Super Bowl Recap: Mahomes Takes Home Second Ring, Philly Fans Go Silent
By Max Ferguson, Staff Writer
Students watch the 57th Superbowl in CUB (Photo Will Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
Gettysburg students all huddled around their TVs on Sunday night to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. The anticipation for this game was unlike any other. The city of Philadelphia has a reputation for getting rowdy to say the least; when the Eagles took home the Lombardi trophy in 2018, the city went up in flames as fans rioted in celebration of the victory. Kansas City fans were also in high hopes. They were expecting to come home with their second Super Bowl win in four years.
Even before kickoff, people were anticipating a close game. QB Patrick Mahomes and recently crowned MVP was gunning for his second ring. Also, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was hungry for revenge against the team that fired him in 2012. That being said, this young Eagles team was ready to put up a fight. QB Jalen Hurts was vying for his time in the spotlight since being benched at Alabama in favor of Tua Tagovailoa.
This Super Bowl was also notable for a few other reasons. It would be the first time in NFL history that two brothers faced off against one another. Jason Kelce, offensive lineman for the Eagles, competed against his brother Travis, who is the starting tight end for the Chiefs. Not only that, but this Super Bowl marked the first ever faceoff between two African-American starting quarterbacks.
After kickoff, this game turned into an offensive firefight. The Eagles offense was quick to strike. They put on an offensive clinic for the entire first half. Hurts snuck it into the endzone himself after a flag called their touchdown reception back to the one yard line. Then in the second quarter, Hurts slung a 45 yard bomb to receiver AJ Brown for a touchdown. Travis Kelce answered with a score of his own to get the Chiefs on the board. Later on, Hurts ran the ball in off of a QB draw for his second touchdown. Then, in the final seconds before the end of the half, Jake Elliott kicked in three for the Birds. The Eagles took the first half by force, thanks especially to their 17-point second quarter. However, Hurts’s lack of ball security led to defenseman Nick Bolton picking up a fumble and taking the ball back 36 yards for a Chiefs touchdown. The Eagles were up 24-14 at halftime.
Someone must have fired up the Chiefs during halftime because they came out looking like a completely different team. The biggest difference was the tenacity of their defense. They forced numerous big turnovers which kept this game close. The Eagles were not going down without a fight, though. They ended up tying the game in the 4th quarter with a two-point conversion. However, their charge was in vain as the Chiefs bled the clock and ended the game with a field goal.
This game was a fitting finale to the amazing fifty seventh season of the National Football League. It will be interesting to see what Philadelphia does in the offseason to try and have the big game go in their favor the next time around. A development of their young receiving corps in tandem with enhancing their run game may see them winning next season.
On the other side, Andy Reid has figured out how to make the Chiefs successful and is essentially on cruise control. It wouldn’t be surprising if next year’s Super Bowl LVIII is a rematch of this year’s.
