For the second time in four seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs have won the Super Bowl.

Behind another MVP performance from star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs erased a 10-point halftime deficit to topple the Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl 57. Mahomes tamed a sore right ankle he re-injured in the second quarter and completed 21 of 27 passes for 182 yards with three touchdowns and added 44 yards on the ground. He also had to overcome a valiant effort from Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who gained 374 total yards and four total touchdowns.

This marks the second Lombardi Trophy for Chiefs coach Andy Reid and the third in franchise history

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Here are the winners and losers from Super Bowl 57.

WINNERS

He’s not the G.O.A.T. (yet) but Patrick Mahomes is breaking the NFL

This is like watching Michael Jordan in his prime. Patrick Mahomes is 27. He’s on a team-friendly contract. In the five seasons he has been starter, the Chiefs have made it at least to the AFC title game. As long as Mahomes is under center, this will be the standard. He won his second Super Bowl MVP days after he won his second league MVP.

Mahomes had his right ankle injury reaggravated late in the second quarter when Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards fell on it as he dragged him to the turf. Ho hum. All Mahomes did after the injury was complete 13 of 14 passes for 93 yards and a pair of scores. As if that wasn’t enough, with 2:55 left to play in a tie game, he outran the Eagles defense on a 26-yard scramble that set up the game-winning field goal. 

Offensive genius of Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy

According to ESPN Stats, teams going into halftime with a lead of double digits entered Sunday with a 26-1 record in Super Bowl history. The Chiefs became the second team to overcome that, and it’s thanks mostly to head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Let’s start with the pair of touchdowns to start the fourth quarter that gave Kansas City the lead and eventually extended it.

Both plays were similarly designed and capitalized on tendencies the coaches saw from the Eagles. Philadelphia’s corners, when lined up in man coverage, often would overrun receivers who had set in motion. Knowing this, once the Chiefs got to the red zone, they called short passes in which receivers — in this case Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore — started to run in motion before they stopped and leaked out in the opposite direction. Both were wide open. Reid and Bieniemy also diagnosed that the middle of the Philadelphia defense was the weak point; Mahomes completed 14-of-15 passes for 119 yards when targeting players in the middle third of the field. For the Kansas City coaching staff, it was a masterful performance of adjustments in the second half. All of which makes it stunning that a team still hasn’t made Bieniemy a head coach.

Kansas City offensive line dominated

The Eagles entered Sunday needing five sacks to break the 1984 Bears record for most all time, including the postseason. Philadelphia’s 78 sacks this year were third most in history. Kansas City erased them. Granted, Kansas City going in motion helped keep Philadelphia off balance, but once the ball was snapped, the Chiefs played disciplined. The Chiefs O-line had only one penalty — a false start by left tackle Orlando Brown late in the second quarter — called against them.

Mahomes faced a blitz rate on 29.6% of his 27 dropbacks. He was pressured on just seven of those and wasn’t sacked once. The offensive line gave him a healthy average of 2.69 seconds to throw. Kansas City won its individual matchups and executed double teams on Haason Reddick well enough for Philly’s pass rush to be an absolute non-factor. It made the difference in the game.

Jalen Hurts is still a baller

Don’t get it twisted: even with the fumble that led to the scoop-and-score, this loss was not on Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. Just look at the sequence that followed the fumble; on the very next drive, Hurts led the Eagles to a 12-play, 71-yard drive that ended with his 4-yard touchdown rush. In fact, Hurts accounted for 65 of the 71 yards on the series. All throughout Super Bowl 57, Hurts did it with both his arm and his legs, showing why he’ll be a problem in the NFC for years to come.

He actually tied former Broncos and Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis (Super Bowl 32) by becoming the only other player in NFL history to have three rushing scores in a Super Bowl. As Mahomes said of his counterpart after the game: ‘If there were any doubters left, there shouldn’t be now.’

Future offense in Indy

The Colts recovered from the failed Jeff Saturday experiment by selecting Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen as their next head coach, according to ESPN. Terms still have to be finalized, but Indianapolis can now expect competent quarterback play and the development of a multifaceted and deceptive offense. Steichen, along with Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, built Philadelphia’s zone read offense and saw the unit go from 14th in total offense (359.9 yards per game) and 12th scoring (26.1 points per game) last season to third in both categories, 389.1 and 28.1, respectively.

Though they lost the game, it wasn’t because of the offense. Against the Chiefs, the Eagles converted 11 of 18 third downs (61%). They dominated possession, controlling the ball 35:47 to Kansas City’s 24:13. The Colts need to sort out some personnel issues — chief among them, they need a new quarterback — but the future is bright in Indy.

