It was time. Super Bowl Sunday was due this sort of snoozefest.
We’d been fortunate lately. Last three of these things had been decided by a field goal. Good games and entertainment and high drama. But us middle-aged folks, what the Philadelphia Eagles did by humbling the Kansas City Chiefs, we used to see that all the time. The NFC team would go out there and beat the snot out of the poor AFC hopeful. Didn’t matter which Hall of Famer the AFC team had at quarterback.
Dan Marino got a crack at it, lost by three touchdowns and never made another Super Bowl. Jim Kelly had four tries, and three weren’t all that close. Before he finally won a couple of Lombardis prior to retiring, a young John Elway lost three Super Bowls in four years by an average of 32 points.
Time and again, we’ve seen how it takes more than a special quarterback to win it all.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes isn’t all the Chiefs have had in their dynasty days. It’d just started to feel more like that this season, leaving the marquee for Sunday, to many, as Mahomes vs. the Eagles: The better quarterback against the better team in all areas except quarterback.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Given Mahomes’ penchant for heroics in high-profile moments, it’s understandable how many arrived at this Super Bowl expecting he’d outshine Jalen Hurts and that difference would eventually decide the game.
Nah.
It was time for football to subtly remind everyone — including the Tennessee Titans (along with that No. 1 draft pick our local pro football team is holding) — that despite the singular significance of a quarterback to any team’s success, even that position isn’t a kingmaker or deal-breaker by itself. Someone must block and tackle.
Because this sport, no matter how much it evolves, still gets decided in the trenches.
After Sunday’s 40-22 thumping, Mahomes is 3-2 in Super Bowls. Both defeats were similar in that Kansas City could do little offensively because of how much it was overwhelmed up front, leaving Mahomes vulnerable and not himself. The 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl because they had Tom Brady. The Bucs won because their defense was outstanding, and their pass rush never let Mahomes get comfortable enough to work magic.
Same thing with the Eagles.
This time, Brady was doing color commentary for FOX (something he shouldn’t get to do as part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, but that’s a topic for another day) when he pointed out how Mahomes rightfully wasn’t trusting his protection. That was about the time Mahomes threw two awful first-half interceptions to accelerate the rout.
But that rout was already in motion. Don’t let a few cosmetic late touchdowns by KC dilute the memories of how non-competitive this Super Bowl was from the beginning. In seven first-half possessions, the Chiefs got one first down and 13 net yards. At halftime, the Eagles had a 13-1 edge in first downs, and then Philly went out and scored on its first four possessions of the second half.
The reminder — and, yes, we were due for one with the omnipresent Chiefs — was that Mahomes, while undeniably gifted, is not unbeatable. He, too, can be rattled when a defense gets after him. He, too, can make sloppy mistakes as he starts giving away an important game.
Meanwhile, if a team is outstanding enough on defense and everywhere else, it’s more than capable of cruising to a Super Bowl ring with a middle-tier quarterback like Hurts, a former second-round pick who was taken No. 53 in the 2020 draft.
Philly took Hurts 24 spots below where the Titans busted on Isaiah Wilson that year. And Hurts went 20 spots below where the Titans drafted Will Levis in 2023.
The NFL is a copycat league. Each year, a new Super Bowl champion gives a blueprint to others, especially the worst teams looking for a glimmer of hope.
The Eagles’ lessons are about excellence across the board, consistently making the right decisions to gradually add the right playmakers to make a difference. They are about the offensive line and defense and physicality up front — something the Titans did pretty well up until a few years ago, but definitely not anymore.
To that end, I’d say the Eagles just flashed a big “trade down” sign in the Titans’ direction. They told the Titans that it probably wouldn’t be a great idea to reach for a quarterback with a first overall pick when your roster stinks everywhere else. A valuable reminder, I’d say.
Like I said, it was time.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
