NEW ORLEANS — Patrick Mahomes picked the worst possible time to have perhaps the worst half of his professional football career.
The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback was 6 of 14 for 33 yards with no touchdown passes and two interceptions — one of them a pick-6 — as Philadelphia raced to a 24-0 halftime lead in the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs managed one first down over the first 30 minutes, and it came on their first offensive play, an 11-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster after they had forced the Eagles to punt. The rest of the half? They gained just 14 more yards.
Mahomes wasn’t entirely to blame, though he deserved a good share of it. The Chiefs’ offensive line was dominated by the Eagles’ defensive front, which not only sacked the three-time Super Bowl MVP three times but put so much pressure on Mahomes that it played a big part in both of the interceptions; late in the half, led to another touchdown.
The Chiefs struggled all season to protect Mahomes’ blind side. They tried rookie Kingsley Suamataia at left tackle before benching him for second-year pro Wanya Morris, who struggled so much himself that he was inactive for the Super Bowl.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid thought he had solved the problem by moving All-Pro guard Joe Thuney outside and putting journeyman Mike Caliendo at guard. And it seemed to work late in the regular season and in playoff wins over Houston and Buffalo, when the line gave Mahomes enough time to pick apart both defenses.
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Yet the line was no match for the Eagles’ front of Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Jalen Carter, Brandon Graham and Nolan Smith, who managed to provide all that pressure without coordinator Vic Fangio even needing to call a blitz.
Mahomes was 0 for 5 with the pick-6 to DeJean on third down, and the result was this: For only the fourth time ever with their star quarterback under center, the Chiefs were unable to score any points on their first five drives.
The pick-6 was Mahomes’ first in the playoffs and ended a streak of 297 consecutive passes without an interception.
The Chiefs rallied from double-digit deficits in each of their past three Super Bowl wins, and Mahomes played a big part in the comebacks with his second-half heroics. But they had never faced a 24-point hole like they did against the Eagles.
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