LOSERS

Blaming the loss on the defensive holding

LeBron James may have taken issue with the call. Of course, we’re talking about the defensive holding on Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, the holding that he admitted to committing. But to blame the penalty for Philadelphia’s loss is to disregard the many reasons why it lost.

Now, to be fair, the contact on the play was negligible and defensive holding is called far too inconsistent; for instance, Bradberry actually tugged the jersey of Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on a previous third-and-8, this one in the first half. But as well as Jalen Hurts played, his unforced fumble that led to Kansas City linebacker Nick Bolton’s scoop-and-score gifted the Chiefs a touchdown. A historic pass rush disappeared in the biggest game of the season. The secondary lacked discipline in the red zone and blew coverages. Philadelphia’s punt return coverage in the fourth quarter yielded a huge, 65-yard return that set up a touchdown.

Jonathan Gannon

That brings us to the Philadelphia defense. One game does not discount previous success, but this loss spoils the success Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon had enjoyed with the Eagles. And it likely won’t be enough to cost him the chance at the head coaching gig with the Arizona Cardinals. But, given Philadelphia’s pass rushing proficiency, this has to go down as one of the all-time letdowns in recent Super Bowl history.

The Chiefs scored on every possession in the second half. They converted 4 of 5 third downs after halftime and recorded 15 first downs in that span. The secondary lacked discipline; by failing to follow the players they were covering with their eyes, Chiefs receivers Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore easily got into open space on their two touchdown catches. That it wasn’t corrected after it happened once is particularly damning. Gannon and the defense let the rest of the Eagles down.

Miles Sanders’ run in Philadelphia

At different times this season, the Eagles have leaned on each of their trio of running backs — Miles Sanders, Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell. Sanders’ days with the franchise, though, may be numbered. He had been the team’s lead back, starting 49 of the 57 games he had appeared in since he was drafted in 2019. But in the postseason, the Eagles have turned to second-year back Kenneth Gainwell (11 touches for 41 yards), who outgained Sanders in each of Philadelphia’s three playoff games. As Sanders’ rookie contract is set to expire at the end of the league year and with Gainwell locked up for at least two more seasons, Sanders (seven touches for 16 yards) becomes expendable.

Slip ‘N Slide

Long-time Cardinals and current Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson has been outspoken about the slick field in Arizona and the Super Bowl did nothing to dispel that reputation. The field was installed two weeks before the game and was rolled out to get sun, but players from both teams slipped throughout the game, especially on the areas with painted logos. It affected play and players switched to longer cleats.

In a key sequence in the second quarter, when Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell slipped short of a first down at the shield logo at midfield, it set up a pivotal third-and-1 play. A false start made it third-and-5, which led to a scoop and score on the Jalen Hurts fumble. At the end of the game, though, it was a desperation attempt, Hurts slipped on the Hail Mary attempt that fell woefully short. Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata called it ‘terrible’ and said ‘it was like playing on a water park.’ In the biggest game of the season, simply put, the surface was unacceptable.

Sometimes, being ranked first in the polls isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For a second consecutive weekend, Purdue wore the big target on the road and had to watch another happy student section celebrate at the Boilermakers’ expense. 

Last week it was archrival Indiana, and this time it was Northwestern that engineered the court-storming. Wildcats guard Chase Audige scored 10 points in the final four minutes to lead the late rally to stun the nation’s top-ranked team.

The Super Bowl Sunday triumph in Evanston, Illinois, also provided a huge boost to Northwestern’s postseason credentials with Selection Sunday now just four short weeks away. A team with just one previous tournament berth that came in 2017, the Wildcats are comfortably in the field as they sit tied for second with Indiana in the Big Ten. 

All of this season’s success comes after they were picked 13th in the conference’s preseason media poll. 

Here are some of the other winners and losers from the weekend in men’s college basketball.

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Winners

DeAndre Gholston

With arguably the biggest shot of the weekend, Gholston’s long-range heave at the buzzer gave Missouri a much-needed 86-85 win at Tennessee. That big shot provided the Tigers with the top-tier road win that had been missing from their resume moving them, for now at least, to the good side of the bubble. 

Alabama

The Crimson Tide weren’t at their best on Saturday, struggling to make three-point shots and to impose their preferred fast pace. Yet they still found a way to win at archrival Auburn, thanks in large part to a 16-point outing from reserve guard Rylan Griffen, to keep their SEC record unblemished and move a step closer to securing their first No. 1 seed in the tournament

UCLA

The Bruins completed a weekend sweep with a 70-63 win at Oregon. They now find themselves two games clear in the Pac-12 standings thanks to Arizona’s stunning loss at Stanford.

