack Baun each had an interception (DeJean’s was a pick-six), and those two were all over Kansas City’s receivers in the middle of the field.
Philadelphia sat in two-deep safety shells throughout the first half of the game and squeezed away all the space on crossing routes and intermediate throws that Kansas City relied upon on its run to the Super Bowl. On DeJean’s takeaway, the Eagles were in quarters coverage and executed it so well that he was free to roam in his underneath zone and undercut Mahomes’s throw. All season long, this team has had a well-orchestrated unit on the back end, forcing offenses into checkdowns and tackling well in the open field. The defense is the most debilitating when quarterbacks press or get desperate against Fangio’s scheme.
Any time Kansas City seemed to finally have a feel for what Philadelphia was doing in coverage, the pass rush created havoc. On Mahomes’s second interception, receiver Hollywood Brown was open in the middle of the field, but offensive lineman Joe Thuney got shoved into his quarterback’s lap and caused an errant pass that Baun took advantage of. Thuney had been moved from guard to tackle at the end of the regular season to patch over Kansas City’s issues in the trenches (and he held up well against most teams), but he was just as much a part of the problem as some of his teammates on Sunday, allowing four hurries and a sack.
With Thuney playing at tackle, a major point of concern for Kansas City’s offensive line was how it would handle Philadelphia’s defensive interior—especially backup left guard Mike Caliendo, who was going up against defensive tackle Milton Williams. Williams thoroughly dominated that matchup, earning two sacks (one of which was a strip sack) to punctuate the beatdown. Williams is entering free agency this offseason and was going to be highly sought after no matter how he performed Sunday, but after these high-impact plays on the NFL’s biggest stage, the market value of his contract might jump north of $20 million per year. Jalen Hurts won Super Bowl MVP, but the most critical plays of the night came from this defensive front.
This win cements Fangio as one of the best defensive play callers in this era, as he finally adds a Lombardi Trophy to his list of accomplishments during his 38-year NFL coaching career. The Eagles wouldn’t have even been in a position to compete for a Super Bowl if it hadn’t been for his scheme and his staff’s development of raw, young players into big-time contributors. Before he took over this year, there were questions about whether edge rusher Nolan Smith Jr. and linebacker Nakobe Dean were starting-caliber players, whether Jordan Davis’s abilities as a run defender could impact winning, and whether rookie secondary players DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell could handle a complex scheme right out of college. Even a veteran like Josh Sweat, who seemingly took a big step backward in 2023 and took a pay cut in advance of this season, logged a game-high eight pressures and 2.5 sacks. All of those players made a difference in this game and have set themselves up to continue their dominance in years to come—even as veterans like Sweat, Darius Slay, and Williams may be phased out of the unit.
As for Kansas City, it’s time to take the superhero cape off of Mahomes again. The last time the Chiefs were embarrassed this way in a Super Bowl—a 31-9 blowout against Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV—the offense evolved and improved its run game and underneath passes to add more dimensions. This time, their inability to protect Mahomes or push the ball downfield was exposed, and Kansas City can’t leave this offseason without aggressively adding talent at wide receiver and tackle. All year long, Mahomes has held up a house built on a shaky foundation, and that might not be good enough for this team to get over the hump next time. If things don’t change, they might not get another chance at a championship in the immediate future.
