For The Win
There is no tried and true formula for reaching the Super Bowl.
Every year, we try and diagnose some kind of set plan for all 30 teams unlucky enough to reach the Big Game. We talk about it like it’s so simple, like everyone should follow a basic 30-minute baking recipe you find online, and you, too, will soon play for the Lombardi Trophy. But we don’t realize that most of this championship-caliber football team discussion is irreplicable. There are so many extenuating relationship factors, team-building marks, and coaching decisions that go into playing the last football game of the season.
(Not to mention a much-needed splash of good old-fashioned luck.)
As we look ahead to Super Bowl 59 between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday, it’s worth looking back upon their two distinctly different paths to New Orleans. For the Eagles, in particular, it was about re-instilling a quality sense of disciplined, smashmouth football.
Let’s unpack exactly how Philadelphia reached its second Super Bowl in three years with its most essential decisions.
By now, you know the story.
The Eagles acquired Barkley, the NFL’s premier running back, after their NFC East division rival, the New York Giants, essentially let him walk for nothing. Suffice it to say, the Eagles constructed their offense around putting the ball into Barkley’s chest over 20 times a game. Even when Jalen Hurts struggled, Philadelphia rode Barkley’s gifts to a 17-win campaign (including playoffs).
But folks, it’s so much more than that.
Armed with an elite offensive line that let him get to the second level at will, Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for at least 2,000 yards in a single season. If Philadelphia didn’t have grander Super Bowl ambitions in mind, Barkley would’ve played the Eagles’ final regular-season game and could’ve broken Eric Dickerson’s all-time record, too.
Oh, and lest I forget, per Over The Cap, Barkley will not carry a salary cap hit higher than $9.8 million until 2027. At the risk of hyperbole, we might already be looking at one of the greatest free-agency additions pro football has ever seen.
Everything an exceptional defensive coordinator like Fangio touches turns to gold. Literally.
Years ago, in the Bay Area, he was the maestro of a ferocious San Francisco 49ers defense that played in three consecutive NFC title games from 2012 to 2014. After leaving the 49ers, Fangio was the one pulling the strings for the Khalil Mack-led Chicago Bears in the late 2010s. At this point, Fangio has a well-earned reputation as one of the finest defensive minds ever to grace this chaotic game.
The Eagles should consider themselves so fortunate they were able to swoop in and nab Fangio this past offseason. This, after apparently not being a “culture fit” for Miami Dolphins defenders last year.
Well, guess...