Texas

The Longhorns retained first place in the Big 12 in convincing fashion with a home 94-60 romp over West Virginia. Sir’Jabari Rice finished with 24 points, knocking down four of Texas’ 10 made 3-pointers that cooled off the Mountaineers, who had won four of five.

Creighton

The Bluejays protected their home court, winning a 56-53 defensive slog with Connecticut for their eighth consecutive win. In addition to improving their seeding for the NCAA field, Creighton is now just one half game behind Marquette in the Big East.

Gonzaga 

The Zags took down BYU 88-81 Saturday night to pull back to within a game of Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference. The Gaels, meanwhile, bounced back from Thursday night’s loss to Loyola Marymount to win at Portland. The coming showdown between the top two schools in the WCC in two weeks likely will decide the top seed in the conference tournament.

Illinois

With some of the Fighting Illini’s victories losing value through no fault of their own, they were in need of another quality win. They got it Saturday courtesy of a 69-60 home triumph against Rutgers. Coleman Hawkins provided a big lift with 18 points for Illinois, which now heads on the road to Penn State and Indiana this week.

Oklahoma State

Just a couple games over .500 not long ago, the Cowboys have rattled off five wins in succession. On Saturday they handed Iowa State its first home loss of the season in a 64-56 victory. Oklahoma State is now squarely in the NCAA field and could only need a few more league victories to confirm its spot.

North Carolina

The Tar Heels got two things they desperately needed on Saturday, a win against Clemson and a strong shooting performance from Caleb Love. The streaky guard drained six treys as UNC blew past the Tigers, indicating this team might still be capable of a late-season surge.

Eastern Washington 

Aside from Alabama, there are just two other teams remaining in Division I unbeaten in conference play. The Eagles stayed perfect in the Big Sky and ran their winning streak to 15 with a 73-66 victory at Idaho.

Oral Roberts

Another set of Eagles, these being Golden, are the third squad still unscathed in conference. They downed Western Illinois 82-73 to stay clean in the Summit League. Max Abmas – yes, he’s still there – poured in 29 for ORU.

Yale 

The Bulldogs blew out Columbia for their sixth win in a row and pulled into a first-place tie in the Ivy League with Princeton. The Tigers dropped an 83-76 decision at Dartmouth.

Vermont

The Catamounts defeated Massachusetts-Lowell for their seventh consecutive win and now hold a two-game lead in the America East Conference.

Morehead State

The Eagles salvaged a split on their road trip with Saturday’s 65-59 win at Southeast Missouri State. That victory creates a bit of separation for Morehead State, now two games up in the wild Ohio Valley Conference that was in a six-way tie for first just three weeks ago.

Losers

The officials in the Virginia-Duke game

The Blue Devils aren’t likely to elicit much sympathy among the ACC’s other fanbases when an official’s call doesn’t go their way. But the complete hash made of the situation by the crew in Charlottesville when a last-second foul was whistled then deemed to have occurred after time expired, overshadowed the result of the game. The ACC was forced to admit afterwards that Duke’s Kyle Filipowski should have been awarded two free throws with the game tied. Virginia went on to prevail in overtime, but when the officiating dominates the discussion, that’s never good for the league or the sport.

Tennessee

The Volunteers were victimized by a buzzer-beater for a second consecutive outing, having lost earlier in the week at Vanderbilt. They’re not even remotely close to sliding toward bubble territory, but their failure to close out those games makes it fair to question their staying power in March. That’s not an ideal situation to be in with Alabama coming to Knoxville Wednesday night.

Kentucky

Even if the Wildcats are able to squeak into the tournament – a prospect that seems less likely in the wake of Saturday’s loss at Georgia – they won’t be regarded as a serious threat to hang another championship banner.

Southern California

Unlike UCLA, the Trojans’ road swing through Oregon was not nearly as successful. USC’s Thursday night loss to the Ducks was followed by an even more damaging setback at Oregon State Saturday.

Big East contenders

It was a rough couple of days for a pair of conference front-runners. Xavier took the first hit Friday night via a loss to Butler, then Providence suffered a damaging loss Saturday to St. John’s. 

Big Ten bubble teams

If Michigan and Wisconsin don’t see their names on the bracket next month, this disappointing weekend’s results will loom large. The Wolverines missed ample opportunities to steal a win at home against Indiana that might have reversed their waning fortunes, and the Badgers suffered an ugly overtime loss at Nebraska, their fifth setback in seven games.  

