5 Kansas City Chiefs to blame for getting boat-raced by Eagles in Super Bowl 59

Despite the obvious advantages on paper that the Philadelphia Eagles had over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Super Bowl LIX, fans weren't quick to discredit Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. In fact, many gave them an advantage still to win this game. That turned out to be a foolish way to think about all of this as the Eagles flat-out embarrassed the back-to-back defending champions.

It was unfortunately obvious that's where we were heading early on. While the Chiefs defense seemed to try and make a statement early, the offense couldn't get a single thing working. Then things began snowballing for Kansas City to the umpteenth degree after Cooper DeJean picked off Mahomes and took it to the house in the second quarter. It only got worse (and worse) from there.

This is a game wherein you could argue that no one involved with the Chiefs was ready for the moment and got their lunch eaten. That's true to some degree but, after such a demoralizing defeat and falling short of three-peat history, everyone wants to point the finger and blame someone. We're going to do exactly that with five culprits for the embarrassment Kansas City suffered.

5. Charles Omenihu

One of the things that consistently stuck out to me when the Eagles had possession of the football, especially early in the game before the outcome became clear, was the lack of pressure that the Chiefs were able to get on Jalen Hurts. And Charles Omenihu was part of that, though he was just downright MIA for much of the game.

The veteran defensive end quite literally didn't generate a single pressure in this game while also missing a tackle off of the edge. In a game wherein star defensive tackle Chris Jones was forced out of action, the fact that Omenihu wasn't able to step up and provide much of anything outside of what appeared to be one run stop was quite poor.

Omenihu has been a valuable cog for the Chiefs defense for some time. But in Super Bowl LIX when the defense was the side of the ball to lean on, Omenihu was nowhere to be found.

4. Jaylen Watson

For as good as the back end of the Chiefs defense was on Sunday in terms of the safety play, the cornerback group seemed to be out of their depth. That was true basically across the board but it was the worst possible night for Jaylen Watson.

The worst moment came when Kansas City was already down 27-0 and the Chiefs desperately needed a stop to have any chance or hope of a comeback. Instead, the Eagles dialed up a deep shot to DeVonta Smith and Watson got absolutely burned down the field, leading to a 46-yard touchdown from Hurts to his receiver.

Beyond that, Watson allowed Hurts to have a perfect 158.3 rating when he was targeted in coverage and, for good measure, added a missed tackle to his lack of credit as well. To be clear, it wasn't just Watson who struggled defending the Eagles offense in terms of Chiefs defensive backs but his moments might've been objectively the worse.

3. Patrick Mahomes

Let me be clear: I did not envy what Patrick Mahomes had in his lap throughout Sunday night in New Orleans. The Eagles defensive front lived up to their billing by completely dominating the trenches. That put guys like Jordan Davis, Milton Williams and Jalen Carter, among many others, in Mahomes' lap all night. Especially with Philly getting pressure without needing to blitz, it's hard to expect Mahomes to somehow save the Chiefs.

At the same time, Mahomes didn't help himself. He threw two interceptions on the night and added a fumble in the fourth quarter as well, though I'm not going to blame him for that with how quickly the pressure got to him. The picks were questionable throws under duress, though, and his footwork regressed to Texas Tech-esque form, which is not a good thing at the NFL level against a defense like Philadelphia's. He wasn't the cool-calm-collected savant we've seen so often and that ultimately hurt the Chiefs' plight.

This loss isn't solely on Mahomes, without question. There were circumstances that hurt his chances of doing anything to save the Chiefs too. At the same time, he's not remotely blameless for how things panned out on Super Bowl Sunday.

2. Andy Reid

To put it as plainly as possible, Vic Fangio ate Andy Reid's lunch on Sunday night in New Orleans. It all started with Fangio making the brilliant decision to not bring any extra pressure and just allowiing his thoroughbreds on the defensive line to attack and then drop seven into coverage. Reid seemed to not expect that and, moreover, didn't appear to have a counterpunch either.

On top of that, when the game was far from decided, it seemed as if Reid and the Chiefs offense panicked at how things were transpiring. They were quick to abandon the run game to try and keep the Eagles defense honest and there were also a couple of instances of just getting entirely too cute with some of the play-calling when there wasn't even a bread-and-butter to fall back on either. That put too much pressure on Mahomes and the line.

Reid is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and this game doesn't change that. However, whenever he gets his bust in Canton for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, they'll omit his performance in Super Bowl LIX from his list of great accomplishments pretty clearly.

1. Chiefs offensive line (minus Creed Humphrey)

Really, though, the Chiefs' dismal performance ultimately comes down to the fact that the offensive line, a group that was a problem much of the season, wasn't remotely up to the challenge of stopping this fierce Eagles defensive line. They were outmatched even if the lack of blitzing never left them outmanned and it ultimately left Mahomes and just about every part of the offense without an answer that they could realistically find.

We're leaving Creed Humphrey out of this because he largely played like the All-Pro caliber center that he has long been in this game. Outside of him, though, it was not the best of nights. Joe Thuney continued to put forth an admirable effort as he continued his postseason move from left guard to left tackle but the likes of Mike Caliendo, Jawaan Taylor and even the great Trey Smith were in a blender all night long. It stuffed the run game largely, it hurt Mahomes' ability to make magic happen and it largely just blew up everything Kansas City was trying to do.

The Chiefs struggled to find answers on the O-line all season. They'll continue that struggle going into the offseason because a Super Bowl loss of this magnitude didn't answer anything — it only made the questions about that group even louder.