They blew it.
The Super Bowl was right there for the taking. The Eagles led by ten points at halftime. The offense was cruising, and Patrick Mahomes was ailing on the sidelines.
It was right freaking there.
And they blew it.
You can complain all you want about the holding call on James Bradberry in the closing minutes. Was it a weak call? Yes. Did it pretty much give the Chiefs the win? Yes.
But it never should have mattered.
The bottom line is, Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid made the Eagles defense look like a flock of birds with buckets stuck on their heads. They had no coverage the entire second half. Their league-renowned pass rush was non-existent.
Bad special teams killed them. Red zone defense killed them. Jalen Hurts, despite his legendary performance, gave up a fumble return TD that killed them.
That one will haunt Philly for ages.
I don’t know where the Eagles go from here. The young talent is strong, but so many other players are going to be free-agents this offseason. Howie Roseman will have to pull off some of his magic to keep as much of this roster together as possible.
It will be a long time before the Eagles have a roster this talented again. That’s why it’s so important to win these championships when you get the chance. And in this case, everybody knew the Eagles would win if they just didn’t screw themselves over.
Obviously, that didn’t happen. The Eagles became the third Philadelphia sports team in 99 days to lose a championship.
This city, man.
This loss will go down as one of the most devastating losses in the history of Philadelphia sports. There have been many agonizing losses over the years, but no loss has ever seemed so… wrong. The Eagles have played to near perfection all year long. They were supposed to be the ones dancing in the green confetti with the Lombardi.
Instead, they had a slow walk off the field as red and yellow confetti fell over them. Their locker room was silent, with a feeling of disbelief in the air. The once rowdy Eagles fans trudged out of the stadium like they were leaving a funeral.
It wasn’t supposed to end this way.
Despite all the good vibes and good times over the past few months, Philly sports are back. Three straight championships lost in three months. I suppose we thought things were finally different. In reality, the more things changed, the more things stayed the same.
Welcome to Philadelphia. We are losers. Again.
“Philly Sports Rundown,” written by Jon Wenger, takes you through the ride of Philly sports each week. Wenger discusses the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, or Flyers, as they look to bring a championship home to Philadelphia.