The Philadelphia Eagles avenged their defeat from last year’s Super Bowl when they beat the then-champions Kansas City Chiefs 21-17.
The Philadelphia Eagles bounced back Monday night to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 21-17 at Arrowhead Stadium, avenging their defeat in Super Bowl LVII.
While last February’s championship game was an offensive masterpiece from both teams, Monday’s matchup was anything but. Both teams punted 13 times and each team’s quarterback threw an interception. In the first half alone, the Eagles totaled just 78 net yards of offense, with 70 of those coming on a single touchdown drive by quarterback Nick Foles. Kansas City’s star quarterback Jalen Hurts finished with just 150 yards, one interception, and no passing touchdowns.
“No matter who won, it was going to be a grind-it-out, grind-out game, and that’s what this was going to be,” Philadelphia interim head coach Jim Schwartz said. “The guys kept fighting, kept grinding, and we ended up winning.”
On the other hand, the stat sheet suggests that the Chiefs did just enough to win, outgaining the Eagles by a whopping 98 yards, converting 47% of their third downs to Philly’s 27%, and the offensive line only allowing one quarterback sack, on the opening play of the game. Hurts, on the other hand, was brought down five times.
The Chiefs jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. Patrick Mahomes, the reigning league MVP, found Justin Watson for a one-yard score before the Eagles’ D’Andre Swift leveled things on the following drive. The Super Bowl champs increased their lead in the second quarter as Travis Kelce caught his 74th pass of the season to move into fifth place all-time for receiving touchdowns by a tight end, and Harrison Butker kicked a field goal at the end of the quarter to give Kansas City a 13-point lead at the half.
After the break, the Eagles’ defense played its best game of the season, holding the Chiefs scoreless for the entire second half. Hurts didn’t have the air game he usually does, but he did have some big plays on the ground, including a one-yard rushing TD in the third quarter that was pushed across the goal line by Philadelphia’s trademark ‘tush push’.
Hurts’ second rushing score put Philly up by four with a little over six minutes remaining and the Chiefs still within reach, but they were left to regret their mistakes as the clock wound down. The Chiefs had already fumbled on their first drive of the fourth quarter, thanks to Kelce’s fumble in the end zone, and on their last possession, Mahomes watched helplessly as his perfect pass for a 50+ yard gain was fumbled away by the Eagles’ wide receiver in the end zone with less than two minutes remaining. On fourth down, the Eagles got the defensive stop they needed to seal the win, giving Chiefs coach Andy Reid his first loss against his former team. Philadelphia improved to 9-1 on the season, while Kansas City fell to 7-3 with as many losses in the 11th week of the season as it had in the entire regular season.
