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The Kansas City Chiefs won the 2022 NFL championship with a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday evening — the team’s second championship in the last four seasons.
First quarter
The opening coin toss went the Chiefs’ way, landing on tails. They decided to defer their decision to the second half, giving Philadelphia the ball to begin the championship match. The kickoff landed in the end zone for a touchback.
The Chiefs’ defense came out aggressive, swarming to the ball on the first two plays to force third and five. However, Philadelphia moved the chains on a short throw to wide receiver DeVonta Smith — who felt safety Justin Reid’s presence with a big hit out of bounds. The Chiefs’ back end continued attacking, but the Eagles had answers — marching into the red zone with chunk pass completions.
A big run got Philadelphia to the two-yard line, but a tackle for loss by safety Juan Thornhill forced third and short; they did convert, with a run that nearly scored. After that, quarterback Jalen Hurts punched in a quarterback sneak to take the early 7-0 lead.
After a three-yard run to start, quarterback Patrick Mahomes used play action from under center to get tight end Travis Kelce open across the middle for 20 yards. After an eight-yard scramble by Mahomes, the Chiefs hurried to the line — then handed off to running back Isiah Pacheco for a breakaway 24-yard run.
From just inside the red zone, Mahomes went to Kelce on an out and up — and Philadelphia’s defender was left behind for an 18-yard touchdown. The game was tied at seven after a quick answering drive.
The Eagles backed themselves up to start their next drive, then linebacker Leo Chenal kept them behind the sticks with a great tackle on an ensuing run. They were forced into third and 14, where good coverage and a relentless pass rush forced a throw away and a punt.
A screen to tight end Noah Gray got the next drive going — although gaining only six yards. Then Eagles’ defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh drew a flag for illegal use of hands, setting up another big completion to Kelce off play action. From the Eagles’ 31-yard line, Kansas City got into third and three, where a tight-window throw on the roll out was knocked away.
It set up a field goal from 42 yards, but kicker Harrison Butker hit the left post and it fell no good.
Trying to hold Philadelphia’s answering drive, the Chiefs had two good tackles in the run game to set up third and four — but defensive end Frank Clark jumped offsides to negate the opportunity. Philadelphia moved the sticks one more time, crossing midfield as the first quarter ended.
Second quarter
Using play action to give themselves a big-play shot, Hurts went deep to wide receiver A.J. Brown in the end zone — who just simply tracked the ball better than cornerback Trent McDuffie and secured a touchdown. The Eagles had a 14-7 lead.
Looking to answer, the Chiefs started with a three-yard loss by Pacheco on a handoff. They couldn’t recover, with a third-down pass to wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster over the middle falling to the ground. It was a disheartening three and out.
The Chiefs’ defense started strong, with linebacker Willie Gay Jr. stuffing a run on first down— which was followed by an open-field tackle by cornerback Jaylen Watson. The blitz appeared to work on third down, but Hurts broke the contain of the rush — finding an open receiver past the sticks.
Kansas City forced a third down a few snaps later, which was backed up by a false start — but that wasn’t the worst part of it for Philadelphia. Hurts fumbled on the designed run, giving linebacker Nick Bolton a chance to scoop and score. He did just that, going 36 yards and tying the game at 14-14.
The Eagles picked up where they left off, moving the chains a few times with quick passes and Hurts’ rushing ability as they entered Chiefs’ territory. However, Kansas City forced a fourth down — but a designed run by Hurts made it not better; he gained 28 yards and got inside the red zone.
Philadelphia worked themselves into another fourth down, this time with two yards to go from the six-yard line — but defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi jumped into the neutral zone and gave the Eagles another chance. From there, Hurts punched it in and gave the Eagles a 21-14 lead.
The Chiefs used two plays to gain 10 yards, give themselves a fresh set of downs before the two-minute warning hit.
A false start call on left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. put the Chiefs in third and 15. A three-man rush forced Mahomes to move around and scramble, but he was tripped up and tackled for a stop. The Chiefs had to punt with 90 seconds to go in the half.
After the Chiefs’ punt coverage allowed a big return, the Eagles looked to take advantage with a big pass to DeVonta Smith down the sideline — but a lengthy review showed that it was an incomplete pass. The Eagles had less than a minute and just under 50 yards to go, and got closer with a big completion to A.J. Brown.
After a few more plays, the Eagles settled for a 35-yard field goal — pushing the score to 24-14 at halftime.
Third quarter
After a touchback, a gimpy Mahomes started with a under-center handoff to Pacheco — who gained seven yards on the play; he gained two yards on the following play. With a third and short, the Chiefs put running back Jerick McKinnon at full back and used him on their traditional fullback dive to pop off for 14 yards. That was followed by a great catch by Kelce, gaining 11 and getting into Philadelphia territory.
