And, with that, the 2024 NFL season has come to an end. The clock has hit four zeroes, and the Philadelphia Eagles are the Super Bowl LIX champions beating the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22.
After earning their first ever championship since before the 1970 AFL-NFL merger back in 2017, the Eagles have now won two Super Bowls in eight years, not to mention an additional appearance in the game two years ago. That last appearance, a Super Bowl LVII loss to the Chiefs, 38-35, was avenged tonight thanks to a dominant performance from Philadelphia’s defense.
Following that previous Super Bowl loss, the Eagles were a first-round exit last year. This led to a busy offseason that saw them extend the contracts of key offensive players like wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, left tackle Jordan Mailata, and left guard Landon Dickerson. Perhaps most important was the free agent signing of division-rival running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley led the league in rushing, accomplishing the NFL’s first 2,000-yard rushing season since 2020. With the production he had in the offseason, as well, including tonight’s win, Barkley broke the record for most single-season rushing yards including the postseason with 2,504 yards.
The team’s front office did big work on the defensive side of the ball, as well. First, they hired Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator to replace Sean Desai, whom they decided not to retain. Then, they reworked defensive end Josh Sweat‘s contract to keep him around for the year, added free agent pass rusher Bryce Huff across from him, and signed huge contributors in linebacker Zack Baun and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Perhaps most crucial to the defense were the first- and second-round draft additions of cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, the former of which finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting and the latter of which returned a Patrick Mahomes interception 38 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter of tonight’s game.
The Eagles’ dominance on defense was felt not only in the secondary but all over the field. In addition to interceptions by DeJean and Baun, Philadelphia racked up six sacks, 11 quarterback hits, and six tackles for loss without blitzing a single snap, per James Palmer of Bleacher Report. The offense spread out the ball well but, ultimately, didn’t do much, as they weren’t really asked to. Fangio and his unit were the unofficial MVPs of the game; quarterback Jalen Hurts was the official Super Bowl LIX Most Valuable Player.
The Eagles season had an up and down start. They opened up the year with a win over the Packers in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before dropping two of their next three games. Following an early Week 5 bye, Philadelphia established what their identity would be, rattling off 10 straight wins. An injury to Hurts resulted in their only loss after September as backups Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee took over for the remainder of the season. A loss at quarterback wasn’t too detrimental, though, as the NFL’s No. 2 rushing offense was able to continue carrying the NFL’s 29th-best passing offense.
Tonight’s Super Bowl win was a microcosm of what the team’s defense had done all year. Fangio’s defense finished second in the NFL in scoring defense and was the top defense in total yards thanks to a passing defense that had the Eagles as the only team in the NFL not to allow 3,000 passing yards this year. The Eagles blitzed at a rate that was the fifth-least in the NFL in 2024, but that strategy didn’t really pay dividends until tonight as the team was fifth-worst in pressures during the regular season, as well.
This year, the Chiefs were the Chiefs. Despite a down year from Mahomes and injuries that held the team without one or both of wide receivers Rashee Rice and Marquise Brown for most of the season, the Chiefs won 15 games. They were buoyed a bit by a top-four scoring defense and the ninth-best total defense, but Mahomes’ clutch abilities were able to extend an already existing streak of wins in one-score games to 17 straight. 
The Chiefs’ goals of being the first threepeat in NFL history will now start over. They’ll expect to return Rice alongside this year’s first-round rookie, Xavier Worthy, next year, but receivers DeAndre Hopkins, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, and Brown are all destined for the free agent market. Also, with Kareem Hunt and Samaje Perine both in contract years, the Chiefs will have to decide how to approach the running backs group with only Isiah Pacheco and Carson Steele returning. Aside from that, a number of aging veterans like tight end Travis Kelce (36), left tackle Joe Thuney (33), and defensive tackle Chris Jones (31) may be starting to mull ideas about their future in the NFL.
