Like the end of Return of the Jedi, NFL fans around the world are celebrating the downfall of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. A total beat down by the Philadelphia Eagles defense ended what almost a historic three-peat, and had freed fans from the shadow of everything we’d all grown tired of about seeing the Chiefs constantly on top.
It’s a necessary resetting of the balance, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen Chiefs humbled on the biggest stage. Coming into Super Bowl LIX there was only one blemish on Mahomes’ resume, but now there are two and they’re nearly identical blotches.
Five years ago the Tampa Bay Buccaneers laid down a biblical ass whooping on Kansas City that we truly had never even before. For the first time, Mahomes and te Legion of Zoom offense was led out of the endzone, mustering up just nine points in a loss that still stands as the largest margin of defeat Kansas City has suffered in the playoffs during this era of the team.
It was stunning, it was epic, and it was a blueprint that laid largely untouched for half a decade. Philadelphia finally dusted it off, and it worked like a charm as a means of taking the Chiefs apart in ways not many saw coming.
As the dust settles on a historic Super Bowl beat down, one of the most stunning things about what happened isn’t that the Eagles destroyed the Chiefs the way they did, it’s that it took so long for someone to take what the Bucs did and use it again.
Buccaneers gave the NFL a blueprint to beat the Chiefs five years ago
Chasing the Chiefs has been almost fetishized among AFC teams who spend more time moping about the officials giving Kansas City calls than looking at the best way to beat them. It’s truly baffling that a team like Buffalo hasn’t taken Tampa Bay’s formula and used it to their benefit — and perhaps they will now after seeing it work twice.
The formula is easier said than done, but it's been right in front of the entire NFL for the last five years. Back in Super Bowl LV, Todd Bowles pressured the living daylights out of Patrick Mahomes which forced him to press his throws into coverage that knew exactly what to expect based on the pressure. Mahomes wasn’t done any favors by his offensive line, which was dealing with a four-man rush that kept getting home, and the mind-boggling decision by Andy Reid to never adjust his offense was the final nail.
If that all seems familiar, it’s because the Buccaneers did it first.
Tampa Bay’s pass rush got home all night in Super Bowl 55, causing Mahomes to constantly be on the move. We all know that he’s still an effective passer on the run, but the Bucs beat Mahomes up while chasing him down. Tampa Bay finished that game with 10 quarterback hits, one fewer than what the Eagles had in Super Bowl LIX. Philly ended up with six sacks to Tampa Bay’s three but the common thread is both defensive lines penetrating and getting pressure on Mahomes.
At that point it’s almost less about getting to Mahomes and more about simply breaking down his protection. Both games saw things get so bad that we have iconic images late in the evening of Mahomes getting plastered in what ended up being exclamation points on the game.
For some reason, despite the blueprint being there all these years, it wasn’t until Sunday that a team decided to copy it. Cincinnati was able to beat the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game in 2021 but watched the Rams use Tampa Bay’s formula to win a title.
Kansas City has been a dominant force this decade and it seems every team in the AFC is trying to figure out ways to catch up to them. Division rivals have hired top-tier coaches and teams like the Ravens and Bills have actively used catching Kansas City as their offseason compass yet every year we reach the same conclusion that the Chiefs are unbeatable.
They aren’t, though. Tampa Bay proved that rather emphatically in 2020 and the Eagles confirmed that by running back the blueprint. Why it’s taken so long for teams to look at what the winning formula is and copy it is borderline malpractice. A stout defensive front coupled with a great run game goes a long way in closing the gap, and perhaps it won’t take another half decade before another team figures tis out.
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