The Super Bowl cemented the legacies of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes as future Hall of Famers and gave the Kansas City Chiefs pole position in the race for Team of the Decade.
But the game will be remembered for The Call.
The holding call on James Bradberry with less than two minutes left sparked a debate that will never be resolved.
One side of the argument is that it was a good call and even Bradberry admitted he tugged JuJu Smith-Schuster’s jersey.
The other side is that it was a ticky tacky call that shouldn’t be made in that situation with the Super Bowl on the line. There are two main issues. One is consistency. They didn’t call holding the entire game and were seemingly letting them play. The other is if that is a foul, then maybe the definition of holding should be reviewed. Maybe a light tug that doesn’t impede the receiver shouldn’t be a foul.
It is a reminder of the confusing tuck rule that they eventually did away with it. Sometimes the rule book is too confusing.
The Call took the drama out of the game because the Eagles didn’t have time to try to tie it up or win it, but they can’t blame the call for the loss.
Although Jalen Hurts played a good game, his fumble gave the Chiefs a touchdown and the longest punt return in Super Bowl history set up another one and the Chiefs twice scored touchdowns by faking the Eagles out with motion plays that left the receivers wide open.
The Eagles defense also didn’t get a sack (although the bad footing may have contributed to that) and didn’t make one stop in the second half as the Chiefs scored all four times they had the ball, with touchdowns on the first three drives.
While the Chiefs now go for their third Super Bowl in the last five years, the Eagles will face the task of trying to become only the second team to lose the Super Bowl and win it the next year since the 1972 perfect Dolphins did it. Tom Brady did it once.
Unfortunately, Kansas City’s last two playoff wins wound up having the officials play too big a role. They missed two calls on the Chiefs’ final drive against Cincinnati and then gained an edge with the controversial call.
The Chiefs also will attempt to become the first team since the 2003-2004 Patriots to repeat.