Revenge (for) Hurts

I was a neutral fan for this Super Bowl, having no connection to either city, or past allegiance to either team. That was fine to me: I expected a close, entertaining game that I could enjoy completely pressure-free.

It wasn't even close, and for my money, the entertainment came mainly from seeing a defense that found a way to make Patrick Mahomes look mortal during the lopsided first half:

Quarterback Jalen Hurts won the Superbowl in his second attempt against Kansas City. (Image by All-Pro Reels, via Wikimedia Commons, license.)

Seven years after winning their first Vince Lombardi trophy, the Philadelphia Eagles are back on top of the NFL summit. Behind a MVP performance from quarterback Jalen Hurts and a defensive masterclass that harried, hit and harassed Patrick Mahomes into one of the worst games of his career, the Eagles steamrolled to a 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night in New Orleans that wasn't as narrow as the scoreline suggests.

The 59th Super Bowl was the second meeting in three years between Philadelphia and Kansas City on the NFL's biggest stage, with the Eagles still nursing the scars of the first installment: a heart-stopping 38-35 Chiefs win in Arizona in which a hobbled Mahomes orchestrated a near-perfect second half to overturn a 10-point deficit that erased Hurts' career-best performance. This one went the other way -- and wasn't nearly as close.

I don't follow the NFL closely at all, and this was the only game I watched this season, so I was missing the following historic context:

A mere 13 months after the wildest in-season unravelling in NFL history, Nick Sirianni's team, built on physicality, a relentless ground attack and a swarming defense, finally delivered the knockout blow to a Kansas City dynasty that had been eyeing an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title. It was a milestone so difficult that no team had managed to even come within 60 minutes of it until Kansas City this year...

On top of that, this was the first time my son was actively interested in a Super Bowl: He rooted for Philly.

For the sake of higher entertainment value and helping my son get his knowledge of gridiron football up to speed, I'll prepare myself for more than just grilling burgers out back next year.

-- CAV