The Philadelphia Eagles shattered the Kansas City Chiefs' hopes of becoming the first NFL team to win three consecutive Super Bowls with a dominant 40-22 victory in New Orleans.
Philadelphia's defense was relentless on Sunday, stifling Chiefs' star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, while their own signal-caller, Jalen Hurts, led the charge—throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another. The win served as a ruthless redemption for the Eagles after their 2023 Super Bowl 57 loss to Kansas City.
Running back Saquon Barkley added to the celebration, rushing for 31 first-half yards to set the NFL record for most rushing yards in a regular season plus playoffs.
The emphatic victory secured the Eagles' second Super Bowl title, their first since 2018.
Philadelphia dominated from start to finish in a commanding display witnessed by a crowd that included U.S. President Donald Trump and music icon Taylor Swift.
It marked the first time a sitting president had attended a Super Bowl. Trump watched the first half before leaving.
The Eagles set the tone for the contest by opening the scoring in the first quarter with their signature play – a goal line move they call the “brotherly shove” – with Hurts ploughing into the end zone behind his powerful offensive line as his teammates forced him forward.
Eagles’ rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean picked off a poor pass from Mahomes in the second quarter to score Philadelphia’s second touchdown, and Hurts then found AJ Brown with a 12-yard pass to go into halftime at 24-0 ahead.
Mahomes struggled mightily in the first half, throwing two interceptions while being sacked three times and completing just six of 14 passing attempts.
Things went from bad to worse in the second half for the Chiefs when Hurts found DeVonta Smith with a 46-yard pass for a fourth touchdown to take a 34-0 lead.
The Chiefs finally got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter through Xavier Worthy, but the game was sliding away at breakneck pace.
A DeAndre Hopkins touchdown, and a second for Worthy, added some respectability to the score but it was cosmetic, and would have come as little consolation to the battered Chiefs whose tilt at history was devastatingly denied.
Nobody had predicted the one-sided nature of the game – not Trump, not Swift, not Argentinian World Cup winner Lionel Messi, hip-hop mogul Jay-Z or Beatle Paul McCartney who were all in the crowd – but the Eagles’ defence was awesome throughout, never giving the Chiefs a chance.
Source: Al Jazeera
BDST: 1350 HRS, FEB 10, 2025
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