How Vic Fangio led the greatest defensive turnaround in NFL history originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Late in the third quarter Sunday, the Eagles had a 34-0 lead, the Chiefs were 0-for-8 on third down and had 54 total yards on nine possessions, Patrick Mahomes had a passer rating of 18.3 and the Chiefs had committed two turnovers.
It may have been the greatest 42 ½ minutes of defense in Super Bowl history.
Vic Fangio’s genius turned one of the most dangerous quarterbacks and brilliant offensive coaching minds in NFL history into an embarrassing, hapless mess in Super Bowl LIX at the Superdome.
The Chiefs wound up scoring a few garbage-time touchdowns, including two in the final three minutes, but it didn’t change the fact that while this game was in the balance, Fangio’s group played as well as a defense can possibly play.
The final score was Eagles 40, Chiefs 22, but 34-0 late in the third quarter or 40-6 with three minutes left are better representations of just how dominating the Eagles’ defense was.
The Chiefs simply couldn’t do a damn thing.
And for the first time in his four-decade coaching career, Fangio was a Super Bowl champion.
“Vic did an unbelievable job all year getting everybody on the same page, (teaching) the fundamentals of the game,” Nick Sirianni said Monday morning. “This game doesn’t have to be complicated. At the end of the day, did you tackle well? Did you get off blocks well? Did you hustle to the ball?
“And our guys did that. Did you take the ball away? And our guys did that. So Vic did an unbelievable job and the game dictates how the game’s played.”
The Super Bowl capped an astonishing turnaround for an Eagles defense that ranked 26th in yards allowed, 30th in points allowed, 31st in pass defense, 24th in sacks, 29th in first downs allowed, 31st on third down and 30th in the red zone last year.
Go ahead. Read those numbers again.
That was one year ago.
Enter Fangio, a new staff and seven new starters and the youngest defense in the NFL finished 1st in yards allowed, 2nd in points allowed, 1st in pass defense, 15th in sacks, 1st in first downs allowed, 3rd on third down and 5th in the red zone.
Without question, the greatest defensive turnaround in NFL history. And Fangio was the mastermind behind it.
The Eagles’ defense capped the season with four consecutive terrific postseason performances, including Sunday’s domination of Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Fangio’s plan was to not blitz at all, trust the front to generate the pressure and drop everybody else in coverage.
When Mahomes wasn’t getting hit or sacked, he was throwing incomplete or dumping it off. One of the greatest quarterbacks in history didn’t complete a pass longer than 11 yards until 2 ½ minutes left in the third quarter. By then the game was long over.
“We didn’t need the pressures at all yesterday,” Sirianni said. “We were getting home with four and being able to keep seven in coverage, and he kept dialing it up. He did an awesome job, and the defense did an awesome job yesterday.”
The Eagles sacked Mahomes six times, picked him off twice, including Cooper DeJean’s pick-6, forced a fumble and piled up 11 quarterback hits.
Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl MVP and a future Hall of Famer, simply could not deal with the pressure generated by the Eagles’ front and the coverage in the back end.
“When defenses are going play to the shell coverage and stay back and play man on third-down, I can’t make bad plays worse, and I think that’s something that you saw today – there were times when guys weren’t open, and I need to throw the ball away or check it down and let other guys make plays happen,” Mahomes said.
“Sometimes I get where I wanna make a big play, a big play to kind of spark us, and that’s something that I’ve dealt with my entire career. And if I don’t show that I will take what’s there in the game, the defenses are gonna stand in the coverages that they’re in. I think they only blitzed like two times, one time, this entire game today. They were gonna make me be a fundamental quarterback from the pocket and take what’s there and that’s stuff I have to get better at.”
The Chiefs’ first nine drives generated seven points for the Eagles and none for the Chiefs.
“All year, it was every unit,” Sirianni said. “This is why this is the greatest team sport there is. It takes everybody. We had a strong defense, strong offense, and we got great execution by our special teams consistently throughout the entire year.
“But our defense, when you play good team defense, you know, there are some consistent factors, whether you look at high school football, college football, professional football, year in, year out.
“Are you consistently on the same page? And our guys were consistently on the same page, working as one out there for all the different looks that they got. Do you defeat blocks? Do you tackle well? Do you take the football away and the fundamentals that require that? And our guys did that consistently all year. And the last portion of that that we talk about an awful lot is do you have a relentless effort to the football? Good things happen when you get to the football.”
Every defensive starter had at least one sack, interception or tackle for loss during the postseason.
This is the ultimate team defense, and they showed it week after week after week.
And saved their best for last.
“Obviously, we are very talented on that side of the field. Vic Fangio is one of the best coordinators of all time. I think he cemented his legacy of being maybe the best defensive coordinator of all time last night. But those things are consistent in defensive football and our guys did that.”
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