Ryan Clark Claims the Chiefs Prioritized Academics While the Eagles Built Their Defense With the Greatest NIL Collective

The Kansas City Chiefs expected to experience the NFL’s greatest bliss on Sunday. Instead, they were left disappointed after falling 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX.

The Philadelphia Eagles thoroughly dominated both sides of the ball throughout the contest. While Jalen Hurts’ offensive display was impressive, the Eagles’ defensive prowess captured more attention.

Coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit left Patrick Mahomes baffled, battered, and bruised at halftime.

Patrick Mahomes stats in the first half:
6/14
33 passing yards
0 TD
2 INT
3 Sacks#SuperBowlLIX pic.twitter.com/Mk2AIIElD5

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) February 10, 2025

Mahomes’ final statistics looked better courtesy of fourth-quarter window dressing. ESPN’s Ryan Clark recapped Philly’s strong showing on Monday’s edition of NFL Live. He compared the Eagles’ outclassing of the Chiefs to what one would expect to happen if an SEC team hosted an Ivy League school.

“This was a masterful job of executing your job by the Philadelphia Eagles… this looked like the defense of the Philadelphia Eagles was built with the greatest NIL collective in all the country and the Kansas City Chiefs just skipped throwing money and they wanted to build their university through academics.”

The underwhelming performance was easily Kansas City’s worst of the season.

One of the NFL’s greatest coaching beliefs is the need to establish the run. Once you get linebackers and safeties focusing on the ground game, you can gain big yardage through the air.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they had zero rushing success against the Eagles. Their seven designed runs – the fewest in Super Bowl history – netted only 24 yards. This kept Mahomes in third-and-long situations and allowed Philadelphia’s excellent pass rush to consistently disrupt him. To one of Clark’s colleagues, that wasn’t necessarily a surprise.

Mina Kimes discusses Kansas City’s “inability to run the ball”

Kimes wasn’t shocked that Kansas City struggled to run the ball on Sunday. In her opinion, they hadn’t boasted a solid rushing attack since the early weeks of the season.

“Tthe Chiefs’ inability to run the ball was something they got away with… the final two months of the season, this team was 29th in yards per carry.”

Kimes credited Kansas City for recognizing this weakness and adjusting throughout the back half of the campaign. But at the biggest moment, the Chiefs’ inefficient rushing attack proved to be a critical flaw.

“Instead of a run game, they used the pass game as an extension of that. Screens, RPOs, quick routes. Problem is, they ran into the best quick game defense in the NFL. They couldn’t lean on the quick game, but they also couldn’t run the ball to help the offensive line and quarterback… that inability to run the ball… ended up costing them.”

As Kimes pointed out, the Chiefs’ decision to run the ball only three times in the first half was questionable, especially considering the Eagles’ defensive rankings. The Eagles were 10th against the run, allowing 104.2 yards per game, but ranked first against the pass, allowing only 278.4 passing yards.

With their three-peat aspirations gone, Kansas City now must focus on regrouping for 2025. The franchise will pick 31st in the NFL Draft and try to reclaim their place on the NFL’s mountaintop next season.