New Mexico

Friday night’s loss at Air Force was the third in a row for the Lobos and was clearly the most costly. They need to find answers quickly in the final month. After starting 14-0, Richard Pitino’s team has gone 5-6 since the start of 2023.   

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — Czech Republic midfielder Jakub Jankto posted a video on social media on Monday saying he is gay, making him one of the most high-profile male soccer players to come out.

Jankto posted a video on Twitter saying: “I’m homosexual. And I no longer want to hide myself.”

The 27-year-old Jankto is playing for Sparta Prague this season on loan from Spanish club Getafe. He has previously played for Italian clubs Sampdoria and Udinese and has made 45 appearances for the Czech national team, scoring four goals and setting up 13 more.

“Like everyone else, I want to live my life with freedom, without fear, without violence, without prejudice, but with love,” Jankto says in the video.

Sparta Prague’s official Twitter account retweeted the video and said “you have our support.”

“Live your life, Jakub,” the club added.

Getafe also posted a message on Twitter, saying: “Our utmost respect and unconditional support to our player Jakub Jankto.’

Brazil forward Neymar was asked about the video on Monday ahead of Paris Saint-Germain’s match against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

“It’s an important day. I think each person should be free, I don’t have any problem with this,” Neymar said through a translator. “Every human being should be free to be who they want.”

The Czech national team said “nothing is changing for us.’

The Premier League responded to Jankto’s video with a comment saying: ‘We’re with you, Jakub. Football is for everyone.’

Jankto has a 3-year-old son, David, with his partner Marketa. Their relationship ended in 2021.

While women’s soccer features many prominent LGBTQ+ players, it’s still rare for professional male players to come out publicly as gay.

Josh Cavallo, who plays for Adelaide United in Australia, became the only openly gay player in a top men’s league when he came out in 2021.

Last year, Jake Daniels of English second-division club Blackpool became the first active male professional soccer player in Britain to publicly say he’s gay.

The Blackest, most woke Super Bowl ever — can’t believe I wrote that since this is the Republican NFL, but here we are — started by again featuring the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” this time performed by Sheryl Lee Ralph.

“America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM,” tweeted Lauren Boebert, leaning heavily on her all-caps key. “Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness.”

Then Rihanna performed at halftime. Despite once saying she wouldn’t perform in the Super Bowl halftime show because of the way the NFL treated Colin Kaepernick and protesting players, she was back, and make no mistake, Rihanna is one of the Blackest, proudest performers of our time.

But wait, it gets Blacker.

Singer Babyface, a generational rhythm and blues singer, sang “America the Beautiful” before the game. He’s produced dozens of R&B hits and won 12 Grammy Awards.

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

At this point we had the Black national anthem, Rihanna performing and two Black starting quarterbacks for the first time ever. During Black History Month. This wasn’t the Super Bowl. This was Wakanda.

But wait, it gets woker.

The traditional flyover before the game was performed by an all-women pilot team, the first time ever. Wokity wokity woke.

There was also a moment when Doug Williams, holding the Lombardi Trophy, was introduced to the crowd. He was the first Black quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl.

One of the ads during the Super Bowl was for a Fox show about farmers dating called ‘Farmer Wants a Wife,’ and one of the farmers is Black. On a Fox show. You know when we got Black farmers on Fox, wokeness has run amok .

In the first half, after Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce scored, he broke out a highly NSFW version of the ‘stanky leg’ dance. I’m going to count that as part of the The Black Super Bowl, too.

Yes, some of this is tongue-in-cheek, but a lot isn’t. The Super Bowl has become not just a game or a party, but also in some ways a mirror for us all. It reflects what we love, what we believe in, what we hate, what we want, what we don’t.

To some, the NFL is trying too hard to satisfy people of color and the woke mob. (Does anyone have a home base for the woke mob so I can visit?) But even if you know the NFL just a little bit, I mean a teensy-weensy bit, the league is only partially doing that.

What the league has actually done is take incremental steps to this place, and even those steps actually aren’t a huge deal. Singing the Black national anthem is miniscule progress.

The bottom line is even these small moves, made only really within the past several years, drive some people bonkers. Think about how long some version of professional football has been around, about a century or so, and these are the only real actions the league has taken that resemble anything close to being progressive. For much of the league’s existence, it’s fully embraced segregation at the quarterback position and racism against Black coaches.

That’s why these steps look so transformative when they’re really pretty basic.

What’s that saying? When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression.

I’m looking forward to the next Black Super Bowl … when Roger Goodell does the ‘stanky leg.’

Actually, never mind on that last point.