Super Bowl Takeaways: Chiefs defeat Eagles 38-35

Photo by Angela Weiss from Getty Images

The NFL season is now officially complete, and in a way the final game was a perfect summary of an NFL Sunday during the regular season.

You have the complete joy and excitement from the 1 P.M. window of games, and by the time Sunday Night Football is done and you have to go to bed before work tomorrow, you feel a little let down because of a cruddy ending to a great day.

Still, you can’t ignore that the overall day was solid.

So let’s dive into Super Bowl 57.

The Eagles executed their game plan perfectly.

I know the Eagles have a good offense. I know they have a good defense.

Still, the Eagles game plan was to keep the ball out of Patrick Mahomes’ hands as much as possible.

They did an excellent job.

The Eagles only let the Chiefs have the ball for 9 minutes in the first half, or about half of the length of Rihanna’s halftime show.

That, plus a phenomenal performance from Jalen Hurts (minus a crucial fumble), meant that the Eagles had a 24-14 lead going into the locker room.

A 10 point lead is hardly insurmountable, but it showed that they are not only capable of moving the ball at will, but limiting the chances Mahomes can get.

But there is a reason I predicted the Chiefs to win easily.

Obviously, they didn’t win easily, but the thought process remained the same.

I saw Patrick Mahomes play 3 and a half horrible quarters of football back in 2020, and the Chiefs offense still scored 31 points against the best defense in football.

The Chiefs only had 9 minutes of the ball in the first half and only had 7 points to show for it.

They only had four total drives in the second half.

Those drives resulted in three touchdowns and the game winning field goal with 8 seconds left.

The Eagles did not let Patrick Mahomes have the ball for a majority of the game.

Patrick Mahomes still put up 31 points.

He’s the best in the game, and it simply isn’t close.

But that win did not come without a bit of controversy.

Alright.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

On the Chiefs final drive, Mahomes overthrew receiver Juju Smith-Schuster on a 3rd and 8 which would set up a field goal attempt under 2 minutes left.

If the Chiefs made it, the Eagles would have under two minutes to go down the field and either tie or win the game.

But there was the dreaded yellow flag.

The Eagles were called for holding. The Chiefs then ran down the clock to kick the winning field goal, and the Eagles never had a chance.

The call itself is what led to the controversy, and everyone is giving their opinions on it. So I figured that I would give mine.

It was a hold.

Hell, even the cornerback who committed the penalty, James Bradberry, admitted that it was a hold.

That’s not my problem.

My problem is, as it always is, consistency.

I don’t care if the referees let almost everything go, or call the game absurdly tight.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Refs that call too many flags annoy me.

But I appreciate it if that is how the game is called all the way throughout.

Last night was one of those games.

The rule of football is that there is probably a holding call on every single play. They called one total hold between both teams before the Bradberry penalty.

In the first quarter on a third down, Smith-Schuster was pulled back trying to make a catch but it was borderline and so the refs let it go.

Nobody complained about the officials all night.

We understood. They were letting stuff go. Unless it’s full on egregious, let the players play.

And then, with under two minutes left and the Super Bowl on the line, they changed their mind.

Bradberry held him, but it was very light and not for very long.

They let it go all night, and called it at the most crucial time in a game.

The lack of consistency will always be what gets under my skin.

A fantastic Super Bowl for 58 minutes that ended up leaving a super sour taste in everyone’s mouth.

And that’s that. The NFL season is complete.

Now, we overthink college kids until April when the NFL Draft kicks off.

One side note before we end this season.

Let’s give a big shout out to Jerick McKinnon who had a wide open touchdown in the Super Bowl as the Eagles were going to let him walk in for 6, and he had the wherewithal to slide down at the 1 and waste more time on the clock.

A very smart play, even though he could have been remembered in history as the man who scored the game winning touchdown in the Super Bowl.