As for the Eagles, while they will undoubtedly bask in the glow of this victory a little longer, their offseason awaits, as well. Key defenders like Sweat, Baun, cornerback Avonte Maddox, and defensive tackle Milton Williams are all facing free agency, not to mention veteran defensive end Brandon Graham, who, at 36 years old, has already indicated that retirement is in the cards. On offense, starting guard Mekhi Becton will be a free agent, and similar to Graham, right tackle Lane Johnson is 35 and could be thinking about walking out on top, as well. You can add 34-year-old cornerback Darius Slay and maybe even 32-year-old safety James Bradberry to that conversation, as well. Though, Slay spoke of wanting to play one more season.
For now, though, the Eagles will celebrate the accomplishments of the group they have. Led by stars familiar (Hurts, Brown, Smith) and new (Barkley) on offense, and a stout defense with consistent defensive line play, surprise contributors in the second level, and rising stars in the secondary.
While offensive coordinator Kellen Moore may end up getting poached to become the new head coach in New Orleans, the city that just got a front-row seat to see him win a Super Bowl, the rest of the staff, including Fangio and Super Bowl-winning head coach Nick Sirianni will focus on reloading and taking a shot at being the first NFC team to repeat as Super Bowl Champions since the Cowboys did so in the 1992 and 1993 seasons.
Rigged.
Okay, Roger Goodell, whatever you say, man
How so???
How so?
You’re a moron.
@Randy
I don’t know if it was or not, but if the Chefs were going to play the way that they did, I would have rather had the Bills as the AFC Reps
I think that we all (possibly including KC fans) would have liked to have seen what the Bills could have done instead. Even the Ravens or Texans could have been intriguing if KC was going to go down in such a fashion (no offense to Chiefs fans-at least you have recent good memories to celebrate).
LOL sure
TFG jinxed them and then left the stadium.
WINNER
Best super bowl ever
How so? As a neutral observer it was one of the most boring games in recent memory – it was over before halftime.
For anyone everyone who is sick of the Chiefs, this game was very entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the golden boy get embarrassed on the biggest stage
Congrats to the Eagles and their fans. Helluva game plan and execution by the entire team. Best team this year in NFL. Enjoy it you earned it!
– Signed 49er fan
That was a rough one. The final really makes it look much closer than it was. You have to give Hurts credit for giving credit where it was due-I know that Mahomes wasn’t great this year, and the Chiefs’ offense less so, but that Eagles defense was suffocating throughout the game, even with that considered.
I didn’t think that the Chiefs were going to be able to keep up due to their offensive woes (especially when Reid had to clarify that his All-Pro guard needed to start at LT), but I did expect them to score more than 6 going into the 4th. That was a great job by the Philly front in making Mahomes unable to go through his reads and eventually turn into a panic machine who lost all sense of timing.
Yo! Where the hell have you been? You cannot go silent for such a long time! You are my favorite poster here, and when u go dark I immediately check for recent police shootings! You got me nervous about you!
Lol thanks so much. A lot of working lately, but thank you. I don’t deserve it, surely, but thank you for that.
That final score is hilariously misleading.
Did Philadelphia even blitz at all? That Front Four was relentless!
Sincerely happy for Hurts. I’ve been a “truther” since his college days. Never understood why his accomplishments at Alabama & OU haven’t gotten the respect they deserve.
Maybe now the “overrated” detractions will end but probably not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No blitz which 1st time ever. They are 2-3 deep in line crazy talent, KC oline finally took a beating.
I wanted Hurts badly for my Raiders, but Philly stepped up and took when I don’t think he was rated that high.
But his performance at Alabama wasn’t really any worse than Tua’s.
The receipts are there Joe. Same thread where I said I liked the pick. Great minds think alike.
They earned that, glad AJ Brown gets a ring the most. Philly has likable players even if people don’t like their fans.
Perhaps most crucial to the defense were the first- and second-round draft additions of cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean,
===================
I loved them when they were picked. It turned a material weakness into a strength. Same with the Rams picking Verse & other DL dude.
