Ex-NFL HC Mike Smith reveals turning point in Super Bowl LVII

Super Bowl LVII was a game of fine margins. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35, with a field goal scored in the last minute.

In such a tight contest, there are one or two instances where a game can change. One such call was the soft penalty conceded by Eagles defender James Bradberry for holding, which gave the Chiefs a new set of downs in the last two minutes.

However, focusing on just that would be missing the wider picture. Thankfully, former NFL coach Mike Smith was on hand with us to analyze the instances where the game changed. As the winningest coach in Atlanta Falcons history, he immediately put his finger on two instances that gifted the Chiefs the win in Super Bowl LVII.

The first was a fumble by Jalen Hurts that was recovered for a defensive touchdown. Instead of points coming your way, whenever a defense scores a turnover resulting in points, it's a double whammy. Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda's "The BallFather Podcast," he said:

"I thought it was an outstanding football game with the two top teams in the NFL going out and competing. I think that there was a couple of things that happened in the ball game that kind of forecasted what potentially could happen.

As you know the statistics, they say if you have a defensive score in a ball game, you enhance your chances of winning. The probability of the Eagles winning went down (after Hurts fumble and resultant TD). Because when you give up a score on offense by an interception or fumble return, it hurts your chances."

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Mike Smith blames special teams error for Philadelphia's Super Bowl LVII loss to Chiefs

There was also a play on special teams where a punt was returned to the five-yard line by Kadarius Toney when the Chiefs were leading by just one point. That ended up in a touchdown.

Smith said about that:

"You compound that with a punt return that basically was run in for touchdown. I mean, they ran it back from the five-yard line. There's two, there's two scores, right there. It's probably a good surprise to some statisticians that the game was that close."

The two errors cost the Eagles 14 points on the night in Super Bowl LVII. Without them, Philadelphia would have emerged comfortable winners over Kansas City and would have been having a victory parade now.