Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has issued a staunch defence of his team following their crushing defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. The Chiefs had its hopes of a historic SB three-peat dashed with a bruising 40-22 loss, dominated on all fronts throughout the game, Reid faced the media.

While star player Travis Kelce made a swift exit, Reid owned up to the team’s shortcomings, admitting they fell short on the day.

“Today was a tough day,” Reid acknowledged. “We really didn’t really play well enough in any of the phases. We didn’t coach good enough. They did a nice job.”

“I’m proud of our guys though for the battle and the fight they put in throughout the year and all the games they’ve played here over the last few years. My hat goes off to the guys for that. We’ll learn from this. It’s going to hurt. You get this far and you don’t play as well as you want to. It hurts.”

The Chiefs faced relentless pressure, with Philadelphia notching six sacks and forcing three turnovers, including a 38-yard interception return touchdown by Cooper DeJean.

Discussing the Chiefs’ defeat to the Eagles, Reid admitted: “Too many turnovers and too many penalties. Against a good football team, you just can’t do that. Vic Fangio does a nice job with that defense.

They played well. They’ve got good players, a good scheme and they executed better than we did. They coached better. It starts with me. They played better.”

In a post-match press conference, Patrick Mahomes accepted much of the responsibility for the loss, following one of his poorest performances in his illustrious NFL career. The 29-year-old ended the first half with a career-low 33 passing yards and a 10.7 passer rating – though he finished with 257 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions after boosting his stats when the game was already beyond reach.

“Credit to the Eagles. They played better than us from start to finish. We didn’t start how we wanted to,” Mahomes confessed. “Obviously, the turnovers hurt. I take all the blame for that. I didn’t play to my standard, and I have to be better the next time.

“I threw two interceptions. I threw a pick-six and I threw a pick that they returned to the [14-yard line]. They scored immediately after. When you give a team 14 points, especially a really good football team, a Super Bowl football team, not a lot of good things happen. That’s why I take ownership in this loss, probably more than any loss in my entire career because I put us in a bad spot.”