Heartbreaker: Eagles let Super Bowl 57 lead slip away in devastating 38-35 loss to Chiefs

GLENDALE, Ariz. − Just think, we could be having this kind of Super Bowl for years to come with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes both on top of their games, going toe-to-toe for 60 minutes of non-stop action.

Back and forth they went, all night long.

Mahomes sprained his ankle, wincing in pain late in the first half with his team down 10. But he somehow came out in the second half and engineered three touchdown drives.

Hurts, meanwhile, ran for three touchdowns, threw a beautiful 45-yard bomb to A.J. Brown for one touchdown and set up another TD with a 46-yard strike to DeVonta Smith down to the Chiefs' 1 in the fourth quarter.

Then he ran the ball in for a two-point conversion to tie the game with 5:15 left.

Mahomes, though, came right back one last time, sending the Eagles to a heartbreaking 38-35 loss on Sunday, when Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left.

Just like that, the Eagles headed into the offseason, disappointed despite a season that ended 16-4.

"We work really hard to have this opportunity and to come up short is tough," Hurts said. "There’s always a lot to learn from, the opportunity to reflect on things we didn’t do or could have done."

Then he added: "You either win or you learn."

And the Eagles will have to learn, both from watching Mahomes make play after play on a bad ankle.

On the final drive, Mahomes escaped pressure and ran 26 yards to the Eagles' 18. On 3rd-and-8 from the 16, with just under two minutes left, Mahomes tried throwing to JuJu Smith-Schuster inside the 10. But cornerback James Bradberry was called for holding, giving the Chiefs a new set of downs.

"I was hoping that (referee Carl Cheffers) would let it go," Bradberry said. "But of course, he’s a ref. This is a big game. And it was a hold, so they called it.

"We knew that was kind of a win-or-go-home play right there."

If there was no call, then Butker's go-ahead field goal would've left the Eagles with plenty of time to either tie or win the game.

And Hurts would've loved the chance. He just didn't get it.

“I don’t think this game is defined by one play, one play throughout the game, or one call, or whatever it was," he said.

Instead, the Chiefs drained the clock down to 8 seconds, thanks in part to Jerick McKinnon's heads-up play to slide down at the 1 instead of scoring a touchdown. Butker then made his chip shot.

That sent the Eagles into an uncertain offseason hoping that there is more to come, but knowing there will be changes, both in personnel as upwards of 20 players will be eligible for free agency, and most likely in the coaching staff, too.

Both offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon are finalists for head coaching jobs with Indianapolis and Arizona, respectively.

For now, the Eagles dressed quietly in their locker room, knowing that everything turned on their mistakes − on offense, defense and special teams.

Hurts lost a fumble in the first half that was returned 36 yards by Nick Bolton for a touchdown.

The defense couldn't stop Mahomes on a bum ankle in the second half, and a poor punt and coverage on a 65-yard return by Kansas City's Kadarius Toney got the Chiefs to the Eagles' 5 with 10:11 left in the fourth quarter.

Mahomes found Skyy Moore wide open for a 4-yard TD pass, giving Kansas City a 35-27 lead with 9:22 left.

Yet here came Hurts, going deep down the sideline for Smith down to the 1. Hurts' quarterback sneak and then run on a 2-point conversion tied the game.

But Mahomes had one last chance, and unfortunately he made sure the Eagles didn't.

The offensive stats were like from a pinball game. Mahomes only threw for 182 yards, but had the three TD passes. He also ran for 44 of the toughest yards you'll ever see.

Hurts was just as dominant. He went 27 of 37 for 304 yards and a touchdown. He ran for 70 yards on 15 carries and three TDs.

“If there were any doubters left, there shouldn’t be now,” Mahomes said about Hurts. “The way Jalen stepped on this stage and ran, threw the ball, whatever it took for his team to win, I mean that was a special performance. I don’t want it to get lost in the loss that they had."

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni called it "the best game I’ve seen him play in the two years we’ve been together."

That, of course, will do little to placate Hurts.

More:James Bradberry says he held JuJu Smith-Schuster in Super Bowl but was hoping for no call

More:Patrick Mahomes injured, hobbles off field in pain in Super Bowl

When it started to slip away

The Chiefs' turned it around after Mahomes hurt his ankle on a tackle by T.J. Edwards late in the first half. Mahomes hobbled off to the sideline, wincing in pain and frustration.

Somehow, he came back for the second half. And somehow, he managed to keep scrambling, like on a 14-yard run down to the Eagles' 5 yards line on the Chiefs' first possession. The Chiefs scored, cutting the Eagles' led to 3 points.

Hurts wasn't done either, but the Eagles responded to the Chiefs' touchdown with Jake Elliott's second field goal of the game for a six-point lead.

Mahomes kept going. This time, he found former Toney from 5 yards out with 12:04 left in the fourth quarter.

For the first time, the Eagles trailed 28-27.

More:Eagles and Chiefs players kept slipping because the field at the Super Bowl was a mess

Quick start for both teams

It started out as a shootout, with the Eagles opening the scoring on Hurts' 1-yard run. And then Mahomes quickly answered, twice hitting Travis Kelce for big gains, including an 18-yard TD pass in the back of the end zone.

Then the Eagles found the secret to stopping the Chiefs in the first half: keeping them off the field.

The Eagles held the ball for 21 minutes, 54 seconds in the first half to just 8:06 for the Chiefs. They couldn't do it in the second half.

"They made a bunch of plays, and we weren’t able to get off the field on third down, or get them to 3^rd-and-long," Edwards said. "It’s tough to win when you play the game like that."

But the Eagles also showed their ability to strike quickly. Like when Hurts opened the second quarter with a 45-yard TD pass to Brown, who got himself tangled with Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie, then broke free and caught the ball over his shoulder.

The Chiefs didn't score another offensive touchdown for the rest of the half. But they did tie the game when Hurts tried running and lost control of the ball on 3rd-and-6. The ball ricocheted off Hurts' leg, and the Chiefs' Nick Bolton picked the ball up and ran 36 yards for a touchdown tying the game with 9:39 left in the first half.

“It hurt us," Hurts said. "You never know what play it will be, but it hurt us."

Still, the Eagles responded with a drive that lasted 7 minutes, 19 seconds. That included the gutsy decision by Sirianni to go for it on 4th-and-4 from the Chiefs' 44 in a tie game.

Hurts took off, broke a tackle and picked up 28 yards. The Eagles faced another 4th-and-2 from the Chiefs' 9. This time, the Chiefs jumped offsides and the Eagles had a first down.

They scored on Hurts' 4-yard TD run for a 21-14 lead with 2:20 left. They added a field goal just before the half for a 10-point lead.

How much did this Super Bowl moment mean to Sirianni? The second-year coach was shown on the videoscreen with tears running down his face before the game.

After the game, the Eagles headed into an offseason of change. It was a wildly successful season, but it ended up just short of a championship.

That's what the Eagles will remember most.

"I’m going to remember how this feels, use it as motivation," said tight end Dallas Goedert. "It was a helluva ride that we had this season. We’re all looking forward to next year, building on this run. But right now, it (stinks)."

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @MFrankfnl.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Philadelphia Eagles lose Super Bowl 57 to Kansas City Chiefs, 38-35