Historic Quest: Chiefs Aimed for Three-Peat Against Eagles in Super Bowl LIX
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By Riley Zahler
The Kansas City Chiefs looked to cement themselves in the history books as they prepared to face the Philadelphia Eagles at the Caesar Superdome in New Orleans for Super Bowl 59. Unfortunately for them, the Eagles dominated and emerged the victors.
The game started with both teams punting the ball away. The Eagles next drive would put them on the board first in the Super Bowl thanks to a 28 yard reception by Nazareth native Jahan Dotson who would set up a one yard touchdown run by quarterback Jalen Hurts.
The Chiefs’ next drive would result in another punt. Philadelphia looked to add more points but made a mistake right outside the redzone when Hurts threw an interception to Bryan Cook that stalled out their drive. Kansas City could not capitalize on the turnover and was forced to punt for a third time. The Eagles would score a 48 yard field goal by kicker Jake Elliot to put them up 10-0 with 8:38 left in the second quarter.
Photo Courtesy of Sam Ruland/Inquirer Sports
The Philadelphia Eagles and their fans march around Philadephia after ending their season with a 18-3 record that included a Super Bowl victory.
Photo Courtesy of Bryan Murphy/Sporting News
Eagles' cornerback Cooper Dejean returns a pick 6 and celebrates with his teammates en route to a 40-22 victory in Super Bowl 59.
The Eagles defense knew that the only way to slow down Patrick Mahomes was to create constant pressure. They followed through on their game plan by sacking Mahomes on first and second down.
On third down they didn’t sack Mahomes but they created enough pressure to impact his throw causing the ball to be off target and into the hands of rookie cornerback Cooper Dejean for the interception. Dejean would then take the interception back for a 38 yard pick six to add on to the Eagles lead. Both teams would punt the ball the next two drives.
Kansas City knew that it needed to try to get something going on offense. Their drive and plan would be short lived because on the first play Mahomes threw an interception to linebacker Zack Baun to give Philly the ball in the red zone. The Eagles would take advantage of this takeaway and score in two plays thanks to a 12 yard touchdown reception by wide receiver AJ Brown. The Chiefs would punt the ball yet again and Philadelphia would go into halftime in dominating fashion leading 24-0 on the reigning champs.
The Chiefs would begin the third quarter with the ball and weren’t able to do anything with it, and punted it back to the Eagles. The Eagles would drive down the field and kick a 29 yard field goal to increase their lead to 27.
On their next drive, Kansas City would go for it on fourth down but would be unsuccessful. Philadelphia would take the ball and on the very next play Hurts would find wide receiver DeVonta Smith for a 46 yard touchdown. The Chiefs would finally score a touchdown thanks to a 24 yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Xavier Worthy but would fail the two point conversion to make the score 34-6.
The Eagles would settle for a field goal on their next drive. Philadelphia’s defense was not finished wreaking havoc on Mahomes because on their first play he was strip sacked by defensive lineman Milton Williams who also recovered the fumble. The Eagles offense would kick another field goal to make the score 40-6. The Chiefs would score another touchdown on a 7 yard reception from Mahomes to DeAndre Hopkins and successfully get the two point conversion to make the score 40-14 with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter.
Kansas City’s defense got a stop which led to a one play touchdown from Patrick Mahomes to Worthy for the 50 yard touchdown and another successful two point conversion to give them 22 points.
All the Eagles needed to do was burn the clock and they would be the winners of Super Bowl LIX. As backup quarterback Kenny Pickett kneeled the ball, Coach Nick Sirianni received his Gatorade victory bath.
When the game ended the emotions finally set in for the players and coaches that after a long and hard fought season they are Super Bowl Champions. During the celebration the Super Bowl MVP was announced and it went to Hurts for having an amazing game that included him throwing 17/22 for 221 yards and 2 touchdowns followed by 11 carries for 72 yards and an additional touchdown.
The only thing left for them to do was to have a parade and celebrate with the Philly faithful. One of those fans is Chelsea Rivenbark, history teacher, who talked about her experience of the Super Bowl Parade by saying “I wanted to go to the parade but it was going to be impossible to get there. So I ended up watching it on tv.”
She explained what was different for the Eagles the second time around by saying “based on what I saw on the pre-Super Bowl interviews with the players, they stayed off of social media in order to stay focused on the objective.”
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