The matchup is now set for Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, February 9, to be played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The American Football Conference Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, will continue their pursuit for three consecutive Lombardi’s when they face the National Football Conference Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. It will be a rematch of Super Bowl LVII when the Chiefs won on a Harrison Butker field goal in a 38-35 shootout. Before we look ahead to the big game, we will review how we arrived at this star- studded matchup.
Eagles 55-Commanders 23
The Commanders started the game with a methodical 18-play drive down the field, converting two 4th downs to get into field goal range. It was a surprise to see Coach Dan Quinn electing to take the three-point field goal instead of converting another fourth-down attempt. The Eagles offense kicked into high gear on the first play when MVP candidate Saquon Barkley scampered 60 yards for a touchdown to take a 7-3 lead. Things went from bad to worse on the next drive when Zack Baun punched out a ball from Dyami Brown. The Eagles cashed in, and Barkley finished it off with a 4-yard touchdown run. The Commanders had to respond, and it began on fourth down with a fake punt and a pitch and catch for the conversion. The drive led to a much-needed field goal to draw closer at 14-6.
The Eagles’ next drive led to a missed field goal attempt, and the Commanders capitalized by driving down the field. It culminated with a Jayden Daniels 36-yard touchdown to Terry McLaurin. The Eagles quickly squashed the momentum through back-to-back touchdown drives while the Commanders pulled off a field goal drive in just 37 seconds. In the second half, the game became one-sided with the Eagles’ defense pouncing on the Commanders’ errors with another fumble, interception, and turnover on downs.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts and Barkley were at the forefront of the rout with seven rushing touchdowns in the matchup. The seven rushing touchdowns against the Commanders matched the 1940 Chicago Bears for the most rushing touchdowns in a playoff game. Interestingly, the Washington franchise was the Bears’ opponent in that game, and they lost 73-0. Despite the loss, Rookie Quarterback Jayden Daniels has a bright future ahead with a franchise he has resurrected in his first season. As for the Eagles, a shot at redemption awaits in the Big Easy.
Chiefs 32-Bills 29
This was another classic encounter between Kansas City and Buffalo in the Mahomes-Allen era. Despite an early fumble in this game, the Chiefs seized the momentum by taking a 21-10 lead before halftime. However, Allen responded to the challenge by driving his team down the field and delivering a 34-yard strike to Mack Hollins to score a touchdown. Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls for the Bills in this game was their predictable execution of their fourth down and two-point conversion attempts. Kansas City was prepared for the Josh Allen sneak on the left side of the land and stopped it on a few occasions.
The Bills took the lead in the second half with James Cook punching it in with an acrobatic finish to break the goal line and give the Bills a 22-21. After shutting down the Chiefs to a 3-and-out, the Bills looked to extend their lead. In one of the controversial moments of the game, a Dalton Kinkaid catch on third down looked close to the marker, while another Josh Allen sneak appeared to be enough but ruled a turnover on downs. Mahomes made the Bills by leading a drive and getting a touchdown with his legs.
On the other hand, the Bills responded with Allen finding Curtis Samuel at the back of the end zone with a touchdown pass on 4th& Goal to tie the game at 29-29. With only 6 minutes left, the game came down to the final three drives. Surprisingly, the Bills’ defense stood tall in the red zone by holding the Chiefs to a field goal. It means that Allen had the dream scenario of trying to drive his team down the field for the game-winning score.
Instead, the dream was shattered on a 4th and five from the Bills 47-yard line when Chiefs Defensive Coordinator dialed up a cornerback blitz which forced Allen to throw the ball early and somehow located Kinkaid again. However, the Tight End failed to reel in the catch despite getting both hands to the ball. The Chiefs iced the game through a Mahomes to Samaje Perine catch-and-run on 3rd down. Allen lost another heartbreaker and is now 0-4 against Mahomes in the playoffs. The Bills will be haunted by the what-ifs, but the Chiefs will be looking forward to their shot at history.