Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes were humbled by Eagles in Super Bowl; is it a blip or fall?
After the Chiefs’ AFC Divisional Round victory over Houston last month, even normally restrained coach Andy Reid uncharacteristically gushed about Patrick Mahomes.
“I always tell our coaches don’t get used to that. I mean, this is unreal …” Reid said of his star quarterback. “We’re very lucky to have him here. And the stuff he’s doing just doesn’t happen.”
It was a rare public pause to savor the moment, even the era, that the Chiefs have created — one of the great spans in NFL history.
But it also was an apt reminder of how fleeting this could be.
Unreal. Just doesn’t happen. Don’t get used to it.
And, alas, that was never more clear than it was in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday night at the Caesars Superdome, where the Chiefs were dissected, dismantled and otherwise humiliated by the Philadelphia Eagles 40-22.
On a quest to make history with an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat, the Chiefs instead made misery with an epic collapse into one of the most lopsided defeats in Super Bowl annals — especially in a startling first half that ended with the Eagles having more points (24) than the Chiefs had yards (23).
But for a futile burst of 16 points in the final 2 minutes, 54 seconds, this would have been the fifth-most one-sided Super Bowl.
As it was, the clobbering was so thorough as to puncture any lingering claim to dynasty the Chiefs might have enjoyed after becoming the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls and return for a shot at a third straight.
That doesn’t mean the run is over, of course, and even winning this wouldn’t have assured any further encores.
But it does mean that any aura of invincibility and inevitability the Chiefs had earned by winning the last two Super Bowls (including over the Eagles two years ago) and 17 straight one-possession games is ruptured beyond repair.
The sense of magical anticipation has been demystified … if not purged.
Whether it’s just “Chiefs, interrupted,” or an inflection point will be the looming question for months to come.
Certainly, though, it’s a crossroads after the harmonic convergence of events to get this far: a Pro Football Hall of Fame coach at his apex with the transcendent quarterback he waited all his life to coach.
A defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, who is the most-decorated at the job in NFL history as the only one to win Super Bowls with different franchises.
An alignment with the front office that over and over again has replenished a roster perpetually in flux because of the salary cap and free agency — something it will have to navigate deftly again with Nick Bolton, Hollywood Brown, Justin Reid and Trey Smith, among others, becoming free agents.
Meanwhile, superstar defensive lineman Chris Jones suddenly will be 31 next season. And who knows what’s to come with 35-year-old tight end Travis Kelce, among the few best ever to play the position and still formidable — but clearly less dynamic and perhaps considering retirement despite cryptic suggestions he’d be back next season.
Asked when he would begin recruiting Kelce to return, Mahomes certainly left room for interpretation after Sunday night’s defeat.
“I’ll let Travis make that decision on his own, man,” he said. “He’s given so much to this team, to the NFL, and been such a joy. Not only for me to work with, but for people to watch.
“So he knows he still has a lot of football left in him. I mean, you can see it. He always makes plays in the biggest moments. But it’s if he wants to put in that grind. Because it takes a grind to go out there and play 20 games, whatever it is, and get to the Super Bowl, and he’s done enough to be a gold jacket guy and first-ballot (Pro Football Hall of Famer).”
For that matter, if Mahomes were done tomorrow he’d be a first-ballot Hall of Famer with a 17-4 postseason record and three Super Bowl wins on his ledger.
But he suffered the worst postseason game of his career, committing three turnovers lowlighted by two first-half interceptions that were converted into a pick-six and a short touchdown by the Eagles.
That’s why Mahomes said afterward that he takes “ownership of this loss more than probably any loss of my entire career” and later felt compelled to post an apology on X (Twitter):
“I let y’all down today. I’ll always continue to work and try and learn and be better for it,” he wrote. “Want to give thanks to God for every opportunity he has given me.
“We will be back.”
Much as Mahomes insisted on blaming himself, though, Chiefs receiver and teammate DeAndre Hopkins had it right when he said, “He’s a human being, and I guess the world got to see that.”
Meanwhile, honorable and admirable as Mahomes’ mea culpa might be, this loss was on about everybody involved except maybe rookie receiver Xavier Worthy — who had 157 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches.
It was on an offensive line that allowed Mahomes to be sacked six times.
On a defense that couldn’t get the Eagles off the field (21 first downs and 36:58 with the ball) and barely mussed Philly quarterback Jalen Hurts, the MVP of the game.
It was on a breakdown of discipline reflected in seven penalties for 75 yards — including three in the first half that extended Eagles drives.
And on a coaching staff that seemed bewildered by the Eagles’ defense and perplexed by Hurts and made curious decisions, such as giving up on the run almost instantly and punting on fourth and 9 at their own 45-yard line when trailing 24-0 in the third quarter.
Far-fetched as a comeback might have seemed, it was then or never to start making a dent.
And, well, never it was.
Jarring as the result became, there’s a fine chance that this looks and feels worse than it really was simply because it was such a shocking mismatch.
So it’s worth remembering that before this mess, the Chiefs had won 23 of their last 24 “varsity” games — discounting the season-ending loss at Denver with many starters resting.
Sometimes, after all, a bad day is just a bad day … even if it’s on the worst day to have a bad day.
It would have been a bummer but hardly alarming to the Chiefs and their fans to lose a close game. And no one should really have been surprised if their endless fortunes (mostly from making their own breaks) in the late-game crucible finally betrayed them and went the other way.
Instead, the dam broke and they got what the rest of the NFL and fans around the country might consider a comeuppance.
So now the burden of proof is on the Chiefs to demonstrate that this was a blip and not a fall.
“Fuel,” several players called it after the game.
“Any time you lose a Super Bowl, it’s the worst feeling in the world,” said Mahomes, thinking also of the 31-9 debacle against Tampa Bay in 2021. “It will stick with you the rest of your career.
“These will be the two losses that will motivate me to be even better for the rest of my career. Because you only get so few of these, and you have to capitalize on these. And they hurt probably more than the wins feel good.”
He could only know that, of course, by knowing the feeling of winning three before he’s 30 years old.
Unreal stuff that you shouldn’t get used to it .... and driven home in the hardest of ways Sunday night.
This story was originally published February 10, 2025 at 1:52 AM with the headline "Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes were humbled by Eagles in Super Bowl; is it a blip or fall?."