The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions.
Kansas City defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 on Sunday in Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz., to clinch the franchise's third ever Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Jalen Hurts and Co. got on the board first by doing what they do best -- scoring on the opening possession. After the Chiefs won the toss by picking tails, the Eagles drove down the field with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that elapsed just under five minutes capped off by a Hurts' QB sneak.
The Chiefs wasted no time responding, though. Patrick Mahomes and Co. also logged a 75-yard drive, but this one took just six plays. Travis Kelce hauled in an 18-yard wheel route down the right sideline to knot the game at 7-7 halfway through the first quarter.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox.> Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Kansas City then got a defensive stop and got within scoring distance right after, but Andy Reid instead opted for a field goal on fourth down in hopes of a 10-7 lead. However, Harrison Butker's 42-yard attempt drifted wide left and suffered a Super Bowl doink.
Sports
Philadelphia optimized that momentum and swung the game. A five-play, 68-yard drive ended in A.J. Brown adjusting his go route to bring in Hurts' deep shot for a 45-yard touchdown to make it 14-7.
The Chiefs' offense stalled yet again, but just as Philly reached the middle of the field on its next drive, Hurts fumbled the football on a quarterback draw, and Nick Bolton scooped it up from 36 yards out and scored to even the game at 14.
Hurts and Co. responded in a poetic way, however. They came back and delivered a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended in Hurts running in a quarterback draw from four yards out, making it his third total touchdown of the game.
The Chiefs needed to respond to tie the score at 21, but they failed to do so. That was far from the most worrisome moment, though. Mahomes tried to scramble up the field on a third-and-long, but an ankle tackle re-aggravated the injury he suffered against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the divisional round.
Philadelphia got the ball back via a punt and added a 35-yard field goal from Jake Elliott right at the end of the first half to take a 24-14 lead. Hurts logged 183 yards passing on 17-for-22 completions and one touchdown to go with 63 yards rushing on 11 attempts and two touchdowns. Mahomes, on the other hand, had just 89 yards passing on 8-for-13 completions and a touchdown.
Kansas City did what it needed to do to start the second half. With Mahomes on the field, the Chiefs went 75 yards in 10 plays before seventh-round rookie running back Isiah Pacheco took home a handoff from the shotgun from one yard out.
In a game that almost seemed like an "anything you can do, I can do better" atmosphere, Philadelphia sure looked like it could respond with a touchdown of its own. The Eagles assembled a 17-play drive that lasted 7:45, but somehow it didn't result in seven points. They had to settle for a 33-yard field goal to push their lead to 27-21, which stayed going into the fourth quarter.
That gave the Chiefs a path to take the lead, and they did just that. They went 75 yards in nine plays, with Kadarius Toney logging his first reception of the game on a simple five-yard flat route where he went unguarded to take a 28-27 advantage -- the Chiefs' first lead of the game.
Toney's imprint on the game didn't halt there. After Philly went three-and-out, Toney returned the ensuing punt 65 yards all the way to the Eagles' five-yard line, making it the longest return in Super Bowl history. Kansas City stalled on the first two goal-line plays but brought out the flat route again, this time to Skyy Moore on the opposite side of the field, making it 35-27. It marked Moore's first career NFL touchdown after being a second-round pick in 2022.
The Eagles would not back down after allowing two straight touchdowns. Hurts added his fourth touchdown on the night after running it in from two yards out, then he converted a two-point conversion to tie it at 35 apiece. The eight-play, 75-yard drive came off the heels of a DeVonta Smith 45-yard catch into the red zone.
Kansas City then went 66 yards in 12 plays, and a holding call on Philadelphia's defense on a third down in dangerous territory helped the Chiefs push the ball to the Eagles' one-yard line. Mahomes also had a crucial 26-yard scramble down the middle of the field prior to that.
The Chiefs then ran out the clock and Butker nailed a 27-yard field goal to make it 38-35, and Hurts' Hail Mary attempt fell too short.
Mahomes completed the game with three passing touchdowns, 182 passing yards on 21-for-27 completions and 44 rushing yards on six attempts to take home the Super Bowl MVP award. Hurts gave it his all, too, passing for 308 yards on 27-for-38 completions and a pass touchdown with 70 rushing yards on 15 attempts and three rush scores.
The Chiefs' first Super Bowl win came in Super Bowl IV in 1969 when they beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 and again in Super Bowl LIV in 2019 when they beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.
