Sunday’s Super Bowl saw the culmination of another season of NFL football. The Philadelphia Eagles toppled the three-peat chasing Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in a dominant showcase of their abundant talent on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. 

Coming from someone who forced themselves to watch the whole game (despite the overwhelming calls to sleep during a fairly meaningless fourth quarter), this is a review of the game in its totality, covering The Matchup, The Game and The Aftermath. Whilst it is fair to say that the action of the game itself was underwhelming, much can still be learned from how the game defied our expectations, and the reaction from these two teams and the wider NFL going forward.

The Matchup

The build-up to the game crowded around the ‘unstoppable force vs immovable object’ matchup of Kansas City’s offence against the Eagles’ defence. The Chiefs’ offence was championed by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the play-calling of the legendary Andy Reid, whereas the Philadelphia defence was a unit loaded with young talent under the direction of renowned defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. 

This appeared to be the ultimate battle of ‘strength vs strength’. The Eagles were faced with the task of stopping a Mahomes-led offence in a Super Bowl, a feat only ever achieved once before. That occasion came in 2021 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Chiefs 31-9 in a historic beat down. Plaudits that day came showering onto Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who secured a record-extending seventh Super Bowl ring. But it was the dominance of the Tampa Bay defence, especially in generating devastating levels of pressure on Mahomes, that allowed for such a victory. 

But the Chiefs heading into Sunday’s game were not the same team they were in 2021. They resembled a more balanced offence, bigger and stronger than previously, yet still retaining the offensive core in Mahomes, Reid, and tight end Travis Kelce that had brought them to the promised land before. This new offence had led to Super Bowl rings in 2023 and 2024, the former being against the Philadelphia Eagles themselves, and showed little signs of being truly vulnerable. To truly dominate the Chiefs offence in 2025 would be an impossible task… right?

The Game

The day for Kansas City on offence started with them being stopped after 4 plays for a total of 12 yards. First drive of the game—no big deal. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts then led his offence marching down the field, culminating in their patented “tush push” for an easy touchdown. 7-0 Eagles. Kansas City’s response? 3 plays for 7 yards. Eagles get the ball back. After another wasteful drive, the Chiefs get the ball with the score now 10-0 Philadelphia. Desperation is beginning to creep in for Mahomes. On a critical third down, he tries to force the ball over the middle of the field to veteran wide-receiver DeAndre Hopkins, only for his pass to be intercepted by Eagles’ rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean. DeJean races down the sideline, breaks a tackle, and prances into the endzone for an Eagles defensive touchdown. 17-0. The pre-game script had been completely flipped.

That moment stands out as a critical one, but overall, the story of this Super Bowl was not one of a few key moments; it was defined by sustained dominance from Philadelphia on both offence and defence. The score at halftime was Eagles 24-0 Chiefs. The game was all but over at that point already, barring a truly historic performance. But such a performance never materialised, and the final score is really a flattering one for the Chiefs, who scored 16 of their 22 points in a fourth quarter where Philadelphia had sent all of their star players to the bench due to how assured their victory was. 

A few stats (per ESPN Stats & Info) is perhaps the best way to demonstrate the extent of Philly’s dominance, especially in that swashbuckling first half:

  • The Eagles had more points in the first half than Kansas City had yards gained (24 points vs 23 total yards).
  • The Eagles pressured Mahomes on 47% of all drop backs, meaning on effectively half of Mahomes’ plays, he had to navigate around a 300 lb defensive lineman barrelling down on him.
  • The Chiefs’ running backs combined for 24 rushing yards on the day. Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts ran for three times this figure alone, totalling 72 rushing yards on the day and breaking his own Super Bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback in the process.

At no point was this game close. A suffocating display of dominance from Philadelphia.

The Aftermath

The overarching conclusion? Defence wins championships. Full stop.

Of course, this is mostly just an urban legend at this point. Team success around the NFL for the past five to ten years has largely been based on the explosive nature of offence, and this is unlikely to change off the back of one game. Kansas City’s offseason will likely revolve around retooling their offensive line and receiving weapons, safe in the knowledge that Pat Mahomes is unlikely to ever have a game as bad as this again. 

But in Philadelphia, we now have a team that looks set to dominate for years to come, not thanks to its offence (although the Eagles’ offence is still a powerful unit), but thanks to its defence. Yet another team has crushed the dynasty that is the Kansas City Chiefs in a Super Bowl, with the credit going to defensive excellence. 

So maybe philosophies of team building do change slightly. The NFL is famously a copy-cat league; maybe the arms race of stacking offensive talent does slightly subside, making way for teams loading their defence with young, hungry superstars. All this is easier said than done, but as the 2025 Super Bowl champion Eagles celebrate, expect teams to attempt to replicate their formula of a good offence, but a historic defence.