Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon takes blame for Super Bowl loss with Eagles

After two seasons as the Eagles defensive coordinator, Gannon was hired to be the new man in charge for the Cardinals. The move came just in February, just two days after the Super Bowl.

Philadelphia led Kansas City 24-14 at halftime of the big game, but the Eagles defense saw Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes lead a comeback after intermission to snatch away the victory.

Mahomes and company had three touchdown drives plus the game-winning field goal in the third and fourth quarters alone. The Kansas City offense recorded 158 rushing yards, while Gannon's group forced zero turnovers and posted no sacks either.

The 38 points surrendered by the Eagles was the second-highest number of points that they'd allowed in a game during the 2022 campaign. Philadelphia gave up only seven points in each of their first two playoff games and hadn't allowed more than 20 points since Week 16 when they lost to the Dallas Cowboys 40-34.

At the beginning of March, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (who has since joined the Detroit Lions) called out Gannon in a deleted message on X, formerly known as Twitter, blaming him for the team's shortcomings in the Super Bowl defeat. Gardner-Johnson quote-tweeted a reporter's post where Gannon talked about "what went wrong in the 2nd half in the Super Bowl" and wrote "You ain't put us in position to make plays."

During an interview in front of Cardinals fans in April, Gannon blasted the Philadelphia media, alleging that during a news conference last season, they wanted him fired for not blitzing enough.

“I regret that,” Gannon told Keefer. “Mistake by me.”

Per Keefer's report, the head coach then clarified that he wasn't referring to the reporters, but rather to something he heard on a radio show during his first season with the organization.

"It was literally supposed to be a joke," Gannon said.

The Cardinals are widely expected to be the worst team in the NFL during the 2023 season, making the first-year coach's job one of the more difficult ones this fall.