By Amanda Pirkowski
Medill Reports
With all of the hype about the potential to make history, the Kansas City Chiefs sat in the press availability boxes following Super Bowl LIX with shoulders slumped, looking numb from the devastating defeat. No player or coach cracked a smile, and the word that kept coming to mind – “hurt.”
The reigning Super Bowl champions were demolished by the Eagles on both sides of the ball – starting slow and facing a 34-0 deficit in the middle of the third quarter. The offensive super power of Jalen Hurts, the Super Bowl LIX MVP, and company delivered. Hurts scrambled for 72 yards and completed 17 out of his 22 passes. Whether subconsciously or consciously, not just when talking about Hurts’ ability as a quarterback but also when describing their feelings about the game, “hurt” was the chosen word.
“They all hurt,” coach Andy Reid said. “You get this far. You battled your tail off to get this far. It’s very hard to do. We spend a lot of time doing this. It’s not a hobby so we’re in it the whole way. We spent a lot of hours doing it as players or coaches, so it’s gonna hurt. They all hurt when they get to this level and things happen, three-peat aside or any of that stuff. When you get this far and you don’t play as well as you want to, it hurts.”
In a similar spirit to Reid, Creed Humphrey’s pain did not come from not making history but from not playing up to the Chiefs’ standard. Humphrey and the offensive line took a beating up front, allowing six sacks and only allowing quarterback Patrick Mahomes to generate 33 passing yards in the first half.
“For me, it was never about the three-peat,” Humphrey said. “It was about living in the moment and just getting this one done. It’s a different team, we have a bunch of new guys and we wanted to win one for them. It hurts, not getting the job done – no matter what.”
The defense also felt the hurt of Hurts, allowing 221 passing yards and 135 rushing yards.
Mahomes threw two interceptions but remained in sync with his coach – at least when it came to word usage.
“I mean, it hurts,” Mahomes said. “It’s gonna hurt for a while, but how can you respond from it? We have a great football team. We still have a young football team. And a lot of these guys, it will be their first time having a defeat in a season, and how can you get better? How can you not be satisfied with just getting here and taking your game to the next level? And that starts with me and the other leaders on this team, but it’ll feed throughout the entire team, and hopefully, we can come back next season and put up a better effort.”
Amanda Pirkowski is a graduate student at Medill, specializing in sports media. You can follow her on Twitter/X at @amandapirkowski.
