GLENDALE, Ariz. − Just think, we could be having this kind of Super Bowl for years to come with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes both on top of their games, going toe-to-toe for 60 minutes of non-stop action.
Back and forth they went, all night long.
Mahomes sprained his ankle, wincing in pain late in the first half with his team down 10. But he somehow came out in the second half and engineered three touchdown drives.
Hurts, meanwhile, ran for three touchdowns, threw a beautiful 45-yard bomb to A.J. Brown for one touchdown and set up another TD with a 46-yard strike to DeVonta Smith down to the Chiefs’ 1 in the fourth quarter.
Then he ran the ball in for a two-point conversion to tie the game with 5:15 left.
Mahomes, though, came right back one last time. On his bad ankle, he escaped pressure and ran 26 yards to the Eagles’ 18. Then the Chiefs drained the clock down to 8 seconds and Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal.
That sent the Eagles to a 38-35 loss Sunday night in Super Bowl LVII, and into an offseason hoping that there is more to come.
That’s because everything turned on Eagles’ mistakes − on offense, defense and special teams.
Hurts lost a fumble in the first half that was returned 36 yards by Nick Bolton for a touchdown.
The defense couldn’t stop Mahomes on a bum ankle in the second half, and a poor punt and coverage on a 65-yard return by Kansas City’s Kadarius Toney got the Chiefs to the Eagles’ 5.
It was the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. The Chiefs converted that into a touchdown for a 35-27 lead with 9:22 left.
Yet here came Hurts, going deep down the sideline for Smith down to the 1. Hurts’ quarterback sneak and then run on a 2-point conversion tied the game.
But Mahomes had one last chance, and unfortunately he made sure the Eagles didn’t.
The offensive stats were like from a pinball game. Mahomes only threw for 182 yards, but had the three TD passes. He also ran for 44 of the toughest yards you’ll ever see.
Hurts was just as dominating. He went 27 of 37 for 304 yards and a touchdown. He ran for 70 yards on 15 carries and three TDs.
When it started to slip away
The Chiefs’ rally started after Mahomes hurt his ankle on a tackle by T.J. Edwards late in the first half. Mahomes hobbled off to the sideline, wincing in anger and frustration.
Then he came back for the second half. And somehow, he managed to keep scrambling, like on a 14-yard run down to the Eagles’ 5 yards line on the Chiefs’ first possession. The Chiefs scored, cutting the Eagles’ led to 3 points.
But Hurts wasn’t done either.
The Eagles responded to the Chiefs’ touchdown with Jake Elliott’s second field goal of the game.
But the Eagles needed touchdowns as Mahomes responded again. This time, he found former Toney from 5 yards out with 12:04 left in the fourth quarter.
For the first time, the Eagles trailed 28-27.
Quick start for both teams
It started out as a shootout, with the Eagles opening the scoring on Hurts’ 1-yard run. And then Mahomes quickly answered, twice hitting Travis Kelce for big gains, including an 18-yard TD pass in the back of the end zone.
Then the Eagles found the secret to stopping the Chiefs: keeping them off the field.
The Eagles held the ball for 21 minutes, 54 seconds in the first half to just 8:06 for the Chiefs. And that made a difference, especially on Kelce.
Kelce had three catches for 60 yards on the Chiefs’ first two drives. He didn’t have another catch for the rest of the half.
But the Eagles also showed their ability to strike quickly. Like when Hurts opened the second quarter with a 45-yard TD pass to Brown, who got himself tangled with Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie, then broke free and caught the ball over his shoulder.
The Chiefs didn’t score another offensive touchdown for the rest of the half. But they did tie the game when Hurts tried running and lost control of the ball on 3rd-and-6. The ball ricocheted off Hurts’ leg, and the Chiefs picked the ball up and ran 36 yards for a touchdown tying the game with 9:39 left in the first half.
Then the Eagles responded with a drive that lasted 7 minutes, 19 seconds. That included the gutsy decision by Eagles coach Nick Sirianni to go for it on 4th-and-4 from the Chiefs’ 44 in a tie game.
In fact, Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said last month that Sirianni has “huge cojones” for his decisions to go for it on fourth down. The Eagles led the NFL by going for it 35 times during the regular season.
So it wasn’t exactly a surprise that the Eagles went for it. But the move could have backfired, giving the Chiefs the ball near midfield in a tie game.
But Hurts took off, broke a tackle and picked up 28 yards. The Eagles faced another 4th-and-2 from the Chiefs’ 9. This time, the Chiefs jumped offsides and the Eagles had a first down.
They scored on Hurts’ 4-yard TD run for a 21-14 lead with 2:20 left.
Soon after, Mahomes re-injured his right ankle when he scrambled on 3rd-and-15 from the Chiefs’ 31. Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards dove and wrapped Mahomes around his ankles. Mahomes stayed on the ground, writhing in pain, then got up and hobbled off the field to the sidelines.
The Eagles got the ball back, and ended up with a field goal for a 10-point lead as time expired. But the Eagles had a chance for more as DeVonta Smith laid out for a ball deep down the sideline. It was initially ruled a catch at the Chiefs’ 18 with 35 seconds left.
But a review showed that Smith didn’t get both legs in bounds, thus bringing the ball back to the 48.
So the Eagles finished 16-4, losing for the third time in four Super Bowls.
How much did this Super Bowl moment mean to Sirianni? The second-year coach was shown on the videoscreen with tears running down his face. Sirianni thought his career was at a crossroads 10 years ago, when Andy Reid became the Chiefs’ head coach, then fired Sirianni, who in 2012 was the Chiefs wide receivers coach, and most of the other assistants.
Here he is 10 years later, going against Reid in the Super Bowl.
Now he and the Eagles can only hope for another chance.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @MFrankfnl.
