NEW ORLEANS — Defense, the old coaches used to tell us, wins championships.
And while the scoring-happy modern NFL sometimes makes that old saw sound silly, the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles would like a word.
Sunday night in a city that’s hosted more Super Bowls than any other, the Kansas City Chiefs‘ quest for Super Bowl history never even got off the ground. Philadelphia’s swarming defense held Patrick Mahomes and the two-time defending champions to just 23 yards in the first half, led 24-0 at halftime and rolled to a 40-22 victory that kept the Chiefs from becoming the first team to win three straight Super Bowl titles and instead delivered the second in Eagles history.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts, whose phone screen saver for the past two years has been a photo of him walking off the Super Bowl LVII field in Arizona surrounded by yellow and red confetti after losing to the Chiefs, was absolutely brilliant, throwing for 221 yards, rushing for 72 and accounting for three touchdowns. He threw just five incompletions with one interception for a QB rating of 119.7.
The defense forced three turnovers and held Mahomes and the Kansas City offense to 275 yards. It was an all-night party at the tail end of a weeklong party for Eagles fans in the Big Easy. And in the end, it was the oft-maligned Hurts and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni holding up the Lombardi Trophy.
The Eagles took it right to the Chiefs and didn’t let up. The first half was a mash-up of things that aren’t supposed to happen. The Chiefs bottled up Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley, limiting him to 31 yards on 12 carries before halftime. But it didn’t matter, partly because Hurts was making pinpoint throws and sharp decisions, partly because the Chiefs were shooting themselves in the foot with uncharacteristic penalties and partly because Mahomes threw two interceptions — something he’s only done five other times in his career in a single half.
But as shocking as the Eagles’ dominance may have been, the fundamental problem that cost the Chiefs their chance at history was the same one that cost them the Super Bowl four years ago against the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers and the same one that looked for most of this regular season like the one that might do them in: They could not protect their quarterback.
Philadelphia generated pressure on seven of Mahomes’ 17 first-half dropbacks in spite of not blitzing once. Veteran Chiefs offensive lineman Joe Thuney, who appeared to have solved the team’s left tackle problem when they moved him there from left guard with five games left in the regular season, got manhandled repeatedly by the Eagles’ defensive front. Edge pressure from Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith, interior pressure from Milton Williams and Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis… it didn’t matter where it was coming from, Mahomes couldn’t do anything against it.
And every time it looked as if the Chiefs might have a chance to do something to even things out, they made the kind of massive mistake you just don’t expect from a team that plays in this game every year. An unnecessary roughness penalty by Trent McDuffie that extended the drive that led to the Eagles’ first points of the game. A forced throw by Mahomes that Eagles rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean intercepted and ran back for a touchdown. A post-play unnecessary roughness penalty by Nick Bolton that turned a third-and-26 into a first-and-10. The second Mahomes interception, which came one play after the Kansas City defense forced a punt and kept the score 17-0 with 1:49 left in the half.
It was the Eagles, not the perennial champion Chiefs, who looked like the more composed and experienced team. It was the oft-maligned and underestimated Hurts, not the MVP finalist Barkley, who drove the offense. And it was the defense, which finished last year as one of the NFL’s worst and transformed this year into its best, that made life miserable for Mahomes all night.
The Barkley signing was the headliner of the Eagles’ brilliant 2024 offseason, but you can make the case that the hiring of Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator and the drafting of defensive backs DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell were the more important moves. The Eagles have the ninth-highest-paid quarterback in the league, the third-highest-paid running back, the fourth-highest-paid tight end, the highest-paid guard, the fourth-highest-paid right tackle and the fifth-highest-paid left tackle. They’re one of only two teams (along with Tampa Bay) who pay two different wide receivers at least $25 million per year. They have invested major salary cap resources in their offense, which means that they absolutely need to get high-end production from defensive players who don’t make top-of-the-market money.
To that end, the Eagles led the league this year in defensive snaps played by players on their rookie contracts. They also ranked third in sacks, third in tackles and first in pass rush win rate by players on rookie deals. Their last four draft classes have brought them Milton Williams, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith, Jalen Carter and the aforementioned rookie defensive backs,
Mitchell’s coverage and DeJean’s interception were critical parts of Sunday’s victory, but the Eagles got sacks from Williams and rookie Jalyx Junt to go with the 2.5 that pending free agent Josh Sweat collected. Nolan Smith chased down Mahomes on a critical play early in the game and prevented what could have been a big gain. Davis and Carter each were credited with a quarterback hit. It was a total team effort from a defense whose construction was outstanding and whose coaching brought it all together.
Sunday night in New Orleans, it all paid off in the ultimate way for the Eagles. The hurt that lingered from two years ago, when they let the Chiefs hang around and come back to beat them in Super Bowl LVII. The recovery from last year’s second-half collapse and early playoff exit. The second year in a row changing offensive and defensive coordinators. The Barkley signing. The Georgia-heavy drafts.
The odd pop-up controversies that dotted their season, whether it was Sirianni jawing with fans, A.J. Brown criticizing the “passing” and reading books on the sideline, Brandon Graham airing dirty laundry on a podcast at Chickie’s and Pete’s… all of the highs and lows of the last three seasons culminated Sunday in a career-defining win for Roseman, Sirianni, Hurts and everyone else in midnight green.
They rolled in with what they believed was the better team and left no doubt.
