The Philadelphia Eagles had one of the most impressive defensive performances in the Super Bowl LIX victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, holding a 34-point lead with five minutes left in the 40-22 victory.
Philadelphia was actually up 40-6 with three minutes left and 34-0 heading into the final minute of the third quarter. The 22 points Kansas City scored when the game was already decided was what prompted a response from defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
On the day before the championship parade, the Eagles had a locker room cleanout as they wrapped up their historic 2024 season. Rookie pass rusher Jalyx Hunt described the close-out meeting Fangio had with his side of the ball, and how the team let its foot off the gas pedal late in the blowout victory (via Petetakes).
“After we won the Super Bowl, I think we had the parade Friday. On Thursday, we came in for a team meeting to let everybody know how the parade was gonna go,” Hunt said. “The offense dips out. Vic was like ‘Ah nah, defense come here.’ He goes over … we have a checklist. A checklist each game of what we need to do. And if you get a yes in those boxes, nine times out of 10 — win.
“Did we win? Yes. Did we hold them to less than four explosive plays? Yes. Did we win on third-down conversions? Yes. Did we win on fourth-down conversions? Did we stop them in the red zone? Did we miss tackles? Did we sack [Patrick] Mahomes?”
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The Eagles didn’t allow a point in the first half, holding the Chiefs to 23 total yards. Philadelphia had more points (24) than Kansas City had yards (23). The Chiefs had 131 yards and two touchdowns on their final two possessions, scoring 16 points and converting both two-point conversion attempts — all in the final five minutes with the second-team defense in.
Didn’t matter with Fangio.
“Like each thing. He goes to just the first-half stats. We stopped them here, they got like -55 yards. This is unacceptable,” Hunt said. “Circles the second half. Unacceptable. 22 points. We won. They didn’t score in the first half.
“We’re having a meeting after the Super Bowl. He wants perfection.”
The Eagles had the No. 1 defense in the NFL for a reason. This is why the defense likes Fangio and his hard coaching, as the defensive coordinator didn’t want to let up on the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.
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