Eagles Lose Super Bowl LVII on Last-Second Field Goal, 38-35, to Chiefs
GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Eagles rode their thoroughbred, Jalen Hurts, for as long and as hard as they could in Super Bowl LVII. Problem was, there were no horses in the stable on the defensive side of the ball.
The Kansas City Chiefs dug out of a 10-point halftime hole by scoring touchdowns on all the of their second half possessions, then getting a 27-yard field goal from Harrison Butker with eight seconds left to defeat the Eagles 38-35 at State Farm Stadium on Sunday.
It is the Chief’s second championship under head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes and first since 2019.
Mahomes was named the game’s MVP after throwing for three touchdowns while completing 21-of-27 throws for 182 yards. He had a passer rating of 131.8 and ran for 44 yards on six carries.
Hurts was equally impressive, if not more so. He broke Steve McNair’s record for most yards rushing in a Super Bowl that had stood since 2000.
He ran for three touchdowns and threw for another, a 45-yarder to A.J. Brown in the end zone.
Hurts had 70 rushing yards on 15 carries. He threw for 304 yards, completing 27-of-38 throws with a passer rating of 103.4.
“It’s tough,” said Hurts. “We work really hard to have this opportunity and to come up short is tough. There’s always a lot to learn from, the opportunity to reflect on things we didn’t do or could have done, but I think there’s a lot to learn from it.”
Head coach Nick Sirianni called it the best game he’s seen his QB play in the two years they’ve been together.
“He was outstanding,” said Sirianni. “I really thought he was in complete control. He did things with his legs in the run game, he did things with his arm in the pass game, he made some unbelievable throws, unbelievable reads, I thought he played outstanding.
“You look at the game and that was good for the NFL in a sense that the two best quarterbacks in the NFL played against each other on the biggest stage in the biggest lights and Jalen played great.”
For all the plays Hurts made, the one he didn’t make loomed large.
It came when he tried to get out of the pocket but dropped the ball. KC linebacker Nick Bolton raced 36 yards for a touchdown that evened the game at 14-14 with 9:29 to go until halftime.
“I try and control the things that I can,” said Hurts. “I touch the ball every play, so I just try and protect it. But, it hurt us.”
The Eagles were bidding to win their second Super Bowl in five years but fell short and are now 1-3 all-time in the big game.
The game was tied 35-35 after Hurts ran for his third touchdown of the game then ran in for the PAT with 5:15 to play.
The Eagles never got the ball back.
The defense appeared to have KC stopped with less than two minutes to play and force a field goal, but cornerback James Bradberry was called for defensive holding to give the Chiefs a first down.
That allowed them to run the clock down before bringing in Butker for the game-winner.
An Eagles defense that had 70 sacks in the regular season and eight more in the playoffs, came away empty against Mahomes, who fired three touchdown passes, one to Travis Kelce, one to Kadarius Toney, and one to Skyy Moore.
“It hurts, man,” said DE Brandon Graham. “We know we didn’t put our best foot forward. …Like I told the team, don’t forget what you did this year. This will only serves us well for next year.
“Feel the sting, because it definitely hurt. Boy, it stings. You can taste it, you can feel it. All we had to do was make a play on defense. It sucked that we couldn’t get off the field and make a stop for the offense.”
The defense really only gave p 24 points. The scoop-and-score fumble was on the offense and the special teams allowed a 65-yard punt return to Kadarius Toney to set KC up at the Eagles’ 5.
“If we would’ve made the tackle, it wouldn’t have been a problem at all,” said special teams player Nakobe Dean. “It’s just what it is. We got hands on the guy. We did a good job bottling it up. We had to make him cut back. We had to make sure everyone on the other side keep their leverage and make the tackle.”
The TD was the second the Chiefs scored in a span of 2:24 to turn a 27-21 deficit into a 35-27 lead.
Hurts took the Eagles on a scoring march after that, however, hitting DeVonta Smith for a 46-yard gain before running in his third score of the game. He also ran in the PAT to knot the score.
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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
