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Ben Solak
One day later there’s still only one word to describe Super Bowl LIX: disbelief. The final scoreboard read 40-22, but it felt so much worse than that. The Chiefs trailed 34-0 at one point — their biggest deficit in any Patrick Mahomes start. They went nine straight drives without a score — their longest streak in a Mahomes start. The Eagles, meanwhile, won both the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl by three scores, with a combined point margin of plus-50 — the third largest in NFL history. Their 95 total points are the most ever scored in those two games.
This was dominance, plain and simple, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t key pivotal moments to discuss. I’ve highlighted five defining plays in this game. These aren’t all flashy, highlight-reel plays — rather, they’re the plays that tell the real story. How did the Eagles put the game away? Why did Mahomes seem to play so poorly? And what, if anything, could have gone better for Kansas City?
These are the plays that defined Super Bowl LIX:
The situation: Eagles’ first-and-10 on the K.C. 46-yard line, third quarter, 2:47 remaining; PHI up 27-0
The first play isn’t just one to watch, but also to listen to. As the Eagles line up, Fox announcers Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady are discussing the excellent pass breakup by Avonte Maddox on the Chiefs’ previous fourth down. Burkhardt transitions to setting the table just as the Eagles snap the ball: “…now the Eagles get it back, looking to run some clock…or maybe throw the dagger?!”
JALEN TO DEVONTA DEEP TOUCHDOWN!
📺: #SBLIX on FOX
📱: Tubi + NFL app pic.twitter.com/OTFwM3v8Fb— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2025
Everyone thought they’d run in this situation. Why not? The Eagles have been one of the league’s most run-heavy teams, they have a 27-point lead and their only blown fourth-quarter lead with Jalen Hurts this season — way back in Week 2 against the Falcons — came because they passed when they could have run.
And in fact, they really could have run! Before the ball is snapped, Hurts walked up to the line and checked the play. It would appear the Eagles had two plays called in the huddle: a run, and then a play-action pass if Hurts likes the look.
Note that Hurts is aligned in the pistol, which tends to be a run formation for the Eagles. The Eagles ran a season-high 16 snaps in pistol in this game, and the first five were run plays. One of them had the exact same backfield action as the big Smith touchdown: with guard Mekhi Becton (along with the backside tight end) pulling on a power read for Hurts and Saquon Barkley. It went for no gain.
It went for 0 yards in large part because the Chiefs sold out to get extra bodies at or near the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped for much of the game. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo wanted to make sure Barkley didn’t beat him by climbing to the third level with a head of steam. If the Eagles were going to get explosives, Spagnuolo wanted Hurts to earn it through the air.
So Hurts did. On the play-action concept, the Chiefs are immediately in a bind. They want to get the backside safety to help corner Trent McDuffie (22) against wideout A.J. Brown (11). For many of the Eagles’ passing downs to this point — including the Bryan Cook interception in the first quarter — the Chiefs had found ways to do exactly that: get two pairs of eyes on Brown. And without that additional safety help, Brown likely would have been open on the dig in the middle of the field for a chunk gain.
But because Cook (6) is bracketing Brown, there’s no middle-of-the-field safety. Frontside safety Justin Reid (2) has to take tight end Dallas Goedert (88) when he releases upfield, which leaves corner Jaylen Watson (35) with absolutely no downfield help against DeVonta Smith (6) on the touchdown.
Watson looks frustrated after the catch, and given the way he gives Smith an inside release at the line, he likely expected help from Reid the whole way. But Reid is in an impossible bind. If he sinks with Smith, Goedert is wide open near the sideline and has room to run after the catch. That’s just great play design — from the run fake to the Brown route — deployed in a perfect moment with flawless execution from Hurts and Smith. The dagger!
The situation: Eagles’ third-and-16 on the K.C. 24-yard line, second quarter, 7:16 remaining, PHI up 10-0
Look again at that scoreboard. It was only 10-0 halfway through the second quarter. The Chiefs were in a bad spot, but the Chiefs are always in a bad spot, and then always wriggle their way out. Not this time.
