Cooper DeJean, Josh Sweat and the Philadelphia Eagles’ ferocious defence denied Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Kansas City a Super Bowl three-peat.

It wasn’t even close.

DeJean got a pick-6 on his 22nd birthday, Sweat tormented Mahomes and the Eagles routed Kansas City 40-22 on Sunday to secure the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship.

Jalen Hurts threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score on a tush push to earn Super Bowl MVP honors, and Vic Fangio’s defence was so dominant that the Eagles didn’t need much from Saquon Barkley.

The game-changing running back finished with 57 yards, breaking Terrell Davis’s record for yards rushing in a season, playoffs included. Hurts threw for 221 yards.

“This is the ultimate team game. You can’t be great without the greatness of others. Great performance by everybody — offence, defence, special teams,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “We didn’t really ever care what anyone thought about how we won, or their opinions. All we want to do is win.”

With Donald Trump becoming the first president in office to attend a Super Bowl, the Eagles outplayed Kansas City in every facet, delighting a raucous pro-Philly crowd that celebrated each score with a familiar rendition of “Fly! Eagles! Fly!”

Even Taylor Swift’s presence couldn’t help Kansas City. They lost for the first time in 10 games this season with the pop superstar in a suite watching boyfriend Travis Kelce, who didn’t catch a pass until late in the third quarter.

Not in Kansas City’s worst nightmares could its fans have imagined such a lacklustre performance. Kansas City had won three of the previous five Super Bowls, losing 31-9 to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers four years ago.

The Eagles sacked Mahomes six times, the most of his career, including 2 1/2 by Sweat. And they did it without Fangio calling a single blitz.

“Defence wins championships,” Hurts said. “We saw how they played today. We saw the difference they made in the game. They gave us opportunities, gave us short fields. And we’re able to do what we do.”

Barkley, the 2024 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year, only had 31 yards rushing in the first half when Philly built a 24-0 lead.

Kansas City was aiming to become the third team in NFL history to win three straight championships and the first to three-peat in the Super Bowl era.

No Mahomes magic this time

Hurts nearly led the Eagles to victory against Kansas City two years ago in Arizona, but Mahomes led a comeback and Harrison Butker kicked the game-winning field goal in the final minute for a 38-35 victory. Mahomes rallied Kansas City to an overtime victory over San Francisco last year for Kansas City’s second straight title.

This time, a revamped Philly defence featuring eight new starters from the 2022 team made sure Mahomes had no chance to pull off his magic.

Sirianni, who mocked fans chanting “Fire Nick!” during a victory over Cleveland in October and was called a “clown” on national television, should finally silence critics by adding a championship ring to a resume that includes the fifth-best winning percentage in league history.

Sirianni was showered with Gatorade with nearly three minutes left in the game while backup QB Kenny Pickett took snaps in mop-up duty.

Barkley helped push Hurts into the end zone from the 1 to give Philadelphia a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

Up 10-0 after Jake Elliott’s 48-yard field goal, Sweat and Jalyx Hunt sacked Mahomes on consecutive plays. Mahomes then rolled out and made an errant throw that was picked by DeJean, who returned it 38 yards for a 17-0 lead.

It was Mahomes’ first pick-6 in 21 career playoff games and ended a streak of 297 straight passes without an interception.

All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun picked Mahomes again late in the second quarter, and Hurts connected with A.J. Brown on a 12-yard TD pass for a 24-0 lead.

Hurts threw a perfect 46-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith to make it 34-0 late in the third.

Mahomes fired a 24-yard TD pass to Xavier Worthy to avoid the shutout, but the 2-point conversion failed. He threw two late, mostly meaningless TD passes, one to DeAndre Hopkins and another to Worthy.

After two weeks of discussions about questionable calls that led to public perception that officials favour Kansas City — a theory NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called “ridiculous” — the first penalty of the game only fuelled critics.

On the next possession, the Eagles benefited from an unnecessary roughness penalty on McDuffie against Dallas Goedert following an incomplete pass on third-and-5.

Hurts then connected with Jahan Dotson on a 27-yard pass to the 1 and scored on the next play.

Hurts’ streak of 217 passes without a pick ended in the first half when he was intercepted deep in Kansas City territory, but Kansas City didn’t capitalize.

The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team to win three championships in a row, doing it from 1929-31 and 1965-67.

The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-02, led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neill, are the last team in the major American professional leagues to win three straight titles.