Super Bowl LVII

 The Super Bowl, the finale to the 2022-2023 NFL season took place on Feb. 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona. The two Super Bowl teams included the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFC and the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFC. 

     The game began after various artists opened the event. Chris Stapleton sang the National Anthem, while Babyface sang “America the Beautiful” and Sheryl Lee Ralph sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Kansas City then won the coin toss and elected to defer, leaving the Eagles to begin the game on offense. 

    The first quarter began with the Eagles offense completing a first drive of 75 yards and 11 total plays that ended in a touchdown. Eagles quarterback, Jalen Hurts, scored the first touchdown of the game with a one yard rushing touchdown. The Chiefs responded with a drive of eight plays and an 18 yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce. The Eagles second drive led to the game’s first three and out play while the Chiefs were unable to capitalize due to a missed 42-yard field goal attempt. 

     The second quarter saw the Eagles bounce back with another touchdown with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Hurts to AJ Brown. With the Eagles now leading 14 to 7, the Chiefs then completed their first drive of three and out and were forced to punt. The next drives for the Eagles ended in disaster with Hurst fumbling the ball, and Chiefs defensive player Nick Bolton ran the ball in for a Chiefs touchdown, tying the game. The Eagles answered back with another touchdown of their own, with Hurst scoring another rushing touchdown, this time as a 4-yard run. The score was 21-14 by the two minute warning, and the Chiefs were unable to answer the Eagles, and Patrick Mahomes seemed to reactivate his ankle injury. The Eagles were able to take their final drive of the half into field goal range, with kicker Jack Elliot making the field goal for a score of 24-14. 

    After an explosive and entertaining halftime show performance by Rihanna, the second half began with the Chiefs starting with the ball. Mahomes answered any quotations about his ankle injury with a phenomenal drive, as he rushed for 14 yards and completed three passes for 26 yards, which resulted in a Chiefs touchdown, and closing the deficit to only three points. The Eagles attempted to answer back, but were forced to settle for a field goal with the score at 27-21 at the end of the third quarter. 

      The fourth and final quarter began with a bang, with a Chiefs touchdown, securing their first lead of the game with a score of 28 to 27. The Eagles were then forced to a three and out, and the Chiefs quickly scored again with a touchdown pass of four yards from Mahomes to Skyy Moore. The Eagles then came back with yet another touchdown by Hurts, and a two point conversion to tie the game, 35 to 35. The Chiefs got the ball back and continued their drive down the field. After an incomplete pass by Mahomes, a holding call on Eagles player James Bradberry granted the Chiefs a first down, which eventually led to the Chiefs taking two knees to take more time off the clock, and kicking a field goal. With eight seconds left, the Eagles attempted a hail-mary pass, but felt short, resulting in a Chiefs win. 

    Both teams congratulated one another, with Eagles quarterback, Jalen Hurts stating that “Going into year four hungrier than ever, starving for more,” in hopes of a future Super Bowl win. 

   After winning MVP, Mahomes stated, “I just want to shout out my teammates man. We challenged each other. It took everybody to win this football game.”

   Overall, the 2023 Super Bowl was definitely one for the books, and was memorable start to finish.