COOPER DEJEAN PICK TO THE HOUSE!
📺: #SBLIX on FOX
📱: Tubi + NFL app pic.twitter.com/y4Q4bGTHE2— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2025
This is a beautiful schematic play from the Eagles’ defense. They are in quarters, as they were for most of this game, but quarters is a toolsy, versatile coverage. It’s not as simple as playing four deep players and three underneath defenders, all dropping to a spot on the field with eyes on the quarterback. Quarters coverages — especially Vic Fangio’s — have a lot of rules and adjustments relative to formations and route distributions.
One of the most common ways to beat any zone coverage is by flooding one side of the field. That’s why the league calls three-level concepts into the sideline a “flood” — because there’s typically only two zone defenders into the sideline (one underneath and one deep), so with three routes in that vertical space, someone should be open.
On this play, the Chiefs run super flood (not a real term). While they are not initially in a four-strong formation, they’ve called a sprintout right with four eligibles to the right once running back Samaje Perine (34) crosses quarterback Patrick Mahomes‘ (15) face. Watch tight end Noah Gray (83) look to set the screen for Mahomes, who is exiting the pocket to his right not under duress, but by design. This was an attempted schematic adjustment from Kansas City in response to the consistent pressure Philadelphia was putting on Mahomes in the pocket.
— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) February 10, 2025
Mahomes had 46 designed rollouts to his right in the regular season; only Bo Nix and Kyler Murray had more. He attempted 44 passes on those 46 dropbacks, completing 32 for 345 yards and two scores. That’s an EPA per dropback of 0.36 (league average was 0.04) and a success rate of 61% (league average was 50%). Mahomes and the Chiefs are great in the designed rollout and sprintout game, especially with four routes on one side of the field — something else they do more frequently, and more successfully, than most teams. On third-and-16, they relied on what they do best.
The Eagles play this perfectly. That is not a word I use lightly. Watch linebacker Oren Burks (42) alert Zack Baun (53) and slot corner Cooper DeJean (33) that Perine is releasing strong and the Chiefs now have four eligible receivers to that side of the field. In good zone coverage, defenders move in concert, like they’re attached by stiff rods that don’t allow them to get any closer or any further away from one another. Burks pushes the underneath coverage to his left, and as he moves, so does Baun. Baun takes over the underneath area into the sideline, which pushes DeJean back. The spacing is flawless.
Now, the Eagles have solved their flood problem. They’ve created three layers of zone defense into the sideline, anticipating the three layers of routes the Chiefs might flood them with.
What the Chiefs are actually running isn’t as neat and tidy as the ideal diagram of a flood concept. The safeties have vision and a bracket on wideout Hollywood Brown (5) if Mahomes wanted a deep shot; cornerback Darius Slay Jr. (2) has depth and leverage on receiver Xavier Worthy (1), who is breaking at the sticks; Baun is attached to Perine out of the flat; and Burks is present for a late tight end release or Mahomes scramble.
That leaves DeJean, the bonus dropper, the extra player in the new layer of the defense. He is waiting for any backside crosser, and rightfully so, as wideout DeAndre Hopkins (8) comes sprinting across the field. It is worth remarking that the Eagles can play quarters against these 4×1 route distributions because they have a star rookie cornerback opposite DeJean in Quinyon Mitchell (27), who locked up Hopkins on this play. Watch Mitchell, who initially has almost 10 yards of cushion and big outside leverage, steadily close the distance on Hopkins and condense the window by the time Mahomes releases the ball. This was a pass breakup even if DeJean didn’t exist.
But DeJean does exist, and the rookie plays Mahomes like a 10-year vet. Watch DeJean follow Mahomes in total synchronicity. As Mahomes’ hands start to separate, DeJean settles his feet. As Mahomes starts to slow his momentum, DeJean also slows. And as Mahomes releases the ball, DeJean breaks on it. He eliminated the throw to Worthy with his initial drop, got back into the throwing window for Hopkins and ran back the interception almost 40 yards into the end zone.
