The Chiefs lost a Super Bowl rematch to the Eagles on Sunday, 20-17. While it was a much closer game than February's blowout, it seemed a familiar story for both sides.
Kansas City struggled mightily to move the ball offensively and failed to stop Philadelphia's run game when it mattered most. Patrick Mahomes was forced into a superhero role and made a few mistakes. Travis Kelce looked like a shell of the All-Pro tight end he once was. For all those reasons and more the Chiefs were unable to avenge their Super Bowl embarrassment.
But if you ask Adam Schefter, this loss was fated because the tush push was not banned.
How could that be? On Monday morning's Get Up, Schefter made the case that the Chiefs were destined to lose back in March when NFL owners opted to not ban the tush push.
"The biggest thing here to me is this game was lost in March," Schefter said. "This game was lost when the NFL owners refused to ban the tush push. It wasn't lost yesterday. It was lost in March! There might be a lot of games the Eagles play that are lost in March. Because this play is unstoppable. Not only does the defense not know how to handle it, even the officials don't know how to handle it. You're seeing the Eagles' linemen jump offsides every play and nothing's called! The officials have no idea, defenses have no idea, and the Eagles get to do whatever they want on every single play in the tush push."
"This game was lost in March. This game was lost when the NFL owners refused to ban the tush push from happening. It wasn't lost yesterday."
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) September 15, 2025
—@AdamSchefter on Eagles-Chiefs pic.twitter.com/rl60G5Pa6n
The Eagles did use the tush push to great effect on Sunday in key situations, and the officials indeed did not know what to do with it. The NFL world was left in an uproar over the refs' failure to call false starts on the Philly linemen who were clearly moving before the snap. Even Fox's rules official verbally threw up his hands in frustration and disgust at one point. It will be a talking point until the NFL officiates it correctly and even then old conversations about its place in the game will be hashed out yet again.
Did the Chiefs really lose the game because of the tush push? Not really. Kansas City's loss has more to do with Mahomes missing his top two receivers and the Eagles dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. But Schefter's point is more borne of the frustration many fans felt watching Philly players commit infractions on every tush push with no penalty. If the rules don't apply on that play, what's the point?
It's a dramatic segment, to be sure. The tush push only matters in specific short-yardage situations and only impacts one side of the ball. But it's a reflection of how the NFL world felt watching Chiefs-Eagles on Sunday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Adam Schefter Blames Chiefs' Loss to Eagles on Failure to Ban Tush Push.
