A Skyline Eagle’s Take on the NFL Playoffs

Patrick Mahomes, the MVP, during the Super Bowl (Wikipedia Commons)

Wild Card Round

49ers vs Seahawks 41-23

Saturday, January 14

Jaguars vs Chargers 31-30

Saturday, January 14

Bills vs Dolphins 34-31 

Sunday, January 15

Giants vs Vikings 31-24

Sunday, January 15

Bengals vs Ravens 24-17

Sunday, January 15

Cowboys vs Buccaneers 31-14

Monday, January 16

Divisional Round

Chiefs vs Jaguars 27-20

Saturday, January 21

Eagles vs Giants 38-7

Saturday, January 21

Bengals vs Bills 27-10

Sunday, January 22

49ers vs Cowboys 19-12

Sunday, January 22

 

Conference Championships

Eagles vs 49ers 31-7

Sunday, January 29

With two very skilled defenses and great coaching staffs, this game was shaping up to be a dogfight. It started off with four rushing touchdowns in the first half, three of those by the Eagles. This put the 49ers down 14 points at the half. Brock Purdy, the star rookie quarterback for the 49ers, suffered an elbow injury and exited the game. This was a huge blow to the Niners because even though Purdy is a rookie, he had an outstanding season. The Niners’ 4th string quarterback then took on a very difficult task and couldn’t get the team out of it. The second half was the complete opposite of the first. It was a slow defensive game with many punts. Midway through the third quarter, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts put the Eagles up three scores with a one yard rushing touchdown. They closed out the game with a field goal.

 

Chiefs vs Bengals 23-20

Sunday, January 29

The Bengals and Chiefs faced each other in last year’s AFC Championship. It was an all-time classic with this year looking like it would be as well. The first half didn’t show how explosive either of these offenses could really be. The Bengals put up just two field goals, and the Chiefs only scored two field goals and a touchdown. After halftime, the Bengals scored a touchdown right out of the gate on a 27 yard Tee Higgins catch to bring the game even at 13. The next drive showed just how good Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is even with an injured ankle. He took the Chiefs down the field and threw a 19 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. When Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow took his team on a spectacular drive of his own, Arrowhead Stadium was as loud as ever. Burrow and the team got down to the two yard line, where Samaje Perrine punched it in for a Bengals touchdown. After this, both teams had an impressive defensive showing, with each team forcing the other to punt. Burrow got the ball back with one drive left, but was stopped on downs. This put the chance to send the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl into the hands of the most talented player in the league, Patrick Mahomes. With swift passes and an unnecessary roughness penalty, Harrison Butker was given a 45 yard field goal attempt. He easily made the kick, sending the Chiefs to face the Eagles in their third Super Bowl appearance in the last four years. 

 

Super Bowl

Chiefs vs Eagles 38-35

Sunday, February 12

 

Preview

The Super Bowl Was a true clash of titans: the one seed from both conferences going head to head. With the betting odds for this game putting the Eagles as a one-and-a-half point favorite, it was expected to be close. Marco Rogers (‘26) of the SecondTake Podcast said he thought the Eagles would take the game decided by less than two scores, but by more than a field goal. He thought the teams had similarly skilled quarterbacks, but the Eagles had a better defense and offense. Regardless, he said that the deciding factor of the Super Bowl would be how healthy Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was; a fully healthy Mahomes could beat any team in the league. This prediction couldn’t have been more accurate. 

 

1st Half

The game started off as expected. A slow drive by the Eagles was capped off by a Jalen Hurts rushing touchdown. The Chiefs first drive was true to their playstyle as well. A Mahomes 15 yard touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce capped off their opening drive. The first quarter was slow, with both defenses getting stops. A 45 yard bomb touchdown pass from Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to wide receiver A.J. Brown put the Eagles up by seven. After a defensive stop, the Eagles offense took the field looking to go up 14. Their luck turned, when Hurts dropped the ball while trying to escape the pocket. Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton scooped it up and ran it back 36 yards for a defensive score. Hurts made up for this mistake by driving his team down the field and scoring a touchdown from the four yard line. The Chiefs went into the locker room at the half down 10 after a late field goal by the Eagles. Mahomes knew that if he wanted to win this game, he would need to step up in the second half. 

 

2nd Half

He did just that by putting together a quick touchdown drive that ended in a one yard Isiah Pacheco rushing score. Mahomes’ defense got him back on the field, down six points after a forced field goal. Mahomes started the fourth quarter by driving down the field and throwing two short touchdown passes. This put the Chiefs up eight. Hurts matched this with a grueling drive where he put the Eagles within two points on a rushing touchdown and then tied the game with five minutes left on a two-point conversion. Mahomes then put together a career-defining drive, highlighted by a 26 yard scramble on his badly injured ankle. The Chiefs got a new set of downs off a questionable holding call, and kicker Harrison Butker scored a field goal to go up 38-35 with only eight seconds left in the game. The Eagles’ desperate last play fell incomplete and the Chiefs were declared the champions of the 2023 Super Bowl.