KC crumbles under the weight of NFL History

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The Philadelphia Eagles’ resounding victory over the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX will undoubtedly be a pivotal moment in NFL history, sparking numerous discussions and analyses.

The Chiefs were attempting to become the first team in the Super Bowl era to win three straight Vincent Lombardi trophies — named after the man who guided the Green Bay Packers to three consecutive championships in 1965, ’66 and ’67 in the old National Football League — to go along with victories in their first two Super Bowl games.

The NFL/AFL World Championship was renamed the Super Bowl after 1968. Lombardi’s Packers would win a total of five NFL titles in seven years. His only loss in an NFL championship game was to the 1960 Philadelphia Eagles, a 17-13 affair with the game ending with Eagles legendary linebacker “Concrete” Chuck Bednarik tackling Packers running back Jim Taylor and lying on him for the final seconds of the game to secure the NFL title for the Eagles. In today’s NFL, that would be an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Following the game, Lombardi told his team, “That is the last time we will ever lose a championship game.”

After winning NFL titles against the New York Giants in 1961 and 1962, including a 16-7 win in New York, the Packers saw their dream of a third straight NFL title dashed with the news that Paul Hornung, their All-Pro running back, along with Detroit Lions All-Pro defensive lineman Alex Karras, would be suspended for the entire 1963 season for gambling. Hornung and Karras claimed that they only bet on games involving their respective teams and only for, and never against, their teams. The ripple effect of their actions stunned the sports world.

Adam Vinatieri beats the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. PHOTO: NE Patriots/NFL

Minus Hornung, the Packers finished second to the Chicago Bears in conference play in 1963. The Bears went on to beat the N.Y. Giants, 14-10, in the NFL title game at Soldier Field in Chicago. Vince Lombardi was devastated by Hornung’s gambling suspension, which took away his team’s chance at history.

In 1964, the Cleveland Browns, led by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, blanked the Baltimore Colts, 27-0, in the league championship game. Lombardi’s Packers beat the Browns, 26-12, in the 1965 NFL title game, with running backs Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor both playing starring roles. Elijah Pitts eventually replaced an injured Hornung and helped the Packers win NFL titles in ’66 and ’67, thus completing a three-straight championship run.

The Miami Dolphins won back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1972, and they are still the only undefeated team in modern-day NFL history at 17-0.

In 1975 and 1979, the Pittsburgh Steelers were back-to-back Super Bowl champions twice. Their dream of a threepeat was thwarted by the Oakland Raiders in 1976, losing to them in the AFC championship game that year. The great San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys were repeat champions of the ’80s and ’90s. Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway led the Denver Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 1998 and ’99. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots won back-to-back Super Bowl titles in 2003 and 2004.

It took 20 years for the Kansas City Chiefs to reach repeat champion status, winning the Lombardi Trophy. In the last two, they emerged victorious over the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, overcoming double-digit deficits to win by three-point margins. Following last season’s Super Bowl win, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, “We are going after a third straight Super Bowl.” His team won a record 17 games by a one-score margin leading up to Super Bowl LIX.

Most people kept asking, “How long can the Chiefs keep winning these close, one-score games?”

The burden of history weighed heavily on the Chiefs coming into this Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles were thirsting for revenge following their Super Bowl defeat to Kansas City in Super Bowl XVII and a collapse down the stretch of last season.

The acquisition of running back Saquon Barkley, and key players added to the defense, got the Eagles a second chance at the Chiefs. And they made the most of the opportunity, pounding the Chiefs with a huge offensive line. The average weight listed at 330 pounds a man, but it was probably a lot more, compared to the listed weight of 245 pounds per man on their offensive line in the first Super Bowl. Philadelphia also had a ferocious defensive line — the number one rated defensive unit in the National Football League this season.

The Chiefs’ offense was dismantled by the unrelenting pressure of the Eagles’ defensive line, which harassed Patrick Mahomes with 20 pressures plus 10 more hits on him, and they battered the Kansas City quarterback with six official sacks for the game. The defensive line work was so good that the Eagles’ defensive unit didn’t have to blitz one time in the game.

In the final analysis, the burden of the history of being the first NFL team to win three straight Super Bowl titles was too much for the Kansas City Chiefs. They had the chance to place their name in a “one and only” category but miserably failed to rise to the moment.

“I put this defeat on my shoulders. It was my poor play that led to this outcome. I’ll have to live with that thought,” said Mahomes. His team was 60 minutes away from a monumental place in National Football League history. The quest for three straight Super Bowl championships is still out there. The Kansas City Chiefs, to a man, thought that they had what it took to achieve that goal, and the disappointme`w`wnt of falling short was palpable.

The Philadelphia Eagles snatched the dream goal from their midst, leaving no doubt about their place in league history. They are the team that stopped the Kansas City Chiefs from an exalted place in NFL lore, and their triumph is a testament to their strength and resilience.