Mahomes gave reason to not worry about his ankle when he moved in the pocket and found Justin Watson on the run for a significant play — then made a vintage scramble to set Kansas City up inside the five yard line. After a quick pass to McKinnon, a handoff to Pacheco gave the Chiefs a very important touchdown. The score was narrowed to 24-21 with just over 10 minutes left in the third quarter.
After a touchback, Philadelphia nearly started with disaster on what looked like another scoop and score for Bolton — but a review called it incomplete. They got it to third and six, but a very accurate throw by Hurts beat tight coverage by Justin Reid and moved the chains. They did so one more time, now in Kansas City territory.
After a shot on second down that was nearly complete, the Eagles faced third and nine — then third and 14 when a flag for delay of game was called. From the Chiefs’ 48-yard line, Hurts wove a tight window throw to tight end Dallas Goedert to convert.
After forcing the Eagles to go all four downs for their next fresh set of downs, the Chiefs’ defense got to a third and long — thanks to a chasedown sack by defensive tackle Khalen Saunders and another forced incompletion by the defense. On the attempt, Hurts threw it short — and Bolton wrapped up the ball carrier to force a field goal attempt. A successful kick stretched their lead to 27-21.
A slant to wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster got the drive going, then Pacheco ran for 20 yards between two plays to set Kansas City up at the Eagles’ 44-yard line to begin the final period of regulation.
Fourth quarter
With plenty of time in the pocket on a first-down drop back, Mahomes found Smith-Schuster for 14 yards over the middle — then again for 13 yards to get inside the Eagles’ 15-yard line. From there, two short gains put Kansas City in third and 3; coach Andy Reid reached in to his bag of tricks and pulled out a fake jet motion that left wide receiver Kadarius Toney wide open for an easy touchdown. The Chiefs had a 28-27 lead with 12 minutes to go.
Needing a stop, the Chiefs’ defense did what it needed to do — forcing pressure on all three drop backs of the drive ending in a three and out. It eventually led to a punt, one that Kadarius Toney returned all the way to the Eagles’ five-yard line.
Two attempts at scoring failed, putting the Chiefs in third and goal from the four-yard line; on the same play that got Toney in the end zone a few minutes prior, wide receiver Skyy Moore faked out the Eagles’ defense and scored an easy touchdown. Suddenly, the Chiefs led 35-27 with over nine minutes to go.
The Eagles wasted no time driving down the field, getting into position to tie this game. Hurts beat a blitz on third and five with a slant that showed Brown beating Sneed to get separation. On the next play, Smith got behind Sneed for a deep ball down the sideline that set up a short touchdown run by Hurts. On the two-point attempt, Hurts punched it in as well — tying the game at 35-35.
After a first-down completion to Smith-Schuster, the Chiefs got into a third and one with a short gain by Kelce. Pacheco — who had just gotten up slow after a big hit — took an outside handoff and went 10 yards, crossing into Eagles’ territory. Mahomes dropped back on the following play, didn’t like what he saw, and took off up field for a gutsy 26-yard run. It led to the two-minute warning, with Kansas City in the red zone.
The Chiefs worked the situation into third down, where a defensive holding call bailed them out of an incomplete pass. McKinnon took a carry to the one-yard line on the next play, forcing the Eagles to take their last timeout and trying to kill what was roughly 90 seconds left. The Chiefs set up fourth and eight, taking a timeout with 11 seconds on the game clock. It was a 27-yard field goal, one that Butker made to take a 38-35 lead with eight seconds to go.
Injuries
Patrick Mahomes was tripped up on a scramble late in the first half, coming up gimpy on the ankle that he injured this postseason. Backup quarterback Chad Henne began to warmup immediately after.
Special Teams
Kicker Harrison Butker nailed his first attempt at the point-after kick in the first quarter. Later in that period, he had a 42-yard kick to hit — but pushed it left for a miss. In the second quarter, he nailed his second kick — then hit his third attempt in the third quarter. To start the fourth quarter, Butker hit both of his kicks.
Then, Butker was set up for a game-winning field goal with 11 seconds to go in the fourth quarter. He nailed the 27-yard kick.
Punter Tommy Townsend booted his first punt 48 yards, returned eight yards in Eagles’ territory during the second quarter. His second attempt went 50, but was returned for 27 yards in a crucial spot late in the second quarter.
Punt returner Kadarius Toney gained 12 yards on his first punt return, midway through the first quarter.
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