Super Bowl LIX: American rapper Kendrick Lamar enthrals New Orleans crowd as Philadelphia Eagles down Kansas City Chiefs to clinch title

The Philadelphia Eagles brought down Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LIX at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, thus ending the Chiefs’ bid for a historic three-peat. Jake Elliot and Jalen Hurts were the standout performers for the Eagles, who clinched just their second Super Bowl title in history and their first since 2017.

American rapper Kendrick Lamar headlined the half-time show at Super Bowl LIX and performed hits “Humble”, “DNA” and “Peekaboo”. Actor Samuel L Jackson, who introduced himself to the crowd as “your Uncle Sam”, was the emcee of Lamar’s show. Tennis legend Serena Williams also made a special appearance during the show.

As it happened | Super Bowl LIX, Philadelphia Eagles vs Kansas City Chiefs

It was sweet revenge for Nick Sirianni’s team who had suffered an agonising Super Bowl defeat to the Chiefs two years ago in Arizona.

While much of the focus before the game had been on Philadelphia’s running game, Hurts showed the other side of his game throwing for two touchdowns and 221 yards and running in another score in a brilliant performance.

The Chiefs were able to largely limit the impact of the Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley but they managed precious little else on either side of the ball. For all the talk of the Chiefs rising to become the greatest dynasty in the NFL, this was, instead, the kind of loss that can tarnish a legacy.

Mahomes’ status as one of the great quarterbacks is already secure but he had a night to forget throwing two interceptions, giving up a turnover on a fumble and was sacked six times.

Right from the outset, the Eagles were dominant and they opened their account on their second drive when Hurts found Jahan Dotson wide right with a perfectly floated 28-yard pass. Dotson was ruled to have gone down just short of the end-zone but predictably on the next play, the Eagles pushed Hurts over the line for the score.

Eagles swarming

The Eagles defense was swarming all over the Chiefs offensive line and Mahomes struggled to get any kind of momentum. At the start of the second quarter, a Hurts pass intended for AJ Brown was superbly intercepted by safety Bryan Cook but again the Chiefs were forced to punt.

A 48-yard Jake Elliott field goal made it 10-0 but much worse was to come for Kansas City. Mahomes fired up the middle towards DeAndre Hopkins but didn’t spot Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean who, anticipating the pass, sprinted infield and grabbed the pick and sprinted 38 yards for the touchdown.

At 17-0 down, the Chiefs badly needed to find something on offense but instead Mahomes was intercepted again with the diving Zack Baun making the play. On the resulting possession, Hurts took full advantage of a Chiefs defense in disarray, finding a wide-open Brown for a 12-yard score that sent the Eagles in with a 24-0 lead.

The stats told the story of a disastrous first half for Mahomes and the Chiefs - he was sacked three times and managed just 34 yards passing, completing six of 14 attempts. The Chiefs had 23 total yards offense and 20 net pass yards in the first half – the second worst of any team in Super Bowl history.

All 13 other teams to have been shutout in the first half of a Super Bowl went on to lose the game and the Chiefs attempt to avoid being the 14th required a bright start to the second half.

But the Eagles were in no mood to relent—a 29-yard Elliott field goal maintained the momentum for Philadelphia and then Hurts delivered the killer blow with a magnificent 46-yard hurl down field to DeVonta Smith for a touchdown that made it 34-0.

That finally sparked a reaction from the Chiefs with Mahomes finding receiver Xavier Worthy with a 50-yard pass and then finishing off the five-play drive finding Worthy again with a 24-yard touchdown pass. The Eagles were now taking few risks knowing the outcome was in their own hands and they settled for another field goal from Elliott to make it 37-6.

Mahomes misery – and lack of protection - continued when he fumbled as he was sacked by Milton Williams who recovered the ball. A late Chiefs touchdown, Mahomes finding Hopkins on a 12-yard score was barely celebrated by dismayed Chiefs fans in the 65,719 crowd.

Mahomes then added a little more respectability to the score with Mahomes finding Worthy with a 50-yard throw down the middle. The game was long over - the only question now is whether this was the beginning of the end of the Chiefs era?

With inputs from AFP