The Kansas City Chiefs fought back to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in a classic Super Bowl that will be remembered as one of the greatest of all time.
The Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes shrugged off an ankle injury to lead his side to a dramatic 38 to 35 victory and claim their second Super Bowl in four years.
The contest at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, was the first Super Bowl to feature two black quarterbacks, with Mahomes making history alongside Jalen Hurts for the Eagles.
It was also the first to feature two brothers on opposing teams, with the Eagles centre Jason Kelce playing against his Chiefs tight end younger brother, Travis.
The game also featured the season’s best two teams and, in Mahomes and Hurts, the two best players.
Image: Patrick Mahomes was the hero of the night for the Kansas City Chiefs. Pic: AP
Image: Jalen Hurts put on a strong performance for the Philadelphia Eagles
Kansas City, who were seen as slight underdogs ahead of the Super Bowl and trailed for much of the game, were 27 to 21 down heading into the final quarter.
Things had been looking bleak for the Chiefs after Mahomes appeared to re-injure the right ankle that had been a major worry coming into the game.
Grimacing in pain after a tackle, Mahomes hobbled off the field and slammed his helmet to the turf as the Chiefs headed into halftime trailing 24 to 14.
However, when the teams returned after the break a resilient Mahomes produced a heroic effort and threw for two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
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He also set up Harrison Butker’s 27-yard game-winning field goal with eight seconds to play in front of 67,827 fans at the stadium in Arizona.
‘Nothing was going to keep me off the field’
Mahomes was handed the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) award after the game to go along with the NFL MVP honour he received on Thursday.
The 27-year-old said after the encounter: “I told you all this week there was nothing going to keep me off this football field.
“It’s the Super Bowl, you can worry about getting healthy in the off-season.
“I fought through, and we were able to win.”
Image: Kansas City Chiefs players celebrate after winning the Super Bowl. Pic: AP
Kansas City coach Andy Reid said: “Well he’s the MVP. That’s all the needs to be said, right? MVP. And you saw it tonight.”
Reid also said in post-match comments: “He wants to be the greatest player ever and that’s the way he goes about his business. And he does it humbly, there’s no bragging.
“The great quarterbacks make everybody around him better, including the head coach. So he’s done a heck of a job.”
Image: Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid gets drenched with water after the game
Hurts, who was a leading candidate for the NFL MVP award, turned in an almost equally dazzling performance, running for three touchdowns and a Super Bowl record 70 yards. He also threw for a touchdown.
Sibling rivalry swept aside after Super Bowl drama
Meanwhile, the Kelce brothers embraced after the game as confetti flew for the Chiefs.
Travis, who had 81 receiving yards and a touchdown, told reporters he was left with a strange feeling after getting the win over his brother’s team.
“There’s nothing I can say to him other than I love him and he played a hell of a year, a hell of a season,” Travis told reporters.
Image: Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, left, with his brother Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jason Kelce. Pic: AP
Image: Kansas City Chiefs place kicker Harrison Butker kicks the game-winning field goal against the Philadelphia Eagles. Pic: AP
Their mother, Donna Kelce, had become a fan favourite and was sitting next to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during the game.
Both brothers had previously earned a Super Bowl ring – Jason with the Eagles in 2018 and Travis with the Chiefs three years ago – but with bragging rights on the line there was no lack of motivation.
“It’s hard to get here,” Jason told reporters. “Obviously would have liked to win but (I’m) happy for Trav.”
The event attracted an array of famous faces to suburban Phoenix from entertainment and sports, with Elon Musk, Paul McCartney and LeBron James among the capacity crowd of 67,827.
A case of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite has been detected in a person in the United States for the first time.
The parasitic flies eat cattle and other warm-blooded animals alive, with an outbreak beginning in Central America and southern Mexico late last year.
It is ultimately fatal if left untreated.
The case in the US was identified in a person from Maryland who had travelled from Guatemala.
Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian, told Reuters on Sunday that she was notified of the case within the last week.
A Maryland state government official also confirmed the case.
The person was treated and prevention measures were implemented, Reuters reports.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Maryland Department of Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
What is screwworm?
The female screwworm fly lays eggs in the wounds of warm-blooded animals and once hatched, hundreds of screwworm larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh.
It can be devastating in cattle and wildlife, and has also been known to infect humans.
