Super Bowl magic: Mahomes and Chiefs beat Eagles 38-35

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes bounced back from an ankle injury, returned to being a magician and pulled off another comeback on the biggest stage to help the Kansas City Chiefs win their second Super Bowl. in four years.

Mahomes threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and ran for 26 yards on the go-ahead drive before Harrison Butker made a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to give the Chiefs a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

“He’s the MVP,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Mahomes. “That’s all there is to say. MVP. And he saw it tonight.

Mahomes and Jalen Hurts stood out in the first Super Bowl matchup with two black starting QBs. But Mahomes, the two-time AP NFL MVP, He raised it in the second part after aggravating a sprain in his right ankle. He also won his second Super Bowl MVP award.

Reid, who failed to win the big game in Philadelphia, beat his former team to win his second ring with Mahomes and the Chiefs.

“It took everyone to win the games. We’re Super Bowl champions, baby,” Mahomes yelled onstage as red and yellow confetti blanketed the field.

With the score tied at 35-35, the Eagles tried to let the Chiefs score a touchdown with less than two minutes left so they could get the ball back. But Jerick McKinnon slid at the 2, forcing the Eagles to use their final timeout.

After Mahomes took a knee twice, Butker nailed his kick, causing thousands of red-clad Chiefs fans to go wild.

The Chiefs won their second Super Bowl after the 2019 season, 50 years after their first. It only took three years to get another Lombardi.

Chiefs fans were outnumbered in the stadium, but they did their part to silence the boisterous Philadelphia fans with the tomahawk chop chant.

Trailing 24-14 with Mahomes limping, the Chiefs (17-3) followed up Rihanna’s electrifying halftime performance with a sensational offensive outburst.

“Everyone had that determination, that look in their eyes,” Travis Kelce said.

Mahomes, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the divisional round, was hurt again in a 3-yard scramble late in the second quarter. He limped off the field, but showed no ill effects on Kansas City’s next possession.

Mahomes slipped – several players lost their balance on the natural grass surface – in the pocket, but somehow regained his balance and ran 14 yards to the Eagles 4-yard line, setting up Isiah Pacheco’s 1-yard TD run that cut the deficit to 24-21.

After Jake Elliott’s 33-yard field goal extended Philadelphia’s lead to 27-21, the Chiefs struck again.

Mahomes threw a 5-yard TD pass to Kardarius Toney wide open to give Kansas City its first lead, 28-27, early in the fourth quarter.

The Chiefs beefed up their defense, forcing Philly to punt. Toney then returned a line kick 65-yards to the Eagles 5-yard line for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history.

On third down from the 4th, Mahomes connected with Skyy Moore to extend their lead to 35-27. Moore was also open to the play.

But the Eagles would not go away.

Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 46-yard gain to the Chiefs and ran for his third score of the game. He also ran for the 2-point conversion to tie it 35-35 with 5:15 to go.

Like “Fly! Eagles! Fly!” reverberated throughout the stadium, Mahomes and the Chiefs got back to work.

Mahomes, 27, became the third player to win his second NFL MVP award before the age of 28. He also became the youngest QB to start three Super Bowls. Mahomes then became the first player to win the Super Bowl the same season he was MVP after nine players went down in a row.

Just five years after winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history, the Eagles (16-4) were close with a different coach and a new quarterback. Sirianni replaced Doug Pederson in 2021 and Hurts replaced Carson Wentz in late 2020.

Hurts set a Super Bowl record with 70 rushing yards and tied a record with three rushing touchdowns. He also threw for 304 yards and a TD.

The Eagles marched 75 yards down the field with Hurts scoring from 1 for a 7-0 lead and controlled the ball for nearly 22 minutes in the first half.

Hurts, who missed two games late in the season with a shoulder injury, had no trouble throwing a perfect deep pass to AJ Brown, giving the Eagles a 14-7 lead on a 45-hit connection. yards on the first play of the second quarter.

But Hurts then made a rare mistake on the ensuing drive when he fumbled without getting hit while escaping the pressure. Nick Bolton picked it up and ran 36 yards to make it 14-14. Hurts had just eight turnovers this season, six interceptions and two fumbles.

Undeterred, Hurts kept running.

He took off for 14 yards on the first play after the fumble. On fourth and 5 of the Chiefs 44, Hurts ran for 28 yards. He finished the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to put Philadelphia ahead 21-14.

Elliott kicked a 35-yard field goal to send the Eagles leading 24-14 into halftime.

Mahomes finished 21 of 27 passing for 182 yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers. He rushed for 44 yards.

Mahomes connected with Kelce on an 18-yard TD pass into the right corner to tie it 7-7 in the first quarter. Chiefs All-Pro tight end and Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce became the first set of brothers to play against each other in the Super Bowl.

His mom, Donna Kelce, wore a half red, half green jersey with No. 87 on the front for Travis and No. 62 on the back for Jason. She sat in a suite between NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Damar Hamlin.

Eagles fans turned State Farm Stadium into a sea of ​​green, chanting “EAGLES!” and singing the team fight song after each score. But they left disappointed.

Reid won more games than any coach in team history during 14 seasons with the Eagles, but the only knock against him was that he couldn’t win the big one. Reid finally won his ring with the Chiefs when they beat San Francisco in the Super Bowl after the 2019 season. They came back the following year and lost to Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The first Super Bowl involving both No. 1 seeds since the Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 in February 2018 lived up to its hype. It was the third highest scoring Super Bowl and the Eagles scored the most points by a losing team.

Many celebrities were in the crowd of 67,827, including Bradley Cooper and Kevin Hart, who wore a Reggie White jersey with the number 92 on it.

Paul McCartney and LeBron James were also in suites.

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Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robmaaddi

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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