{"id":104930,"date":"2025-02-10T12:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T18:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=104930"},"modified":"2026-01-01T16:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:05:51","slug":"dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs’ three-peat journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Blake McQueary
\n<\/strong>Medill Reports<\/i><\/p>\n

If there was a singular moment that encapsulated the pure domination Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio brought into Caesars Superdome, it was on a first-and-10 strip sack by Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lined up in shotgun. The Eagles\u2019 defensive front filled with Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith Jr. lined up on the opposing line. As Mahomes dropped back to launch a deep one, Williams drove Chiefs guard Mike Caliendo back six yards, reached his hand out and caught Mahomes\u2019 throwing arm as he wound up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the ball hit the ground, Carter, with the palms of both hands, crushed Mahomes\u2019 face mask, forcing him to fall to the turf. After Williams recovered the football, he dunked it through the uprights with the whole Eagles defense trailing him, while Mahomes knelt on the red L of the Super Bowl LIX turf emblem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of night it was \u2014 aggression by the Eagles and horror for the Chiefs. The dominance had worn out the Chiefs. The Eagles had outcoached and outplayed them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVic does a nice job with that defense,\u201d Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. \u201cThey played well. They have a good scheme, and they executed better than what we did. They coached better.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The game plan wasn\u2019t anything out of the ordinary, nothing the Eagles hadn\u2019t done before. It was simple: Four-man rush, the rest in coverage and don\u2019t blitz.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly we just followed the game plan and did what we’ve been doing all year,\u201d defensive end Sweat said. \u201cWe always say let\u2019s just play our game, and somebody\u2019s going to make the play for sure.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sweat made his presence known early and got after it. He finished the day with six total tackles, three quarterback hits and 2.5 sacks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was just in the right place,\u201d Sweat said. \u201cI was just running around. Let me go crazy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Across 42 dropbacks in Super Bowl LIX, the Eagles did not blitz once. It\u2019s the fourth defense to not blitz in a game, according to Next Gen Stats, which has been tracking data since 2014.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Eagles generated 16 pressures, which encompasses when a quarterback is sacked, hurried or knocked down, from the four-man front and sacked Mahomes six times. It\u2019s the most sacks he\u2019s taken in a game in his career. They also held him to his second-worst performance by expected points added (EPA) in a game in his career (-19.3).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was just in coverage, and I was looking at the pocket just shrink onto him,\u201d Eagles linebacker Zack Baun said. \u201cGuys were eating up front for sure.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As they produced pressure on Mahomes all game, the three-time Super Bowl champion seemed uncomfortable. The pressure produced turnovers, and two of them ultimately led to 14 points for the Eagles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On a third-and-16 on their own 24-yard line, Mahomes rolled out to the right and intended to hit a crossing DeAndre Hopkins. The rookie defensive back, Cooper DeJean, stepped in front of the throw like a seasoned veteran, picked it off and returned it to the house.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, backed up onto their own six-yard line on first-and-10, Mahomes dropped back, scanned the field quickly and threw an un-Mahomes-like pass. Baun dove out for Mahomes\u2019 second interception of the night, which then led to an A.J. Brown touchdown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the turnovers hurt, and I mean, I just gotta, I take all the blame for that,\u201d Mahomes said. \u201cThat\u2019s 14 points that I kinda gave them, and it\u2019s hard to come back from that in the Super Bowl, and so, I just didn\u2019t play to my standard and I have to be better next time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Eagles had 25 total pressures, 11 quarterback hits, six sacks and three takeaways. Fangio had control all day. It was like he had a PlayStation controller in his hands with the difficulty set to rookie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVic gives us a call, and we don\u2019t question it,\u201d Sweat said. \u201cIt puts us in a position to make plays. I don\u2019t know how he does it. We just run it, and all we got to do is play with great effort.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the opening kickoff until the clock hit zero and the confetti fell down, it was pure domination.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was even domination from the Philly faithful. A sea of green covered one side of the Caesars Superdome seats, with scattered blobs of green whenever there was a section of red. Fans donning green and white screamed \u201cE-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!\u201d at Chiefs fans throughout the hallways, and even late in the fourth quarter, everyone with an Eagles logo on their body stole the Chiefs\u2019 famous \u201ctomahawk chop.