The Philadelphia Eagles thrashed Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs so thoroughly in the Super Bowl that it's hard to imagine a worst first-half for the two-time defending champions. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio may be the primary reason for such a comprehensive beatdown.
Fangio came into this game with a plan to keep Travis Kelce at bay and force Mahomes to make plays downfield with his parade of subpar receivers. That plan worked perfectly in the first half, as Kansas City was intercepted twice and shut out as Philly took a 24-0 lead over the favored AFC champs.
Fangio, who has instantly taken this defense from a joke to the best in the league, has made life hell on Mahomes in this game. Some of Fangio's pressure stats are so ridiculous that this game can't be viewed as anything less than a masterclass.
Fangio blitzed a grand total of zero times in this game, but they were still able to get home on 47% of Mahomes' dropbacks in the first half. The Eagles are teeing off and locking everything down, proof that Fangio is one of the greatest defensive coordinators this game has ever seen.
Eagles DC Vic Fangio is forever a legend after nightmare game from Chiefs in Super Bowl
Mahomes' -1.36 EPA per dropback was the 10th-worst in any half since 2018, which is as far back as data goes. Getting this out of any quarterback is impressive, but doing this to Mahomes in a moment with all of these implications surrounding it is borderline unprecedented.
The Chiefs' defense tried to slow down Saquon Barkley, and they did so by limiting him to 2.6 yards per carry in the first half. That was still a more effective form of offense than letting Mahomes throw the ball, as he was limited to 2.4 yards per attempt in this contest.
While the Chiefs came into this game with a lack of proven wide receiver talent and a guard playing left tackle, that's no excuse for getting beaten this thoroughly in all phases. Josh Sweat, who has 2.5 sacks in this game already, has Mahomes and the Chiefs offense utterly baffled.
No matter what else happens in his Eagles tenure, Fangio will always be viewed as someone who helped take an Eagles defense that was one of the worst in the league and turned them into a unit so ferocious that they were able to make the mighty Mahomes look like Zach Wilson on the biggest stage.