The Chiefs’ Tremendous Bowl win had nothing to do with the refs

The ending to Tremendous Bowl LVII was a bummer. All of us want the ultimate moments of the sport lived as much as the epic duel Chiefs vs. Eagles was — however dialog in regards to the game-ending holding penalty on James Bradberry has utterly jumped the shark.

Not solely is there dialogue in regards to the name “costing the Eagles the Tremendous Bowl,” however we even have the coach of the Cavaliers out right here threatening the refs.

It’s utterly ridiculous, and the dialogue has morphed to unfairly tarnishing what the Chiefs did within the Tremendous Bowl as a way to win. The reality is, Kansas Metropolis completely deserved it — as a result of they stepped up within the areas they needed to, adjusted at halftime, and beat the Eagles with expertise.

The Chiefs received the areas they needed to

It’s extraordinarily reductive to boil the Tremendous Bowl down to 1 or two elements, but when we simplify the sport in these phrases it’s clear that Kansas Metropolis did what was wanted, and Philadelphia simply didn’t.

1. The Chiefs wanted to show the sport right into a shootout: CHECK
2. Kansas Metropolis couldn’t let the Eagles run throughout them: CHECK
3. Patrick Mahomes needed to be protected: CHECK

In the meantime the inverse is true. The Eagles confirmed they may grasp in a shootout with KC, which was a giant a part of their Tremendous Bowl possibilities — however the crew’s lack of ability to ascertain the run, paired with their lack of go rush ensured the Chiefs had been in a position to get comfy within the second half and set up their core talents.

Kansas Metropolis’s second half changes had been a masterclass in teaching

The Chiefs weren’t nice within the first half of the Tremendous Bowl, removed from it. Defensively the crew made an influence when Nick Bolton recovered a Jalen Hurts fumble for a landing — however Mahomes was taking part in very flat outdoors of his landing throw to Travis Kelce firstly of the sport.

A prevailing theme of the Chiefs’ first half offense was predictability. Mahomes was throwing brief to the appropriate, intermediate to the center, and deep to the left — with out a lot variation. In truth, of his first half passes Mahomes largely ignored the left aspect of the sector fully.

Patrick Mahomes first half passing makes an attempt

• Proper: 8
• Center: 3
• Left: 2

Whether or not this was an element of the poor subject circumstances, or lingering points with Mahomes ankle, the Eagles keyed in on this passing and ensured it didn’t enable Kansas Metropolis to interrupt out.

Then Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy flipped the script. JuJu Smith-Schuster was moved to the left of the formation, and was despatched over the center extra usually, to masks potential passes to Kelce. Then the passing offense was punctuated with brief passes to the left as an alternative of the appropriate, and the Eagles’ protection didn’t modify in time.

By focusing virtually solely on fast hits over the center it preyed on Philly’s defensive aggressiveness, which opened up the 2 touchdowns that determined the sport.

There’s no assure the Eagles had an opportunity even with the Chiefs kicking the sector aim early

There’s a large assumption being made that the Eagles may have marched down the sector and both tied the sport, or received it had the Bradberry penalty not occurred. That is questionable, at greatest.

Had the Chiefs kicked the sector aim following the Bradberry play it could have left the Eagles with 1:43 left on the clock on the time of kickoff, with one day out.

Philadelphia had been successfully shifting the ball, however within the second half their offensive drives slowed to a crawl. Defensive adjustment on the a part of the Chiefs labored to grind down drives and forestall the massive performs they gave up within the first half. Kansas Metropolis needed to restrict good points to 3-4 yards, and that’s simply what occurred.

On common the Eagles’ scoring drives took over 5 minutes every. Sure, Philly would have been in a rush up set — however that’s placing a whole lot of strain on Jalen Hurts to make sideline throws to cease the clock to even hope of establishing a game-tying subject aim.

Positive, a defensive breakdown may have occurred and the Eagles may have made a giant play — however this was out of character for the second half of the sport. The reality is that the longer the sport went on, the extra the Chiefs had been pulling away — no matter what the rating confirmed.

The Eagles had been incredible, however the Chiefs deserved to win in the long run

I do know it’s tough for Eagles followers, and the sting of dropping an in depth Tremendous Bowl like it will final some time — however expertise received out.

Finally this was a case of an older, extra skilled crew discovering methods to win in opposition to a younger upstart with a whole lot of gamers who hadn’t been in a recreation like this earlier than. It wasn’t dissimilar to the Bengals loss to the Rams in 2022.

Lowering this recreation to being in regards to the Bradberry penalty is unfair to what the Chiefs did, and it’s not how this recreation ought to be remembered, even when the ending was deeply unsatisfying.