A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Kansas City Chiefs did not make history yesterday in last night's Super Bowl. The Eagles - the Philadelphia Eagles denied KC the chance to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls. Instead, the Eagles dominated the game from start to finish and won 40-22. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan joins us now to talk more about the game. I thought it was going to be a close game, Becky. Vegas thought so, too. They only had the Chiefs favored by a point and a half. I mean, it didn't turn out that way at all.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Absolutely not. And I'll own that I was one who also thought it was going to be a close game. But I think you could definitely put this one, A, in the pantheon of bad Super Bowls. It was fully over by halftime. The Chiefs were shut out in the first half. And more than that, they managed only one first down, only 23 yards of offense in the whole half. And so put another way, they allowed more points in the first half than they notched yards...
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. Wow.
SULLIVAN: ...Cause it was 24-0. It's really just a disaster for the quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, for the Chiefs - two backbreaking interceptions in that first half that both led directly to Eagles touchdowns. And after the second one, you could see the Chiefs best defensive player, the lineman Chris Jones, fall to his knees on the sideline, which said it all - just too much to overcome, and, of course, as you say, ended up losing.
MARTÍNEZ: And in all phases, the Eagles look fantastic.
SULLIVAN: They did, absolutely. I mean, yes, obviously, credit to their defense. We just talked about how bad the Chiefs' offense looked. That's on the Eagles' defense. And then their quarterback, Jalen Hurts, was named Super Bowl most valuable player. He deserved it 100%, absolutely terrific. This was a guy who has had plenty of doubters during his time in Philadelphia. But credit where credit is due. He has played just absolutely terrific games in both Super Bowl appearances he has made with the Eagles. The other one, of course, being the first Chiefs-Eagles matchup back in 2023, which the Eagles lost. Last night, the Chiefs' defense seemed to have made this bet, you know, like, can we put everything into stopping running back Saquon Barkley, and if we do that, can Jalen Hurts make the plays that the Eagles will need to win? And the answer, Hurts said, was an emphatic yes. He threw for 220 yards - excuse me - 221 yards, rushed for another 72 and had three total touchdowns. Here's Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni singing his praises after the game.
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NICK SIRIANNI: He had an unbelievable game today when we needed him to, 'cause when you set out to stop one thing, another thing opens, and Jalen was able to take advantage of that today. And him and this team are world champs forever.
MARTÍNEZ: Becky, is it a surprise that the NFL is still the only of the big four North American sports leagues that has not had a three-time consecutive champ in the Super Bowl era?
SULLIVAN: You know, I think both yes and no. I mean, yes because we had gotten so used to Patrick Mahomes doing Patrick Mahomes things that I think there was this, like, across football analysis leading up to the game these past two weeks, it was like, look, the Eagles have X and Y and Z advantages, but the Chiefs have Mahomes. So we're picking the Chiefs 'cause we're not going to pick against him while he keeps doing all this stuff. But if we're being honest with ourselves, I think for most of the season, the chiefs did not look like a three-peat contender. They had escaped close game after close game - seemingly could have lost many more than the one game they lost with their starters this season. Obviously, it's hard to get to a Super Bowl, let alone three in a rows, so credit for that, but their luck ran out last night.
MARTÍNEZ: Sure did. Yeah, it sure did. Now, this dings may be the legacy of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs a little, but what about the Eagles?
SULLIVAN: I mean, I think they've consistently been one of the great teams of the last decade. Their last Super Bowl win, back in 2018, came over Tom Brady and the Patriots sandwiched in between two Patriots Super Bowl wins. Now, this one, denying the Chiefs their three-peat - both times denying the loss, what otherwise could have been a three consecutive run by the two most successful franchises in modern NFL history, which is definitely something I'd be proud of for a Philadelphia Fan.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Becky Sullivan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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