Big Game Minutia: 5 Interesting Eagles-Chiefs Tidbits On Eve Of Super Bowl LIX

NEW ORLEANS – Paralysis by overanalysis is a real thing in the two-week leadup to the Super Bowl so with just over 24 hours out and all available angles exhausted it’s time to dig down further into the minutia of the matchup for the Lombardi Trophy between the Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs for the second time in three years.

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Sunday’s game will be the ninth Super Bowl rematch in NFL history. The Chiefs edged the Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII. The winners of the first game are 6-2 in the prior eight sequels. 

The Philly–KC matchup is only the second rematch in three or fewer seasons. Dallas and Buffalo met in consecutive Super Bowls after the 1992 and 1993 seasons with the Cowboys winning both.

WINNING WAYS

The 15-2 Chiefs and 14-3 Eagles combined for 29 regular-season wins, tied with the 1984 49ers and Dolphins matchup for the most in any Super Bowl matchup all-time. At a combined 5-0 in the postseason Kansas City and Philadelphia have won a combined 34 of 39 games this season, a startling .872 winning percentage.

TERRIFIC TANDEMS

Most will rightfully consider Kansas City’s QB/coach tandem of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid to be the best of the generation. A win by the Eagles would put Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni right on their heels.

Hurts is just the eighth starting QB to reach multiple Super Bowls within his first five NFL seasons joining Tom Brady, Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner, Troy Aikman, and John Elway.

All of those QBs are either Hall of Famers or expected to be at some point when eligible. A win for Hurts and the Eagles on Sunday would put the Philadelphia QB on an obvious trajectory.

As for Sirianni as a coach, his early run is even more exclusive. The Eagles’ mentor is the third head coach ever to reach multiple Super Bowls within his first four seasons matching Joe Gibbs and Mike Tomlin.

SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE WITH SAQUON

Saquon Barkley can become the first running back in over a quarter of a century to win a rushing title and the Super Bowl in the same season dating back to 1998 and Denver’s Terrell Davis. 

Of course, Barkley is just 30 yards behind Davis’ all-time single-season rushing record (including the postseason) with 2,447 yards on the ground for the Eagles.

Conversely, the Chiefs have gone 18 straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher since Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson did it in Week 1. Coincidentally, Kansas City is also at 18 straight playoff games without allowing a 100-yard rusher dating back to New England’s Sony Michel in the 2018 AFC Championship Game.

Barkley has cracked 100 in 14 of 19 games this season, including five straight. He did not play in Week 18 when the Eagles rested key starters.

SUPER BOWL STRAT-O-MATIC

The legendary board game created in 1948 to better replicate realism into statistical predictability is still around and predicting a 30-27 Kansas City win thanks to a Mahomes touchdown pass to Hollywood Brown in the waning seconds.

The simulation also has Mahomes throwing for 344 en route to being named Super Bowl MVP and Kansas City holding Barkley to 87 yards.

JOHN MCMULLEN”S SUPER BOWL LIX PREDICTION: Eagles 28, Chiefs 23