If the Kansas City Chiefs want their three-peat, they're going to have to beat the best team they've played in a Super Bowl in the Patrick Mahomes era. The Philadelphia Eagles have lost three games all season, two of them after their receivers dropped passes that would have clinched victories. Since their Week 5 bye, the Eagles have gone 15-1, posted a plus-27 turnover margin and won their games by an average of 13.8 points.
This Eagles team is better than the one the Chiefs beat two years ago in Super Bowl LVII and better than either of the San Francisco 49ers teams Kansas City topped in Super Bowls LIV and LVIII. Philadelphia is even scarier than the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers that managed to give Mahomes his only championship game defeat in Super Bowl LV.
I wouldn't say this is the best Chiefs team we've seen, but it might be the wiliest. Rarely dominant but never out of it, the Chiefs put together a series of spectacularly close victories. Holding on to a victory against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 by the length of Isaiah Likely's toenail portended what was to come all season. The Chiefs won games with fourth-down stops, field goals bouncing off uprights, kicks getting blocked, and snaps being dropped. They found a way to sprinkle just enough magic dust into each victory. Their win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game, a measure of revenge for Buffalo costing the Chiefs a chance at an undefeated regular season in November, was their 15th consecutive victory in games decided by seven points or fewer.
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The Eagles want their own revenge. If the team from two years ago knew it would get a 304-yard passing day with four touchdowns from Jalen Hurts, it would have liked its chances. Instead, the league's most fearsome pass rush failed to sack Mahomes, the Chiefs went 4-for-5 in the red zone and the Eagles were denied their second title in six seasons.
Can they deny the Chiefs from making history? A 2024 offseason for the ages has replenished the Eagles' roster, and they're the better team -- on paper. That starts with the player who might be the story of the season, a running back Kansas City has to stop if it has any hope of winning another title:
Jump to a section:
What Saquon Barkley has brought to Philly
The new (and improved) Jalen Hurts
Will the Chiefs send the house?
The battle of elite defensive tackles
Where will the Chiefs line up Joe Thuney?
The play keeping the Eagles up at night
How both teams will play spy games on the QB
Vic Fangio's rough streak vs. Andy Reid
Do the Eagles have (or need) a Kelce stopper?
The Eagles are really good ... but also lucky
Do both teams have special teams concerns?
Chiefs-Eagles final score prediction
