Mahomes leads way as Kansas City storms back to beat Eagles in Super Bowl LVII

Patrick Mahomes was magical when Kansas City desperately needed him to pull off another Super Bowl comeback.

Kansas City won its second NFL title in four years and two-time NFL MVP Mahomes earned his second Super Bowl MVP award.

"I thought guys just embraced the moment," Mahomes said about rallying from a 10-point halftime deficit. "In that first half, we were playing and doing some good stuff, but I felt like the guys were getting consumed by everything around us."

Mahomes and Jalen Hurts excelled in the first Super Bowl matchup featuring two Black starting QBs. But Mahomes turned it up in the second half after reaggravating a sprained right ankle.

"It took everybody to win the game," Mahomes shouted as red and yellow confetti littered the field.

Coach Andy Reid, who couldn't win the big game in Philadelphia, beat his former team to earn his second ring with Mahomes and Kansas City.

"We wanted to get this so bad for him," Travis Kelce said. "His legacy in Philly lives on forever. ... There's a lot of pride in knowing that he's had success in two different organizations, but this was the better one."

Controversial defensive holding penalty

With the score tied at 35-35, the Eagles tried to let Kansas City score a touchdown with under two minutes left so they could get the ball back after a defensive holding call on cornerback James Bradberry on third-and-eight gave Kansas City a first down. But Jerick McKinnon slid at the two-yard line, forcing the Eagles to use their last timeout.

"It was holding. I tugged his jersey. I was hoping they would let it slide," Bradberry said.

After Mahomes took a knee twice, Butker nailed his kick, sending thousands of red-clad Kansas City fans into a frenzy.

"It feels amazing just to see the confetti," said Butker, who missed a 42-yarder in the first quarter. "I just tried to focus on one kick and focusing on the process."

Kansas City fans were outnumbered in the stadium.

Down 24-14 with a limping Mahomes, Kansas City (17-3) followed up Rihanna's electrifying halftime performance with a sensational offensive outburst.

Mahomes, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the divisional round, hurt it again on a three-yard scramble late in the second quarter. He limped off the field but showed no ill effects on Kansas City's next possession.

Mahomes slipped — several players lost their footing on the natural grass surface — in the pocket yet somehow regained his balance and scrambled 14 yards to the Eagles four-yard line, setting up Isiah Pacheco's one-yard TD run that cut the deficit to 24-21.

Mahomes then tossed a five-yard TD pass to a wide-open Kadarius Toney to give Kansas City its first lead, 28-27, early in the fourth quarter.

After Kansas City tightened up its defence, forcing Philly to punt, Toney returned a line-drive kick 65 yards to the Eagles five-yard line for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history.

On third down from the four-yard line, Mahomes connected with Skyy Moore to extend their lead to 35-27. Moore also was wide open on the play.

But the Eagles wouldn't go away.

Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 45-yard gain to the Kansas City two and ran in for his third score of the game. He also ran in for the two-point conversion to tie it at 35-35 with 5:15 to go.

WATCH | First Nations man performs traditional dance at Super Bowl LVII:

First Nations man performs traditional dance at Super Bowl

2 years ago

Duration 1:49

A man from the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation in Saskatchewan is performing the traditional fancy dance on one of the biggest stages in the world: Super Bowl LVII.

As "Fly! Eagles! Fly!" reverberated throughout the stadium, Mahomes and Kansas City went back to work.

The 27-year-old Mahomes became the third player to win his second NFL MVP award before age 28. He also became the youngest QB to start three Super Bowls. Mahomes finally broke the MVP curse, becoming the first player to win the Super Bowl the same season after nine straight players lost.

Just five years after winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history, the Eagles (16-4) came close with a different coach and new quarterback. Nick Sirianni replaced Doug Pederson in 2021 and Hurts took over for Carson Wentz in late 2020.

Hurts set a Super Bowl record with 70 yards rushing and tied a record with three rushing scores. He also threw for 304 yards and one TD.

"We use this pain, we use this failure to motivate us so we can make it a strength," Sirianni said.

Hurts, who missed two games late in the season with a shoulder injury, had TD runs of one and four yards in the first half along with a 45-yard TD pass to A.J. Brown.

Costly fumble

But Hurts also made a rare mistake when he fumbled without being hit while scrambling away from pressure. Nick Bolton picked it up and raced 36 yards for a score that made it 14-14. Hurts had just eight turnovers this season, six picks and two fumbles.

Mahomes connected with Kelce on an 18-yard TD pass in the right corner to tie it at 7-7 in the first quarter. Kansas City's All-Pro tight end and Eagles All-Pro centre Jason Kelce became the first set of brothers to play against each other in the Super Bowl.

Their mom, Donna Kelce, wore a half-red, half-green jersey with No. 87 on the front for Travis and No. 62 on the back for Jason. She sat in a suite between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Damar Hamlin.

Eagles fans turned State Farm Stadium into a sea of green, chanting "E-A-G-L-E-S!" and singing the team's fight song after each score. But they left disappointed.

Reid won more games than any coach in team history during 14 seasons with the Eagles but the one knock against him was that he couldn't win the big one. Reid finally earned his ring in his seventh season with Kansas City. They went back the next year and lost to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Reid, who turns 65 next month, ended any speculation about his potential retirement.

"If they'll have me, I'll stick around," he said.

The first Super Bowl involving both No. 1 seeds since the Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 in February 2018 lived up to its hype. It was the third-highest scoring Super Bowl and the Eagles scored the most points by a losing team.