Kansas City Chiefs denied Super Bowl three-peat as Philadelphia Eagles stun punchless Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce
Kansas City will not have their three-peat after the Philadelphia Eagles won their second Super Bowl in eight seasons.
A fearsome Philly performance in New Orleans denied the Kansas City Chiefs an unprecedented treble as Nick Sirianni's crew ran out 40-22 winners.
9
9
9
Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Travis Kelce were lining up a shot at immortality - no team has ever won three in a row, instead they were on the wrong end of a half-time Super Bowl shut out.
They trailed 24-0 at-time, the biggest deficit a scoreless team has faced in America’s big game and a second half comeback from the Chiefs never materialised, they were 34-0 and staring at the first Super Bowl shutout.
Two very late scores put some creditability , if not the performance, a display Mahomes owned in the aftermath.
Kansas City go the way of the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers, all falling short of a three-peat.
MORE FROM SUPER BOWL 59
But it was Philadelphia's week, and it was Philadelphia's stadium, from the moment the Chiefs and their fans were booed mercilessly by the Eagles fans - as was Taylor Swift to the moment those in Kelly Green cheered the franchise’s hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy.
"This is the ultimate team game. You can't be great without the greatness of others," Sirianni said in his postgame interview.
"It was a great performance by everybody. We didn't really ever care about anybody's opinions, all we wanted to do was win.
"These guys did not want to let each other down. I love these guys... it took everybody. I'm so happy."
Most read in NFL
The Chiefs had sights on a fourth Super Bowl in six seasons, instead Philly have now won their second in franchise history.
They have lost just once returning from their bye in Week 6 - 16 wins and just one defeat.
A rebuilt roster, their fevered fans and their ice cool quarterback Jalen Hurts will take the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Broad Street for a raucous celebration.
Hurts took the MVP honors, becoming just the third quarterback in history to win a Super Bowl and a college championship as a starter, following Joe Namath and Joe Montana.
With victory comes revenge for defeat to the Chiefs in Arizona two years ago and redemption for Sirianni who faced questions over his future in the offseason but he has the trust of his players and his team has got stronger.
9
9
In came Saquon Barkley and offensive co-ordinator Kellen Moore - and a record rushing season followed for the former New York Giant who now has the all-time record for rushing yards in a season.
However it was defense that led the Eagles to New Orleans and it was defense that delivered in front of 80,000 fans in the Superdome.
Vic Fangio arrived as defensive coordinator, Cooper DeJean came in via the NFL Draft and Zach Baun an unheralded free agent pulled from the New Orleans Saints special teams unit.
Six sacks, six tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits.
Fangio’s defense had Mahomes on toast, with three first half sacks and limiting him to just 33 yards through the air.
Birthday boy - and rookie sensation - DeJean picked off Mahomes to return for his first career interception and he returned it for a touchdown, before Baun picked off the Chiefs quarterback to set up a third touchdown of the half and a barely believable 24-0 lead.
9
Chiefs 22 - 40 Eagles
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
Chiefs 0-7 Eagles - Jalen Hurts 1-yard run (Extra point good)
2nd Quarter
Chiefs 0-10 Eagles - Jake Elliott 48-yard field goal
Chiefs 0-17 Eagles - Cooper DeJean 38-yard interception return (extra point good)
Chiefs 0-24 Eagles - AJ Brown 12-yard pass (extra point good)
Third Quarter
Chiefs 0-27 Eagles - Jake Elliott 29-yard field goal
Chiefs 0-34 Eagles - Devonta Smith 46-yard pass (extra point good)
Chiefs 6-34 Eagles - Xavier Worthy 24-yard pass (2pt attempt no good)
Fourth Quarter
Chiefs 6-37 Eagles - Jake Elliott 48-yard field goal
Chiefs 6-40 Eagles - Jake Elliott 50-yard field goal
Chiefs 14-40 Eagles - DeAndre Hopkins 7-yard pass (2pt attempt good)
Chiefs 22-40 Eagles - Xavier Worthy 50 yard pass (2pt attempt good)
Famously, the Falcons led the Patriots 28-3 in Super Bowl and the Chiefs would need to mount a comeback of almost record breaking proportions instead Philly enjoyed the perfect start.
Eating up the clock with a 12-play, 16 yard drive that took up almost seven minutes of game time and ended with an Elliott field goal.
The stadium waited for a response from Mahomes, but it never came as on the Chiefs very next drive Avonte Maddox made it three interceptions on the game.
And Hurts needed just one play to find DeVonta Smith for a 46-yard touchdown that took the Eagles into dreamland at 34-0
For Sirianni, ridiculed in his first press conference it is history and it is redemption.
Before Super Bowl LIX, no head coach had ever won a rematch with an opposing head coach - now he has done something that was beyond even the great Bill Belichick.
The Patriots icon great was denied by Tom Coughlin and the Giants, Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers denied by Andy Reid last year.
9
9
9
People from Philadelphia revel in their role of the city people love to hate, they embraced their under dog mentality in 2018 to win a first Super Bowl for the city.
Read More on talkSPORT
A 14-3 record was good enough for the Eagles to secure the second seed in the NFC this season while laboured wins over the packers and the rams did not hint at what was to follow.
A record breaking NFC championship win over Washington served notice of what was possible for this team and on Sunday night they achieved their own slice of history.
Topics