Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes take responsibility for Super Bowl loss: ‘We’ll learn from this’

Reid and Mahomes discuss what went wrong for Chiefs in their 40-22 Super Bowl loss vs. the Eagles.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ bid for a historic three-peat ended in heartbreak Sunday, as they fell to the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-22, in Super Bowl LIX.

In an anticlimactic end to a promising season, the Chiefs saved their worst performance for last as the Eagles outplayed them in every phase of the game. After the loss, head coach Andy Reid shouldered the blame while crediting Philadelphia for their dominant performance.

“Today was a rough day,” Reid said in his postgame remarks. “We didn’t really play well in any of the phases. I didn’t coach good enough. They did a nice job… We’ll learn from this. Like most games here, when you don’t do very well, you learn from it as a coach, you learn from it as a player, and you move on.”

Perhaps the most significant factor in the Chiefs’ loss was turnovers. Though Kansas City struck first in this department with safety Bryan Cook intercepting Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts in the first quarter, the Chiefs quickly found themselves on the wrong side of the turnover battle, with three turnovers in total, all courtesy of quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

His two first-half interceptions proved especially costly. Both led to Philadelphia touchdowns, and the Chiefs quickly found themselves in a demoralizing 24-0 hole by halftime.

“When you give a team 14 points, especially a really good football team, a Super Bowl football team, then not a lot of good things,” Mahomes explained. “That’s why I take ownership in this loss more than probably any loss in my entire career because I put us in a bad spot. Even though we put up some stats at the end of the game, those stats didn’t really matter because we had already lost the momentum.”

With their offensive struggles in the first half, Mahomes began to press, forcing throws that weren’t there in an attempt to spark his team. While his ability to create something out of nothing is one of the defining traits of his greatness, he admitted afterward that he must learn to take what the defense gives him, even if that means throwing the ball away and avoiding unnecessary risks.

“When defenses are going to play in the shell coverage and stay back and play man on third down, I can’t make bad plays worse,” Mahomes admitted. “That’s something that you saw today is that there’s times when guys aren’t open, and I need to throw the ball away or check it down and let the other guys make plays happen. Sometimes I get where I want to make a big play to spark us, and that’s something that I’ve dealt with my entire career. If I don’t show that I will take what’s there in the game, then the defenses are going to stay in the coverages that they’re in.”

To their credit, the Eagles coaching staff devised the perfect defensive game plan to keep Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense in check. Rather than blitzing, Philadelphia relied on its stout four-man pass rush to generate pressure on Mahomes while allowing the rest of the defense to drop in coverage. This resulted in six sacks for the defense. Reid credited Philadelphia defensive coordinator Vic Fangio with executing a game plan that kept the Chiefs’ offense on its heels all night.

“Vic does a nice job with that defense,” Reid said. “They played well. They have very good players, a good scheme, and they executed better than what we did. They coached better—and that starts with me—and they played better.”

Instead of celebrating another championship, the Chiefs are left with a long offseason of reflection. Their dynasty aspirations are temporarily put on hold as Kansas City regroups and reloads for another run. As for Mahomes, the loss may be a bitter end to the season, but the superstar quarterback seems more determined than ever to use it as fuel heading into next season.

“There’s things that I have to get better at, and they kind of showed today on the biggest stage,” Mahomes said. “I’m going to find a way this offseason to combat what defenses are doing to me as far as rush lanes and different coverages that they’re playing. That’s the beauty of football. You can never be satisfied with just coming out there and playing, thinking you’re going to have success, year in and year out. These defenses are going to continue to get better, so I have to get better. I take a lot of ownership in that, and I want to hopefully come back and play better football next season.”