Treatment is onerous, and involves removing hundreds of larvae and thoroughly disinfecting wounds. They are largely survivable if treated early enough.
The confirmed case is likely to rattle the beef and cattle futures market, which has seen record-high prices because of tight supplies.
The US typically imports more than a million cattle from Mexico each year to process into beef. The screwworm outbreak could cost Texas – the biggest cattle-producing state – $1.8bn (£1.3bn) in livestock deaths, labour costs and medication expenses.
Image: A view shows a calf after being sprayed with a disinfectant spray to prevent screwworm. Pic: Reuters
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set traps and sent mounted officers along the border, but it has faced criticism from some cattle producers and market analysts for not acting faster to pursue increased fly production via a sterile fly facility.
What is a sterile fly facility?
The case also comes just one week after the US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, travelled to Texas to announce plans to build a sterile fly facility there in a bid to combat the pest. Ms Rollins had pledged repeatedly to keep screwworm out of the country.
A sterile fly facility produces a large number of male flies and sterilises them – these males are then released to mate with wild female insects, which collapses the wild population over time. This method eradicated screwworm from the US in the 1960s.
Mexico has also taken efforts to limit the spread of the pest, which can kill livestock within weeks if not treated. It had started to build a $51m sterile fly production facility.
The USDA has previously said 500 million flies would need to be released weekly to push the fly back to the Darien Gap, the stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia.
The troops are authorised to use their weapons for self-protection.
A White House official told NBC News that despite being armed, as of Saturday night, the National Guard troops in DC are not making arrests, and will continue to work on protecting federal assets.
The troops were largely deployed from outside the state and were framed by President Trump as a concerted effort to tackle crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital.
Such deployments are not common, and are typically used in response natural disasters or civil unrest.
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Democrats have bashed the deployment as partisan in nature, accusing Mr Trump of trying to exert his presidential authority through scare tactics and said his primary targets have been cities with black leadership.
Image: Armed members of the South Carolina National Guard patrol outside of Union Station. Pic: AP
Pentagon plans to deploy US army to Chicago
Yesterday it was reported that the Pentagon was drafting plans to deploy the US army in Chicago, the largest city in the state.
The governor of Illinois then accused Mr Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” and “abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families”.
Officials familiar with the proposals told the Washington Post that several options were being weighed up by the US defence department, including mobilising thousands of National Guard troops in Chicago as early as September.
Mr Trump had told reporters on Friday that “Chicago is a mess”, before attacking the city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, and hinting “we’ll straighten that one out probably next”.
The governor of Illinois has accused Donald Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” over reports the US president was considering deploying the military in the state.
US newspaper The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Pentagon was drafting plans to deploy the US army in Chicago, the state capital.
It comes as part of Mr Trump’s crackdown on crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration in mainly Democrat-run cities. He recently deployed the National Guard in Washington DC.
In a statement responding to the report, governor JB Pritzker said Illinoishad “received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention”.
He added: “The safety of the people of Illinois is always my top priority.
“There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalising the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders.”
The governor then said: “Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicise Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families.
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“We will continue to follow the law, stand up for the sovereignty of our state, and protect the people of Illinois.”
Officials familiar with the proposals told the Post that several options were being weighed up by the US defence department, including mobilising thousands of National Guard troops in Chicago as early as September.
The Pentagon said it would not comment on planned operations, adding: “The department is a planning organisation and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel.”
Image: People protest against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington DC. Pic: AP
Mr Trump, however, told reporters on Friday that “Chicago is a mess,” before attacking the city’s mayor Brandon Johnson and hinting “we’ll straighten that one out probably next”.
Mr Johnson has not yet commented on Saturday’s reports, but said on Friday that the president’s approach to tackling crime has been “uncoordinated, uncalled for and unsound”.
“There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them,” he added.
It comes after around 800 National Guard troops were deployed in Washington DC earlier this month, despite the US capital’s mayor revealing crime in the capital was at its “lowest level in 30 years”.
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What’s it like having the army on DC’s streets?
According to preliminary figures from Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police, violent crime is down 26% in 2025 – after dropping 35% in 2024 compared with 2023.
In June Mr Trump ordered 700 US Army marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in California, during protests over mass immigration raids.