That is a special, special play.
The situation: Chiefs’ first-and-10 on the K.C. 44-yard line, third quarter, 14:18 remaining; PHI up 24-0
This was the worst game of Mahomes’ career. He put up enough garbage-time production that his minus-0.46 EPA per dropback barely clears his career-low minus-0.47 from a loss to the Broncos in 2023, but we all know what we saw. This was not like the AFC Championship Game loss to the Bengals or the Super Bowl LV loss to the Buccaneers, where Mahomes largely played well and then had a few bad drives. Yes, he was under constant duress in an offense with no running game and bereft of any good pass catchers. But that had been the case for most of the season, and his excellence sustained them to the Super Bowl. He was not excellent Sunday night, and it all came crashing down.
It was not a strong game for Mahomes’ pocket footwork or pocket management. He looked jittery early, even before the pressure and hits started to accumulate. He avoided sacks in the first quarter before taking three in the second quarter, including two straight before the DeJean pick-six. He had only taken three first-half sacks in nine of his previous 132 career games.
The Chiefs got the ball to start the second half, and if there was any chance at a comeback, it would start with a tone-setting, confidence-building touchdown drive. After picking up one first down, Mahomes took back-to-back sacks on first and second down, setting up a third-and-17 the Chiefs predictably failed to convert. By the end of the game, Mahomes was sacked a career-high six times.
The first sack on that drive was a very telling play.
— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) February 10, 2025
The Chiefs want to get Travis Kelce, their star tight end who was catchless to this point in the game, activated. They call a zone-beating combination to the strong side of the formation, but the Eagles are ready for it. Watch both safeties, Reed Blankenship (32) and C.J. Gardner-Johnson (8), drill down on the wrap route from Kelce. They’re expecting this route behind the first layer of the defense; they want to take it away. The Eagles challenged Kelce at the line of scrimmage and warped zone coverage toward him for much of this game; his zero-catch first half was only the eighth empty first half of his career.
When the safeties close on Kelce, they do so at the expense of helping on downfield routes. Brown now has space to run away from Slay to the top of the screen. It’s a long-developing route, and the Eagles are betting Mahomes won’t have enough time to get to it — a good bet, given how their pass rush has played.
But on this particular rep, the Chiefs actually build a semi-decent pocket. The space is tight, and defensive tackle Jordan Davis (90) is slowly collapsing left guard Mike Caliendo (66), but this pocket is more manageable than most Mahomes got that evening.
Mahomes is still jumpy. He has gotten used to quick pressure after his first read all game long, and an extended halftime break didn’t soothe those concerns. Mahomes gives a look to JuJu Smith-Schuster (9), doesn’t like the leverage on the route and then decides to tuck and run. It is an understandable instinct. He’d have to take a shot in the pocket while trying to deliver an accurate downfield ball to Brown, and that’s only if both tackles hold their water for long enough, which hadn’t been happening. But the coverage is telling Mahomes to not pass up a one-on-one opportunity with a speedy receiver, especially in a 24-point hole in the Super Bowl.
Instead, Mahomes drops his eyes and drops the ball, climbing right into the waiting arms of Davis. It looks like a panic sack because it is one, the product of how well Philadelphia’s pass rush and coverage played over the course of the game.
On the very next play (second-and-11), the Chiefs dial up a designer route for Worthy to win downfield. He initially looks like he’s releasing on a shallow crosser before climbing up the seam — an odd, highly specific route meant to break the Eagles’ rules. It works — Worthy is open. But once again, Mahomes has to manage a muddy pocket, and this time, the Eagles have looped a defensive end in anticipation of Mahomes’ step up. When he climbs, Josh Sweat (94) is right there to finish the play before Worthy can even turn his head.
— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) February 10, 2025
This is what it looks like when a quarterback has lost faith in his pass protection and the rhythm of the game.
A very easy first down
The situation: Eagles’ third-and-5 on the PHI 24-yard line, third quarter, 10:42 remaining; PHI up 24-0
Hurts ran 11 times for 72 yards and a score Sunday night, beating his own Super Bowl record of 70 rushing yards from two years ago. The bulk of his production came from scrambles, not from the designed running game. He had five scrambles for 60 yards by NFL Next Gen Stats’ tracking — the most scramble yards he has had in a game since the 2022 season.
Three Hurts scrambles went for explosive gains — 16, 14 and 17 yards, all in the second half. There wasn’t much need to scramble in the first half, but in the second half, when the Chiefs were hunting the stops necessary to kickstart a comeback, he consistently moved the chains with his legs.
On this third-and-5, the Kansas City defense is on the field for its first drive of the second half after its offense’s opening drive stalled. If it can get off the field quickly, maybe it can still play the rest of the game at a semi-normal pace and close the distance. On the two previous plays, it forced a checkdown and a short Barkley run.
— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) February 10, 2025
Spagnuolo plays man across the board, with a bracket on Brown and a single-high safety to boot. Two potential blitzers show, linebackers Nick Bolton (32) and Leo Chenal (54), but neither are actually rushing. They are reading the release of the running back. Whichever direction Barkley heads, that linebacker will take him in man coverage, and the other will become a spy on Hurts. If the tight man coverage forces him to hold onto the ball, Hurts will likely break the pocket, and the spy can handle him.
It half-works. Quick, high-side pressure from George Karlaftis (56) on Hurts’ backside gets him to drop his eyes even earlier than the Chiefs intended — he has enough time to look at Brown, confirm the wideout is doubled and get to the backside before he’s under fire. But there is no hesitation in Hurts’ game, none of the uncertainty that plagued him when under pressure in the regular season. Hurts goes, immediately tucking and running into the lane just vacated by Bolton when Barkley pulled him away.
Chenal is meant to spy Hurts here, but he has just now disengaged from the offensive line and doesn’t have an angle on Hurts, who’s moving too quickly to be caught before the line to gain.
The Chiefs struggled with rush lane integrity all night, and regularly failed to handle Hurts’ escape paths. On the first drive of the game, Bolton was spying Hurts on a long third down, but the Chiefs’ rush got too far upfield and Hurts was able to climb the pocket and easily outpace Bolton. This play was ultimately meaningless, but it foreshadowed scrambles to come.
How the Chiefs know they’re cooked
The situation: Chiefs’ third-and-11 on the K.C. 29-yard line, second quarter, 0:40 remaining; PHI up 24-0
The Eagles were going to win this game. No amount of Chiefs tomfoolery, late-game hijinks nor preordained three-peat whimsy could have possibly bridged the chasm between how good the Eagles were in every phase — trenches, coverage, quarterbacking, playcalling, special teams — and how bad the Chiefs were. Philly had Kansas City outmanned and outmaneuvered.
With that said, I will always find myself wondering what would have happened if Hopkins caught this pass.
— Good Clips (@MeshSitWheel) February 10, 2025
On a night in which the Eagles did not make any mistakes, they made a big one here. Blankenship and Slay are trying to communicate who should take which route, which is already hard enough — but they’re trying to do it over the top of Gardner-Johnson, who is between the two of them and reading his own keys in the midst of the chaos. The Eagles bust, and Hopkins is about as wide open as wide open gets. Maybe he doesn’t score on this play (he doesn’t really have top gears anymore), but at the very least, the Chiefs are in healthy field goal range with some time left on the clock.
This is how you know it’s not your night. If the Jahan Dotson explosive catch in the first quarter didn’t tip people off or the two-pick, three-sack first half from Mahomes didn’t make it abundantly clear, then this easy drop from one of the most famously sure-handed receivers in football takes the cake. The Chiefs didn’t have it Sunday, and the other guys did.