Super Bowl LVII is now the craziest game of all time
The incredible game between the Eagles and Chiefs had an interesting finish.
February 17, 2023
It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in February at State Farm Stadium. The open section of the roof accompanied the bright lights of the cavernous stadium as the National Football League’s conference champions prepared to do battle in Glendale, Arizona.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles were a matchup of dreams. Both teams came into the game as the same seed in their conference (#1), the same record (16-3), and the same number of total points scored (546). Not only that, but Travis and Jason Kelce were the first brothers to play against each other in the Super Bowl.
However, both teams had radically different journeys to the big game, making the perfect recipe for a potentially legendary game.
Early in the first quarter, the Eagles used quick passes and speedy runs to move down the field. Star wide receiver Devonta Smith got two big receptions with quarterback Jalen Hurts working his magic to eventually run into the endzone to put Philadelphia up 7-0.
When the Chiefs got the ball, running back Isaiah Pacheco made some big runs, and soon enough quarterback and 2022 MVP Patrick Mahomes threw a 20-plus yard touchdown to wide-open tight end Travis Kelce to tie the game.
The Eagles went three-and-out on the second drive before Kansas City took a 42-yard field goal. Harrison Butker’s attempt was barely tipped by the Eagles and the ball bounced off the left post to keep the score equal.
Moments into the second quarter, Hurts threw a 45-yard deep shot to wide receiver AJ Brown for a touchdown that shook the stadium to put Philly back on top, 14-7. The Chiefs proceeded to go 3-and-out, but right when the Eagles could have gotten a blowout, Hurts mysteriously fumbled the ball untouched and linebacker Nick Bolton scooped it up and ran 36 yards to tie the game.
Philadelphia caught a break on their next drive as they took a gamble on fourth down before Hurts waltzed into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown.
Kansas City went 3-and-out again with Mahomes reaggravating an ankle sprain he had suffered earlier in the playoffs. Philadelphia was able to get in a late field goal by Jake Elliott to end the first half up 24-14.
After Rihanna’s riveting halftime performance, the second half was underway.
Pacheco and Jerrick McKinnon ran the ball effectively while Mahomes’ passing game thrived. Pacheco ended the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 24-21. The Eagles responded with tight end Dallas Goedert getting crucial catches to keep it going, but they settled for a 35-yard field goal after a 17-play drive, making the score 27-21. Pacheco ended the third quarter with a short run.
The fourth quarter was when things started getting dicey both on-and-off the field. After a few plays, Kadarius Toney caught a wide open touchdown pass with the Eagles’ secondary suffering a horrendous lapse in judgment to put Kansas City up 28-27.
The Eagles couldn’t do much and punted only for Toney to get the biggest punt return in Super Bowl history (65 yards) to put the Chiefs at the 5-yard line. Another wide-open touchdown put the Chiefs up 35-27.
Philadelphia started to feel the pressure with 6 minutes left, but Smith was able to make the biggest play of his life with a 45-yard reception. Hurts snuck for his third rushing touchdown and scored on a 2-point conversion on top of that to tie it at 35 apiece.
After some runs by Pacheco, Mahomes scrambled up the middle for 26 yards to get to the 2-minute warning. On 3rd & 8, Mahomes threw the ball up towards JuJu Smith-Schuster and missed, but Eagles cornerback James Bradberry was egregiously called for holding. Even after a mundane review process, the call stood to the ire of an entire fanbase. This allowed the Chiefs to waste time before Butker hit a 27-yard field goal to go up by three with 10 seconds left.
With six seconds left, Hurts threw up a Hail Mary in vain as the clock hit zero.
The Chiefs won 38-35, becoming Super Bowl champions for the second time in three years while Patrick Mahomes won Super Bowl MVP for the second time in his career.
While the Eagles dominated the first half, they looked out of sorts for long stretches late in the game. Kansas City had no business getting back in the game before Hurts’ fumble, but with insane luck, they escaped with a victory that was not deserved by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, most of the game’s chaotic events were because of the field that was making almost every player slip and trip throughout the game.
Sure most of the game was purely nerve-wracking, heart-pumping, and mystifying, but the final two minutes were a puzzling conclusion for what looked to be the greatest Super Bowl of all time.
Therefore, the only question NFL fans around the world can ask themselves from this point forward is “What if?”
