NEW ORLEANS -- Defense, the old coaches used to tell us, wins championships.
And though the scoring-happy modern NFL sometimes makes that old saying sound silly, the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles would like a word.
Sunday night in a city that has hosted a record-tying 11 Super Bowls, the Kansas City Chiefs' quest for Super Bowl history never got off the ground. Philadelphia's swarming defense held Patrick Mahomes and the two-time defending champions to only 23 yards in the first half, led by 24 points at halftime and rolled to a 40-22 victory that kept the Chiefs from becoming the first team to win three straight Super Bowl titles and delivered the second in Eagles history.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, whose cellphone screen saver for the past two years has been a photo of him walking off the Super Bowl LVII field in Arizona surrounded by yellow and red confetti after losing to the Chiefs, was absolutely brilliant. He was selected Super Bowl MVP, throwing for 221 yards, rushing for 72 and accounting for three touchdowns. He threw only five incompletions with one interception for a passer rating of 119.7.
Philadelphia's defense forced three turnovers and held Mahomes and the Kansas City offense to 275 yards, building a ridiculous-looking 40-6 lead before the Chiefs threw a couple of late touchdowns. By that point, it had turned into an all-night party at the end of a weeklong party for Eagles fans in the Big Easy. And in the end, it was the oft-maligned Hurts and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni holding up the Lombardi Trophy.
"This is the ultimate team game. You can't be great without the greatness of others. Great performance by everybody -- offense, defense, special teams," Sirianni said. "We didn't really ever care what anyone thought about how we won, or their opinions. All we want to do is win."
The Eagles took it to the Chiefs and didn't let up. The first half was a mash-up of things that aren't supposed to happen. The Chiefs bottled up Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley, limiting him to 31 yards on 12 carries before halftime. But it didn't matter, partly because Hurts made pinpoint throws and sharp decisions, the Chiefs committed uncharacteristic penalties and Mahomes threw two interceptions -- something he has done only five other times in his career in a half.
"There's things I still need to get better at, and they showed tonight on the biggest stage," said Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time MVP before turning 30. "I can't be out there making bad plays worse. Sometimes I get to where I want to make a big play to spark us. Tonight they were going to make me be a fundamental quarterback, stay in the pocket and take what was there, and I still have to get better at that."
Mahomes spent more than 10 minutes answering questions about what went wrong and took responsibility for all of it, which is what great quarterbacks and leaders are supposed to do. But this was a total meltdown by the Chiefs, exemplified by a late second-quarter stretch that saw an interception returned for a touchdown, a seven-yard sack of Mahomes on third down and another interception deep in their own territory all within the span of four offensive snaps.
It was at that point that the Eagles' defense knew the night had a chance to be special.
"Three big plays in a row," Eagles defensive lineman Josh Sweat said with a huge smile. "That's when I was like, 'Oh. It's just that day.'"
Yes, as shocking as the Eagles' dominance might have been, the fundamental problem that cost the Chiefs their chance at history was the same one that cost them the Super Bowl four years ago against the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers: They could not protect their quarterback.
Philadelphia generated pressure on 16 of Mahomes' 42 dropbacks in spite of not blitzing once. Veteran Chiefs offensive lineman Joe Thuney, who appeared to solve the team's left tackle problem when the Chiefs moved him from left guard with five games left in the regular season, was manhandled repeatedly by the Eagles' defensive front. Edge pressure from Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith, interior pressure from Milton Williams and Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis ... it didn't matter where it was coming from, Mahomes couldn't do anything against it.
"Just did what we've been doing all year," Sweat said. "That's our pride, being able to rush just four guys and still get it done. Once you get it going, it's like nothing can go wrong."
"Defense wins championships," said Hurts, perhaps one of those old coaches at heart. "We saw how they played today. We saw the difference they made in the game. They gave us opportunities, gave us short fields. And we're able to do what we do."
Hurts capitalized on those opportunities. With Barkley bottled up, Hurts retained his composure, found open receivers and took off running when the situation called for it. He was the game's leading rusher with 72 yards on 11 carries, and he looked completely in control all night.
"We've always said it's about being able to win in different ways," Hurts said. "We've been dominant in the run game. We've been efficient in the passing game. We've just done what needed to be done."
And every time it looked as if the Chiefs might do something to even things out, they made the kind of massive mistake you don't expect from a team that has played in this game five out of the past six years. An unnecessary roughness penalty by Trent McDuffie that extended the drive and led to the Eagles' first points of the game. A forced throw by Mahomes that Eagles rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean intercepted and ran back for a touchdown. A post-play unnecessary roughness penalty by Nick Bolton that turned a third-and-26 into a first-and-10. The second Mahomes interception, which came one play after the Kansas City defense forced a punt and kept the score 17-0 with 1:49 left in the half.
It was the Eagles, not the perennial champion Chiefs, who looked like the more composed and experienced team. It was the underestimated Hurts, not the MVP finalist Barkley, who drove the offense. And it was the defense, which finished last year as one of the NFL's worst and transformed this year into its best, that made life miserable for Mahomes.
The Barkley signing was the headliner of the Eagles' brilliant 2024 offseason, but you can make the case that the hiring of Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator and the drafting of defensive backs Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell were the more important moves. The Eagles have the ninth-highest-paid quarterback in the league, third-highest-paid running back, fourth-highest-paid tight end, highest-paid guard, fourth-highest-paid right tackle and fifth-highest-paid left tackle. They're one of only two teams (along with Tampa Bay) that pay two wide receivers at least $25 million per year. The Eagles have invested a lot of their salary cap into their offense, which means they need to get high-end production from defensive players who don't make top-of-the-market money.
The Eagles led the league this season in defensive snaps played by players on their rookie contracts. They also ranked third in sacks, third in tackles and first in pass rush win rate by players on rookie deals. Their past four draft classes have brought them Milton Williams, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Smith, Carter and the aforementioned rookie defensive backs.
Mitchell's coverage and DeJean's interception were critical to Sunday's victory, but the Eagles got sacks from Williams and rookie Jalyx Hunt to go with the 2.5 that pending free agent Sweat collected. Smith chased down Mahomes on a critical play early in the game and prevented what could have been a big gain. Davis and Carter each were credited with a quarterback hit. It was a total team effort from a defense whose construction was outstanding and whose coaching brought it all together.
Sunday night in New Orleans, it all paid off in the ultimate way for the Eagles -- the hurt that lingered from two years ago, when they let the Chiefs hang around and come back to beat them in Super Bowl LVII; the recovery from last year's second-half collapse and early playoff exit; the second year in a row changing offensive and defensive coordinators; the Barkley signing; the Georgia-heavy drafts.
The odd controversies that dotted their season, whether it was Sirianni jawing with fans, A.J. Brown criticizing the "passing" and reading books on the sideline, Brandon Graham airing dirty laundry on a podcast ... all of the highs and lows of the past three seasons culminated Sunday in a career-defining win for Howie Roseman, Sirianni, Hurts and everyone else in midnight green.
They rolled in with what they believed was the better team and left no doubt.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.