The end of the 2022-23 NFL season is a mere one game away, but this game is arguably one of the most anticipated and viewed events in the US every year, the Super Bowl. Super Bowl LVII (57) will be a dramatic matchup between the Patrick Mahomes-led, Kansas City Chiefs and the Jalen Hurts-led, Philadelphia Eagles.
This Super Bowl matchup will be a close one with no clear favorite heading into the game. The Eagles are currently the favorites by a very slim margin of 1.5 points. However, according to a poll from the Leman Bullhorn’s Instagram account, the Leman community overwhelmingly believes that the Eagles will win the Super Bowl. But with two such evenly matched teams all that can be done is to tune in to Super Bowl Sunday, on February 12th at 6:30 EST, and watch this matchup as it unfolds.
Both teams have relatively young QBs and both still have very bright futures ahead of them. This postseason as a whole seemed to mark the end of the reign of “old age” QBs, including Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, who reigned over the NFL for over a decade. This opens up a new age for the NFL, with a fresh batch of leaders who will surely dominate for years to come.
The Kansas City Chiefs are by no means strangers to the Super Bowl, appearing in two Super Bowls in the last 3 seasons and winning one of them. But after the Chiefs traded star WR Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins this offseason, many wondered whether the Chiefs would be able to keep up their elite offense.
Tyreek Hill was easily one of the most explosive and impactful players on the Chiefs' offense and is considered one of the fastest players in the NFL. Without him, it seemed as though the Chiefs' offense would regress and not keep the consistent play that had brought them so much success. However, that does not appear to be the case, as the explosiveness of the Chiefs' offense has not changed. While the difference without Tyreek Hill was noticeable, the Chiefs’ offense, led by star Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, was still explosive and statistically was still the best offense in the NFL this season.
Patrick Mahomes threw for over 5000 yards this season, a feat that has only been done 15 other times in the entire history of the NFL. Patrick Mahomes also threw for an impressive 41 touchdowns and had an average passer rating of 105.2 On the other hand, the Chiefs' defense had been below average the past few years, but it seems the defense has truly taken a step forward this year and while they are by no means the best, they are the 11th best defense in the league which is still good enough to be of the same caliber as other playoff teams defense’s.
Obviously, a great deal of the Chiefs' success has been due to their head coach Andy Reid, who is a mastermind when it comes to the NFL. An important accolade of Andy Reid is that he is the head coach with the fifth most wins in all of NFL history. An interesting note however, is the previous team that he was the head coach for was the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2012, where in 2004 he brought the Eagles to the Super Bowl, but was unable to defeat the New England Patriots.
The Chiefs have had a rocky run through the playoffs to this year’s Super Bowl. The Chiefs were the number one seed in the AFC, so they had a bye week for the first round of the playoffs, but in their first playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chiefs’ QB, Patrick Mahomes, suffered a high ankle sprain, and while he still continued the rest of the game, he was visibly uncomfortable putting weight on his foot and moving around in the pocket. Regardless, the Chiefs were able to beat the Jaguars 27-20, with Patrick Mahomes managing to throw for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Then in the AFC Championship game, the Chiefs faced off against the Cincinnati Bengals whom they had lost against in the AFC Championship game last year. Although Patrick Mahomes was still slightly constricted by his ankle sprain, he was able to lead the Chiefs to a 23-20 victory while throwing for an astounding 326 yards and two touchdowns. So while the odds might not have been in the Chiefs' favor, they still persevered through it and earned their spot in the Super Bowl.
The Philadelphia Eagles on the other hand are five years removed from their last Super Bowl, where they won with their backup QB Nick Foles; after their starter, Carson Wentz suffered an injury late in the season. Neither of those QBs are on the team any longer and the Eagles are now led by QB Jalen Hurts.
When Hurts was first drafted many thought the largest role he would ever play on the Eagles would be as a backup after seeing the success that Carson Wentz had, but one year after Hurts was drafted, the Eagles made the surprising move of trading Carson Wentz and sticking with Hurts as their starter. That decision seemed to pay off for them, as now Hurts is leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl and is in the MVP race.
Not only have the Eagles been good this year, they have also almost completely dominated the NFL, going undefeated through the first half of the season with an 8-0 record and finishing the season with only three losses. Two of which came in the final three games of the season where the Eagles rested Jalen Hurts and other starters to prepare them for the playoffs. However, the argument could be made that the Eagles had one of the easiest schedules in the NFL and did not face that many legitimate opponents. But nonetheless the Eagles this year were arguably the most well-rounded team in all areas of the field, with the second-best ranked offense, and a well above-average defense, the Eagles were a formidable force to any opponent they faced.
The Eagles' already lethal offense was made even stronger due to an early-season trade where they acquired WR A.J. Brown from the Tennessee Titans, who caught nearly 1500 yards and 11 touchdowns.
As the one seed in the NFC, the Eagles had a bye week during the first week of the playoffs, in the second week of the playoffs the Eagles faced the New York Giants, who they absolutely demolished 38-7 and dominated on all sides of the ball.
Their second playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers was no different, with the Eagles having another dominant game, and winning 31-7. Although a certain degree of this second playoff victory for the Eagles was due to an unfortunate injury to the 49ers QB, Brock Purdy, early in the game. So even if the Eagles had been lucky to run into mostly easy opponents throughout the season as well as during the postseason, the Eagles had destroyed their competition and have proven that they deserve to be in the Super Bowl.
Both of these teams are extremely well prepared for the Super Bowl and both can make their case for why they could win the Super Bowl, in fact, the number of parallels between the two teams is quite remarkable with both having extremely good offenses and above average defenses.
One of the most intriguing storylines heading into the Super Bowl is the fact that the Kelce Brothers; Jason Kelce (Center for the Eagles) and Travis Kelce (Tight End for the Chiefs), will be the first brothers to ever face off against each other in the Super Bowl, and although they are both offensive players and will never be on the field against one another at the same time, it is still an interesting situation to track.
However, the parallels between the two teams do not stop there. The degree to which these two teams are evenly matched is best demonstrated by this tweet from Field Yates:
While this may just be pure coincidence, it bears the point that both of these teams are capable of beating the other and gaining the elusive Lombardi Trophy.