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A dominating performance from the defense led to a dominating performance in the bleachers. Just as much as the fans needed the team and the players, the players and the team needed them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe travel. It was loud,\u201d Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. \u201cYou could tell that at the very beginning and see a lot of green out there \u2026 our fans have a tendency to take over the stadium. You can\u2019t be great without the greatness of others, and that applies to our fans as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Blake McQueary is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can follow him on X at @<\/i>b_mcqueary6<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Blake McQueary Medill Reports If there was a singular moment that encapsulated the pure domination Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio brought into Caesars Superdome, it was on a first-and-10 strip sack by Philadelphia.\u00a0 Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lined up in shotgun. The Eagles\u2019 defensive front filled with Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Jalen Carter and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":992,"featured_media":104931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5485,5542,31,5486,5487],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medill-explores-2025","category-msj25","category-sports","category-super-bowl-lix","category-winter-2025"],"yoast_head":"\nDominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs' three-peat journey - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs' three-peat journey - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Blake McQueary Medill Reports If there was a singular moment that encapsulated the pure domination Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio brought into Caesars Superdome, it was on a first-and-10 strip sack by Philadelphia.\u00a0 Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lined up in shotgun. The Eagles\u2019 defensive front filled with Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Jalen Carter and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-10T18:49:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-01T22:05:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1284\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"blakemcqueary2025\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"blakemcqueary2025\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/\",\"name\":\"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs' three-peat journey - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-10T18:49:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-01T22:05:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b489e6a18a11982ecc2803d6a0dc926\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg\",\"width\":1284,\"height\":712,\"caption\":\"Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat addresses the media after the Eagles' Super Bowl LIX win. (Blake McQueary\/MEDILL)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs’ three-peat journey\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b489e6a18a11982ecc2803d6a0dc926\",\"name\":\"blakemcqueary2025\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98ddb10ec1da71f8751eabbd8667c5b776adedb1ffcff91abe0023820d2cbec1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98ddb10ec1da71f8751eabbd8667c5b776adedb1ffcff91abe0023820d2cbec1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"blakemcqueary2025\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/blakemcqueary2025\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs' three-peat journey - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs' three-peat journey - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Blake McQueary Medill Reports If there was a singular moment that encapsulated the pure domination Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio brought into Caesars Superdome, it was on a first-and-10 strip sack by Philadelphia.\u00a0 Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lined up in shotgun. The Eagles\u2019 defensive front filled with Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Jalen Carter and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2025-02-10T18:49:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-01T22:05:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1284,"height":712,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"blakemcqueary2025","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"blakemcqueary2025","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/","name":"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs' three-peat journey - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-10T18:49:09+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-01T22:05:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b489e6a18a11982ecc2803d6a0dc926"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/IMG_8822.jpg","width":1284,"height":712,"caption":"Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat addresses the media after the Eagles' Super Bowl LIX win. (Blake McQueary\/MEDILL)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/dominating-the-day-on-defense-leads-eagles-to-end-chiefs-three-peat-journey\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dominating the day on defense leads Eagles to end Chiefs’ three-peat journey"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b489e6a18a11982ecc2803d6a0dc926","name":"blakemcqueary2025","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98ddb10ec1da71f8751eabbd8667c5b776adedb1ffcff91abe0023820d2cbec1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98ddb10ec1da71f8751eabbd8667c5b776adedb1ffcff91abe0023820d2cbec1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"blakemcqueary2025"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/blakemcqueary2025\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/992"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104930"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104935,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104930\/revisions\/104935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}