GLENDALE, Ariz. — Instant analysis from the Chiefs’ 38-35 win in Super Bowl LVII:
Sorry, Patriots fans. As much as you don’t want to admit it, there is no denying it — Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and the Chiefs are, yes, a dynasty.
The NFL from 2018-22 is officially property of the Kansas City Chiefs. They hosted the AFC Championship game all five years. They went to three Super Bowls. And now they have two Lombardi Trophies after knocking off the 49ers in 2019 and the Eagles on Sunday night.
It’s not a dynasty in the same sense of the 2000s Patriots, 1980s 49ers, or 1970s Steelers. The Chiefs’ window of success is obviously much shorter.
But the Chiefs are absolutely a dynasty, much like the Cowboys of the early 1990s. And unless Reid decides to hang up his whistle, the Chiefs’ dynasty is nowhere close to wrapping up. Mahomes, only 27 and the winner of two MVPs and two Super Bowl MVPs, is going to have the Chiefs on top of the AFC for a long time.
“I wouldn’t say dynasty yet,” Mahomes said on the podium. “We’re not done.”
⋅ That sound you heard were thousands of TVs being smashed across eastern Pennsylvania after James Bradberry was called for a ticky-tack defensive holding call inside the final two minutes. The penalty gave the Chiefs a free first down and allowed them to take all but eight seconds off the clock before kicking the game-winning field goal.
The officiating was mostly good on Sunday night — or at least got out of the way — but that was a terrible call to make at that point in the game. JuJu Smith-Schuster had no chance of catching that pass, and the penalty was questionable at best. You hate to see the game determined by an officiating judgment call, but it is an appropriate way to end the 2022 season.
⋅ Of all the great coach-quarterback combinations in the NFL, Reid-Mahomes reigns supreme. We already know that Mahomes is an electric playmaker with one of the strongest throwing arms on the planet. But he proved Sunday night that he is one of the toughest players in the NFL, too. Playing on a high ankle sprain, Mahomes completed 21 of 27 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns, but also had nine rushes for 44 yards, including a season-high 26 yarder. Twice Mahomes re-injured his ankle, and both times he shook off the pain and continued on.
Reid also proved his big-game bona fides again on Sunday night, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit with a great offensive game plan. The Chiefs scored three straight touchdowns in the second half thanks not to Mahomes’ arm, but to their run game, which gained 158 yards and averaged 6.1 yards per carry. Reid also confused the Eagles twice with the same red zone play, resulting in two walk-in touchdowns.
Mahomes and Reid are both very much at the top of their games. The Chiefs are set up for many years of success.
⋅ What a terrific platform for two tough, gutsy quarterbacks. Mahomes’ 26-yard scramble on a sprained ankle will go down as one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history. Jalen Hurts played like a warrior through his shoulder injury, throwing for 304 yards, rushing for a Super Bowl-record 70 yards, and combining for four touchdowns. Hurts also showed impressive mental toughness in overcoming his lost fumble — he came right back with scrambles of 14, 28, and 4 yards for the score.
The game was a tremendous showcase of two of the game’s best young quarterbacks.
⋅ The Chiefs’ offensive line was probably the biggest reason for their win. Facing one of the best pass rushes in NFL history — the Eagles’ 70 sacks in the regular season were third-most in NFL history — the Chiefs allowed zero sacks and just five QB hits on 27 drop-backs, keeping Mahomes clean and healthy on that sprained ankle. And the ground game was dominant, with Isiah Pacheco rushing for 76 yards on 5.1 yards per carry and ripping off several big runs in the second half.
Props to Reid and the Chiefs for realizing that the Eagles’ terrific defense ranked only 24th in the NFL in average yards per carry allowed (4.6).
⋅ Sunday night we saw why the Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson during the season. It is baffling why he traded A.J. Brown during last year’s draft. Brown was a superstar for the Eagles this year — 88 catches for 1,496 yards and 11 touchdowns — and he did it again in the Super Bowl, catching six passes for 96 yards, including a 45-yard score in the first half. Brown outplayed two defenders for the ball and showed yet again that he is the best deep-ball receiver in the NFL.
The Eagles gave Brown a four-year, $100 million contract, and he proved to be worth every penny.
⋅ It was appropriate that the final game of the NFL season featured multiple controversial instant replay decisions. Walt Anderson took over five minutes to determine that Devonta Smith didn’t complete a catch in the second quarter. He took a Chiefs fumble return TD off the board that certainly could have gone in their favor. And he gave the Eagles’ Dallas Goedert a catch on the sideline when it looked like he didn’t get both feet down before securing the catch.
Whether or not Anderson got the calls right, if it takes five minutes or several slow-motion replay angles to figure it out, the call on the field should stand.
⋅ The NFL should be embarrassed with the poor quality of the field, specifically how difficult it was for the players to get consistent footing. Players were slipping all over the place, whether it was Skyy Moore getting cut down on a jet sweep, Patrick Mahomes stumbling in the pocket, or Pacheco nearly injuring his knee in the end zone during his touchdown celebration for the Chiefs, or Eagles kicker Jake Elliott falling down on his kickoff attempt.
Most of the slippage appeared to occur on the oversized Super Bowl LVII logos that covered 15 yards on each end of the field. But the NFL also used an experimental hybrid grass that was developed by the US Golf Association, and it was a mess. Hurts smartly changed his cleats in the second quarter to account for the poor footing.
The NFL might want to shrink those logos a bit for next Super Bowl. And get rid of the experimental grass. A synthetic surface would probably be better for the championship game.
Read more about the Super Bowl
- Chiefs 38, Eagles 35: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City roar back to win second title in four seasons
- Rob Gronkowski misses field goal in live Super Bowl commercial
- Meet Leominster’s Noah Gray, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.