ClutchPoints
After 21 weeks in the trenches, from some early season concerns to the best bye week of all time, some injury concerns down the stretch, and then a run of playoff games that presented unique challenges from week to week, the Philadelphia Eagles are heading back to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years, where they will look to end the Kansas City Chiefs’ reign of terror once and for all.
The narrative has been written. The picks are in. And best of all? Fans don’t have to go another weekend without professional football, as the Super Bowl is set to kick off at 6:30 EST on Sunday.
In one corner, we have the Chiefs, who won the last two Lombardi Trophies under head coach Andy Reid and found a way to get back to the big game with an effective offense, a stout defense, and enough good luck to consistently come out of close games with another notch in the win column.
Is their +59 point difference concerning? Maybe so, as is their expected win percentage of .600, their 18th-ranked passing defense, and their 39 sacks over the regular season, which is two fewer than Vic Fangio’s notoriously meh pass rush during the regular season. But the Chiefs are pretty good at defending the run, have the experience advantage, and still employ the best quarterback in the NFL, who routinely turns nothing into something from under center.
And as for the Eagles? Well, they just turned in one of the most impressive seasons in NFL history, with an all-time great rushing offense paired up with an elite passing defense headlined by not one but two rookies at cornerback and a former special teamer-turned-All-Pro Linebacker in the middle of their defense.
Will the road be challenging for Philadelphia to leave New Orleans with the win? Yes. Will the Chiefs try their best to keep the game close, only pulling ahead in the end for the big win? Yes, that will probably happen too. But do the Eagles have the players, coaches, and components needed to bring a second Super Bowl parade down Broad Street? Yes, they do, much to the chagrin of fans in Philadelphia and anywhere the Chiefs are enemy number one.
When it comes to Super Bowl 59, the grandest storyline has to be Saquon Barkley’s pursuit of the all-time rushing record, 2,476 yards, which currently belongs to Terrell Davis.
That’s right, after coming up short of Eric Dickerson’s regular season rushing record, Barkley is just 30 yards away from breaking Davis’ all-time record and could theoretically set a new mark on the Eagles’ first offensive snap of the game if he can take another 60 yarder to the house like his efforts against the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game.
The problem? Steve Spagnola and the Chiefs know as well as anyone that the Eagles’ bread and butter is Barkley’s rushing...
