Super Bowl 57 in Arizona didn't lack drama or theatrics. The league's top-two MVP finishers -- quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts -- went blow for blow with electric offensive drives, and with 73 combined points between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday's showdown was the third-highest scoring Super Bowl in NFL history. But there was controversy in the closing minutes, and at the most inopportune time.
With the score knotted at 35-35 and less than two minutes left on the clock, Eagles cornerback James Bradberry was called for holding on a pivotal third-down pass attempt. As a result of the controversial penalty, the Chiefs' drive stayed alive, and by burning more clock, the offense set up a game-winning field goal with just 8 seconds remaining. After the game, Bradberry admitted to tugging on Juju Smith-Schuster's uniform during the play. But the penalty provoked the ire of fans, and 'Go Birds' podcast host James Seltzer believes that Philadelphia was robbed of a fair conclusion.
"We'll never forget that call. To end the Super Bowl on that call... really, NFL? It wasn't just Eagles fans outraged," Seltzer said on the latest edition of the podcast. "LeBron James is out there outraged. Kirk Herbstreit was tweeting what a disaster it was. It was a joke. It was an embarrassment. It was just an absolute embarrassment. One of the biggest embarrassments in the history of the NFL, from an on-field perspective...
"Yeah, you can say the Eagles got beat in a lot of ways. But for it to end like that, it's just such a sour, horrible taste. I feel cheated as an Eagles fan and I think NFL fans got cheated out of what could've been an amazing end to an all-time great NFL game, in the biggest of games. It's just devastating to me. It's the worst loss of my lifetime, in terms of pain and in terms of sadness, in terms of feeling it's the wrong outcome, in terms of feeling cheated."
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