Super Bowl LIX (59) Prequel
Super Bowl LIX (59) is here. The regular season, playoffs and Pro Bowl are in the books. The new Pro Football Hall of Fame class has been announced. They will be enshrined in August. Now comes the Super Bowl. The AFC’s Kansas City Chiefs are taking on the NFC’s Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch from 2 years ago. In that game the Chiefs won 38-35 in the final seconds. Despite being underdogs the last two years in the Super Bowl, this time the Chiefs are 1 1/2 point favorites.
This game is being played on Sunday, February 10, 2025 at 6:30pm Eastern time on FOX.
As for the halftime show, there will be one. It has nothing to do with football, and therefore deserves no further elaboration. The President of the United States will at the Super Bowl for the very first time. A pop star who is dating one of the players will also be in attendance. Since politics and pop culture have nothing to do with football, further elaboration of them is also not required.
Now back to football.
The Chiefs just came from playing their 7th straight AFC Championship game, with 6 of those games being played at their home field Arrowhead. The 2024 Chiefs won their AFC Wast Division for the 9th straight year. After easily dispatching Houston in the Divisional round, the Chiefs won a thrilling AFC Title Game over Buffalo that involved several controversial calls going in the Chiefs favor. The Chiefs for the third straight year won the Lamar Hunt Trophy named after their late founder and owner.
The Eagles won the NFC Title Game for the second time in three years. The Eagles defense shut down Green Bay in the Wildcard round and barely survived the Rams in a snowstorm in the Divisional Round. In the Conference Title Game, the Eagles carpet-bombed Washington and put 55 points on the board. Despite reaching multiple NFC Title Games and holding up the George Halas Trophy four times, the Eagles have only won one Super Bowl.
The Chiefs are looking to make football history. They are one game away from football immortality. They are seeking to become the only NFL team to ever win three straight Super Bowls. Green Bay won three straight championships from 1929-1931 and from 1965-1967, but most of those wins were before the Super Bowl era that began with the 1966 season.
The Chiefs have an offensive wizard in Walrus Andy Reid at head coach and a Buck Rodgers 25th century freak of nature in quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Yet the Chiefs now have a defense to match their offense. Their top ranked defense is led by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
The Eagles have a coach in Nick Sirianni who is beloved by the platers. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is tough and mobile. Yet the key newest addition to the Eagles that they did not have two years ago is running back Saquon Barkley. In his first season with the Eagles this year, Barkley rushed for over 2,000 yards. He had a legitimate shot at Eric Dickerson’s all time single season NFL rushing record, but he sat out the regular season finale.
Both teams have great players. It is why they are in the big game to begin with. Yet the key matchup in this game is Barkley against the Kansas City defense. If the Chiefs defense contains Barkley, they win. If the Chiefs grab a lead and force the Eagles to abandon the run, the Chiefs win.
Again, the Chiefs are playing for football immortality. They seem to get every single favorable officiating call, but let us put the conspiracies aside. The Eagles are great, but the cliche about defense winning championships is true. The 1985 Bears, 2000 Ravens, 2002 Buccaneers, and 2013 Seahawks with their Legion of Boom all decapitated seemingly high octane offenses.
Prediction: The Eagles will fall short again. The Chiefs will reach football immortality because of their defense. The Chiefs will win the game and cover the point spread to hold up the Vince Lombardi Trophy again.
eric