Chiefs get all the calls.
They did all season, but the uproar if that continued in the Super Bowl would have damaged the league’s reputation further. Those refs were under a microscope last night (and for good reason).
Congrats to the Eagles fans on here. Awesome performance.
America won tonight
Watching Mahomes get obliterated on that sack fumble and get a no call after getting bs calls on bad roughing the passer calls all year was icing on the cake.
They curb stomped the Chiefs
Collin Cowherd all week, “ Patrick is gonna pick on those rookie corners the entire game”
Not even sure Cowherd ever played sports. He’s just a talking mouthpiece.
He just says what Nick Wright tells him to. I’m going to love watching Nick lick his wounds today.
Huge if true.
And pundits wanted the eagles to can Sirriani for Belichick
It’s almost as if fans are sometimes overly emotional and ill informed.
You have to give them what they need and not what they want.
Tomlin still needs to go for better or worse.
Hats off to the PHI DL for wrecking the KC OL. Didn’t see that coming. PHI OL handled their business and gave Hurts lots of time.
MVP shoulda been Big Dom!
Swift Kelce breakup looming now that he’s officially a loser. Love it.
If that’s what a loser looks like, I’ll take it.
Congrats eagles
No I did not in fact climb a pole, went straight home 15 min away and resumed adult beverage activity. Don’t remember going to bed. That was really special. 2 in 8 years. Let’s go Phils, you’re up next
I give most of the credit to Howie Roseman. As soon as the Eagles hired Vic Fangio I knew they would turn their defense around and be solid contenders. Then they added Barkley and all the pieces were in place.
It makes Miami look even worse. Their players didn’t want Vic, so the team let him go…
The Chiefs played like a team that truly expected it to just be handed to them.
Hate to say it, but it did look that way for a few of them didn’t it? Speculative of course, but normally you see QBs studying on the sideline to come up with plays or recognize the defensive looks. Mahomes seemingly trotted out there every drive, ran a structure play, and tried to “big play” the Eagles on the next snap and it just didn’t work. It didn’t really seem like a disciplined offensive effort to me at all.
It was the perfect storm. Not taking anything away from Philly but we saw the mediocre offense KC had been for most of the season and the defense having that bad game. When your offense is only called for 20 points a game to win a game, sometimes less, this is the outcome when the defense has a bad game. Maybe some will take “the defense carried KC this year” argument a little more serious now.
Hey, I actually give the defense credit. Into the third, they held Philly to 17 offensive points, all with bad field position handed to the Eagles by the anemic offense. The defense can only hold for so long without first downs from the offense.
Dominant defense…..this is why the Giants would be fools to draft a QB who wouldn’t even be in the top 10 this year with pick #3….if Carter, Hunter, or Graham are there…..that’s the pick…..the Eagles defense was stifling…….and that just set up the offense to pick and choose where they thought they could exploit the Chiefs defense which wasn’t bad…..but they just couldn’t stop them and get off the field….
Hurts was excellent and I wouldn’t argue too hard about the MVP, but Josh Sweat was the real MVP to me. He was disrupting everything at the line & kept Mahomes from getting into any kind of timing and rhythm. Congrats to the Eagles, that was one of the most dominant and well-executed games I’ve seen in the Super Bowl across the board.
I agree with you. I was impressed by Hurts’ performance and given that offensive players usually win the MVP, I’m not surprised he got it. But I said out loud at the end of the first half that Sweat was leading the MVP conversation.
I agree. Sweat was the most effective player on the line, and that line was by far the most effective unit in the game. Hurts did his job, but Sweat and DeJean set the tone for the game with their big plays on the defensive side. Hurts caught up in the second half passing for big plays, but by that point, the Eagles’ defense had already thoroughly suffocated the Chiefs’ offense and the KC defense was exhausted and morally beaten down.
E
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EAGLES!!!
parade Friday