Ever since the Chiefs won the Super Bowl against the 49ers in overtime at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas, the conversation around them involved the talks of a possible three-peat. These talks only intensified when they finished the regular season 15-2 and made the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
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However, it wasn’t to be as the Eagles thumped Mahomes and co. Did this constant three-peat talk cause them to lose the Super Bowl? Michael Irvin doesn’t think that’s the case.
“I don’t believe they got worn out by all three-peat talk because there is no way we could escape all the three-peat talk. You got to think about it. This is history that stands on top of history. I don’t know how we can go into the season thinking we are going to keep that quiet. The only approach you have is to address it and attack it like the Chiefs did.”
Irvin believes the Chiefs’ approach to doing the impossible was correct. They fully embraced it and the pressure that came with it.
He believes even if they went a different direction and chose not to talk about the three-peat, it would still generate interest for different reasons. People would have asked different questions and many would have questioned their mentality.
Irvin believes the Chiefs did have the hunger and desire for the three-peat and went into the game with the right approach. They only lost because the Eagles’ desire to win and re-write history was stronger. They were hungrier and more motivated to win than their opponents.
But why were the Eagles more desperate for a win? What made the Birds come out so determined that they made Kansas City and Mahomes pay?
Did the Chiefs’ constant three-peat talks incense the Eagles players?
The Chiefs didn’t just lose to the Eagles—they were completely outclassed in the Super Bowl. As defending champions, they entered the game as slight favorites, but with Philly’s stacked roster, a loss was always a possibility. Still, no one expected it to be this bad. The Birds dominated from start to finish, relentlessly pressuring Mahomes and making it a night to forget for Kansas City.
What made the Eagles player intent on annihilating the defending champs and their QB? Well, according to Philly’s players, it’s all the three-peat talk that motivated them on the night. They didn’t like the Chiefs being smug about the possibility of doing the impossible and they didn’t like their players thinking that they had already won the Lombardi before stepping onto the field.
The defending champions were already planning to print merchandise involving a three-peat and had already approached and inked a deal with Pat Riley to use his patented phrase as if it was a foregone conclusion. This frustrated the Eagles players, who took their frustration on Mahomes. He pressured him numerous times on the night while sacking him 6 times on the night.
Maybe the three-peat talks didn’t make the Chiefs players lose sight of the goal but it surely put their opponents on the right track. That’s why never count your chickens before they hatch, especially in sport.
