While the ending came with some officiating question marks for the WE ARE THE CHAMPS!—nothing new for Carl Cheffers, by the way—the NFL served a thriller of a finale in Super Bowl LVII as the Kansas City Chiefs came away with a come-from-behind win to get the best of the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35.
The Chiefs put up 17 fourth-quarter points on the Eagles to take their first lead in the fourth quarter and ultimately put away the game on a drive that was helped by a questionable defensive holding call on cornerback James Bradberry of the Eagles that will have fans talking all during the offseason.
Early on, the Eagles looked like the team who’d been to the Super Bowl in three of the last four years. Even with a young quarterback in Jalen Hurts and a first-year head coach in Nick Sirianni, the Eagles put down a methodical opening scoring drive that looked effortless against K.C.’s defense and was in control for most of the first half.
The Chiefs were able to keep pace early after the first drive and even had a chance to take the lead after forcing an early Eagles punt. However, Harrison Butker’s 42-yard attempt bounced off of the left upright—a literal “doink”—and the tide of the game seemed to turn, at least for a while. From there, the Chiefs’ offense would not score again until several minutes into the third quarter.
The Eagles took over at that point and put up 17 points on their next four drives, including a long touchdown pass from Hurts to A.J. Brown and a touchdown scramble by Hurts as well. The Chiefs were able to hang in there only because of the heroics of second-year linebacker Nick Bolton, who hit Hurts on a QB draw and forced a fumble. From there, he scooped up the ball and took the ball the rest of the way for his first career touchdown.
The Eagles held a 10-point lead at halftime, 24-14, after Jake Elliot nailed a 35-yard field goal, but the Chiefs came out with the ball and put together an impressive—and much-needed—touchdown drive marked by 10 plays for 75 yards, one capped by Isiah Pacheco’s one-yard TD run. Just like that, the Chiefs were back in it and held the Eagles to a field goal on their next drive to head into the fourth quarter with a six-point deficit and the ball.
From there, K.C. stole the momentum outright. The Chiefs put together another 75-yard drive over 9 players before Kadarius Toney scored on a short five-yard touchdown pass, giving Kansas City its first lead of the entire game. The defense for the Chiefs then held the Eagles to a rare 3-and-out, and Toney continued to showcase his rare skill set on the ensuing punt return, bringing the ball back 65 yards and nearly taking it into the end zone himself. That set up Skyy Moore for his first career touchdown catch to put the Chiefs up by 8.
The Eagles picked the right time to wake back up offensively as Hurts directed an impressive drive in response to the Chiefs’ back-to-back scores, hitting A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith with long passes before running it in himself. He also added a stellar run to convert the two-point play to tie the game at 35 points apiece.
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The Chiefs had the situation they wanted at that point, at least on paper, with the ball and only a few minutes left. Isiah Pacheco became a go-to back for several plays on the drive, but Mahomes himself put up a courageous 26-yard scramble even after re-injuring his ankle earlier in the game. From there, the Chiefs were able to work the ball down to the 9-yard line of Philadelphia with very little time left on the clock before calling Harrison Butker on to kick a 27-yard field goal to put them up 38-35 with 8 seconds left. From there, the Eagles simply did not have enough time to make any magic happen.
With the win, the Chiefs have now lifted the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in four years after failing to win a championship in the 49 years before that.