Super Bowl LVII, Glendale Arizona Recap

Super Bowl LVII, Glendale Arizona

The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in a thrilling final showdown of the 2022-2023 NFL season. The Chiefs win their 3rd Super Bowl in franchise history, the 2nd of Patrick Mahomes 5-year career. The Super Bowl MVP goes to Mahomes, completing 21 of 27 passes and throwing for 3 touchdowns. A noteworthy game as the first Super Bowl between 2 African American starting quarterbacks, and between 2 brothers Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce.

Recap the Big Game

A back-and-forth battle - The Chiefs won the coin toss, calling tails and deferred. The Eagles began with the ball, drove 75 yards downfield and ended their first drive in the endzone with a Jalen Hurts QB sneak. Jalen Hurts finished the game with 3 rushing touchdowns, and 70 rush yards (a Super Bowl record for QB rush yards), and 1 passing touchdown that was caught by AJ Brown. 

After Philadelphia’s opening drive touchdown, Kansas City would respond with a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce and miss a field goal on the next drive. The 1st quarter would end in a 7-7 tie. The opening play of the 2nd quarter featured a Jalen Hurts 45-yard touchdown pass to AJ Brown. The Eagles forced a Chiefs punt on the next drive and looked poised to take control of the game. 

Nick Bolton evened up the game at 14-14 with a fumble recovery for a touchdown that brought Kansas City’s energy back to life. Though Philadelphia would score two more times before the half, the two teams went into the 3rd quarter with the score at 24-14 in favor of Philly. The Chiefs would have the ball to start the second half.

After a Halftime show featuring Rihanna, the second half of Super Bowl 57 began with a Chiefs 75-yard touchdown drive capped with a 1-yard run by tailback Isiah Pacheco. Philadelphia responded with a scoring drive, including a crucial play on 3rd and 14 to tight end Dallas Goedert, setting up a 33-yard field goal by Jake Elliott. The score was 27-21 going into the 4th quarter, still in favor of Philly. 

The Chiefs would march 75 yards downfield yet again, finishing their drive in the endzone with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kadarius Toney, giving the Chiefs their first lead of the game. After gaining their 28-27 lead, the Chiefs defense forced a three-and-out that led to an Arryn Siposs' punt. Kadarius Toney set the record for longest punt return in Super Bowl history by returning the punt 65 yards all the way to the Eagles 5-yard line.

Toney’s punt return set up another Kansas City touchdown pass, this time to Skyy Moore, and a Harrison Butker extra-point gave the Chiefs a 35-27 lead. The Eagles responded with a touchdown drive, highlighted by a 45-yard pass to DeVonta Smith setting up Jalen Hurts & the Eagles offense on the 2-yard line. Hurts also ran in the 2-point conversion to tie up the game at 35 apiece. 

The Chiefs get the ball, tied at 35 with 5:15 left in the 4th. Mahomes, on his sore ankle, ran for a huge 26-yard run that drove the Chiefs to the Eagles 17-yard with the clock approaching the 2-minute warning. Faced with a 3rd and 8, Mahomes threw an incomplete pass on 3rd down that the referees called holding on Philadelphia Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, awarding Kansas City the 1st down. A highly contested call that set up a much more for-sure field goal range. However, Bradberry himself has admitted to the holding penalty.

Notable Stats

Travis Kelce: 6 rec, 81 yds, 1 TD

Isiah Pacheco: 15 car, 76 yds, 1 TD

Juju Smith-Schuster: 7 rec, 53 yds

Jalen Hurts: 27/28, 304 yds, 1 TD / 15 car, 70 yds, 3 TD

DeVonta Smith: 7 rec, 100 yds

AJ Brown: 6 rec, 96 yds, 1 TD