For The Win
The Kansas City Chiefs stand on the brink of history. With one more victory, they’ll become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.
It’s a feat that would cement Kansas City’s place among the upper crust of NFL dynasties and move Patrick Mahomes one step closer to greatest of all time status. But it won’t be easy. The Chiefs will take on a Philadelphia Eagles team loaded with offensive weapons and a defense that’s been an absolute wrecking ball to close out 2024.
So how can Kansas City rise up to its destiny and claim its place in NFL history with a 2025 Super Bowl win?
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Simple, right? Just do the thing that two teams have done all season (in games the Eagles won anyway). Leave him a light box, and he thrives. Put eight-plus defenders near the line of scrimmage (something he faced more often than anyone but Derrick Henry in 2024), and he still averages 4.5 yards per carry
You know what? By those powers combined, let’s push through to something more manageable and impactful. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will have something in store for Barkley. But his most important job may come in the passing game.
Limiting Barkley hasn’t put the clamps on the Eagles’ ability to win. Knocking Hurts off his game has. There were six games in 2024 in which Philadelphia’s quarterbacks recorded a passer rating below 90.0. Philly was 3-3 in those situations and undefeated otherwise.
Stopping Barkley puts the onus on Hurts’s capable-but-inconsistent shoulder. At face value, this is also a rough bet for Kansas City. His 103.7 passer rating is a career high, and his average pass attempt resulted in an eight-yard gain — fourth-best in the NFL. He thrived in the space Barkley created, throwing over brought-in safeties in the deep game and utilizing elite wideouts in one-on-one coverage for easy wins.
He’s also been pretty good even without a top-notch rushing threat. Barkley has had three games where he averaged fewer than 4.5 yards per carry in 2024. Hurts is 2-1 in those games with a 73.5 percent completion rate, 8.5 yards per attempt, five touchdowns and a 113.1 rating.
Blitzing him on passing downs isn’t a fix; he was more valuable with an extra defender in the pocket than when opponents dropped heavily into coverage. He threw longer passes, on average, despite this limited time to throw (8.2 yards downfield to 7.9). His deep ball rate rose 150 percent when pressured and his expected points added (EPA) per dropback quintupled when blitzed (from 0.05 to 0.25).
Pressure Hurts and he’s likely to escape and make you pay downfield. That means Coach Spags is going to have to pick his spots wisely and default to a situation where he’s trusting his linebackers mightily to:
a) fill...
