Congrats to all of you Eagles fans. I’m not saying you deserved it, but you made it back to the promised land!
For everyone else, I know the prospect of a Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl does not necessarily excite you. I understand. It is fun to see fresh faces in the big game, and these teams are not only the opposite of fresh, but they are probably the two least liked teams in the league.
But once you get past the initial frustration of this battle of Goliaths, there is a lot to like about this game.
These two teams – the Kansas City Cheifs and Philadelphia Eagles – were two of the best throughout the regular season. Both found major success during the season, but also appeared to improve throughout it. The two teams deserve to be here, and that is all you can really hope for from a big game between heavyweights.
The Chiefs have been accused recently of winning in lame fashion and not playing exciting football. However, there was nothing unexciting about the Chiefs’ win against the Buffalo Bills. Kansas City is great at winning close games and dictating the tempo of a game, but that does not mean the tempo can’t be an exciting one.
For you Eagles haters: I know it is hard to hear, but they’ve done more than enough to earn your respect. They did not squeak by to get here. They didn’t benefit from easy matchups. They played three good football teams and took care of business in every one of them. This includes their 55 point performance against their division foes. The Eagles played an excellent game against the Commanders – they had everything working in that one. Even though the popular narrtative is that Jalen Hurts is a so-so Quarterback getting carried by the talent around him, he already proved a lot of doubters wrong with his impressive performance in the Championship game. Neverthless, a good performance in the Super Bowl would do a lot for that narrative.
The Eagles started the year 2-2, and the conversations around coaching staff was getting ugly. The team made key adjustments and won 12 of their 13 games to cruise to an NFC East title. Nick Sirianni does not go out of his way to seem likeable. Nor does he seem to attempt to portray himself as a particularly nice guy. His character does not lend himself to being forgiven in the media. He embraces a villain mentality and even seems to crave it. He continues to get the last laugh at players, fans and media members, but, of course, the big laugh still awaits. In the last three seasons, Sirianni has led his team to a 39-12 regular season record.
Kellen Moore has done a lot for their offense in his first year as Eagles Offensive Coordinator. His work has been so well regarded that it seems likely he will be rewarded with the Saints head coaching job.
Vic Fangio was brought in to help settle down the Eagles’ talented defense this year. Fangio had a tremendous first year as Defensive Coordinator – he turned the defense around and got the most out of the Eagles’ established players, finding ways to make stars out of relatively unknown players and helped his rookie defenders progress very well. Fangio’s unit allowed, by far, the fewest yards per game in the NFL this year. But, for this game, it is worth noting that Fangio has never beaten Patrick Mahomes. He has a rough 0-8 record against him.
There is not much I can say about the Chiefs that hasn’t already been said at length. They are a talented, well coached and poised team. Teams have to play an almost perfect game to beat them. Disregard the stats and any numbers that tell you the Chiefs are not dominant offensively. In the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes wins. He controls the game and does not make mistakes and it leads to the Chiefs never chasing a game.
Andy Reid’s team is not only mistake-proof, but they also find ways to capitalize on other team’s weaknesses and mistakes. They block kicks, force fumbles and neutralize teams’ first options.
The Chiefs’ offense rightly gets a lot of the plaudits, but their defense is a big part of their success and it may be the best unit they’ve had in the Mahomes era. Steve Spagnuolo has served as the Defensive Coordinator for KC since 2019. His aggressive philosophy and scheming ability has helped him make it to four Super Bowls and has lined him up to potentially be the first coordinator to make the Hall of Fame.
This talented unit is headlined by Chris Jones, who has game breaking ability from the Defensive Tackle position. It is a deep and talented unit that loves to play tough and will be relishing the chance to beat the Eagles once more.
The Eagles are not the same team as they were in that 2023 matchup. Saquon Barkley is the most obvious example of the change in roster. Barkley had a historic first season with the Eagles as he eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards. Barkley’s explosive ability has been seen throughout the playoffs and Philly will need all of Barkley’s big play ability in this one. The Chiefs have been susceptible to the running game in the playoffs so far and the Eagles will look towards their excellent running game to propel them to a victory.
The Eagles do not have the luxury of having a slow start – they will need to get the offense going early and keep their foot on the gas. If they can run the ball and facilitate their offense the way they want to, they have a great chance, but that requires 60 minutes of clean, quality football.
Philly will also look to lean on the success of their special teams unit, which has made key momentum plays throughout playoffs. As the past shows, good special teams play can be the difference in big games like this.
Chiefs players drafted in 2022 have yet to taste defeat in the playoffs. For the Eagles’ young players, their loss to the Chiefs is the worst of their career.
Super Bowl LIX has all the reasons to be a great game, now it’s up to the talented players and coaches to execute one. I cannot wait to see what they have in store.
