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Chiefs, Eagles look to make history in Super Bowl

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Feb 4, 2025American Football

Every year the Super Bowl is billed as a clash between two teams of destiny looking to make history.

Most years, however, the terms “destiny” and “history” are often loosely defined.

This year, however, there is no question that history can be made.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a chance to do something that has never been achieved in NFL history and that is win three consecutive Super Bowls.

The first championship of their current run came against the Philadelphia Eagles two years ago in Arizona.

With Philadelphia’s 38-35 defeat in the desert in February 2023, the Eagles also have an opportunity to accomplish something that’s never been done and that’s win a rematch from a recently played Super Bowl.

So, without quibbling over what exactly defines “history,” there is no debate that by the time the clock hits zero in Super Bowl 59 this Sunday in New Orleans, we’ll witness something happen for the first time. 

Chiefs three straight titles? Eagles winning a Super Bowl rematch? Who’s making history?

As we all know by now, in the 58 years of playing the Super Bowl, no team has ever won three titles in a row. With Kansas City proving victorious in Super Bowls 57 and 58, there have been nine instances of teams winning back-to-back titles, and with the Chiefs defeating the Buffalo Bills 32-29 in the AFC conference championship game, they are now the first of these teams to even make it back to a third straight Super Bowl.

So, the Chiefs are trying to be the first franchise to win three straight Super Bowls, but they’ve already made a bit of history. This Sunday, Kansas City will be playing in its 19th play-off game since the start of the 2019 season, and that will become the most by any team over a six-year span in NFL history.

The Chiefs vs. Eagles showdown will mark the ninth time two teams have met previously in football’s biggest game, and it’s the fifth time the two teams playing for the Lombardi Trophy met multiple times in the Super Bowl within a five-season span.

The last time the Super Bowl featured a pair of teams who had played for the title within the last five seasons was just last February.

Patrick Mahomes led Kansas City to the franchise’s second Super Bowl with a 31-20 victory over San Francisco in February 2020, and won the rematch in Super Bowl 58, rallying for a thrilling 25-22 win over the 49ers in overtime.

Of those three other occurrences of a Super Bowl rematch from within the last five seasons, never before has the loser of the first matchup exacted revenge and won the second meeting.

The Eagles are looking to break that trend, and maybe they have “history” on their side.

Philadelphia lost to the New England Patriots 24-21 in Super Bowl 39, and when they met again 13 years later in Super Bowl 52, the Eagles prevailed, pulling out a 41-33 victory.

There was only one player on either team’s roster from both matchups, however, and that was the incomparable Tom Brady.

For this matchup, there will likely be more than 40 players taking the field at the Superdome who also participated in the Super Bowl in Arizona two years ago.

Several of these names are familiar even to the casual football fan, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and defensive tackle Chris Jones leading the Chiefs, while the Eagles bring back QB Jalen Hurts and their talented wide receiver tandem of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

While both Kansas City and Philadelphia feature plenty of familiar faces from Super Bowl 57, there has been one significant addition to the Eagles’ roster.

Saquon Barkley: The Difference-Maker?

Philadelphia’s decision to sign Saquon Barkley last March will likely go down as the greatest offseason acquisition in NFL history.

All Barkley did during his first season with the Eagles was rush for the eighth-most yards in a single season with 2,005, and was in reach of establishing a single-season record before Eagles coach Nick Sirianni opted to sit him in a meaningless finale to preserve him for the playoffs.

That decision is looking like a good one right now.

After averaging 125.3 rushing yards per game in the regular season, Barkley has been even better in the playoffs, averaging an absurd 147.3 rushing yards in the Eagles’ three play-off wins. In the Super Bowl era, only four players have averaged more rushing yards in a single posts-eason (minimum three games), led by Terrell Davis’ average of 156.0 for the Super Bowl-winning Denver Broncos in the 1998 season.

Barkley can break a different record held by Davis with relative ease. With a mere 30 yards on the ground, Barkley would establish a record for rushing yards in a single season – including the play-offs – besting the mark of 2,476 yards by Davis in 1998.

Barkley is plenty capable of breaking Davis’ mark on a single play – maybe even his first touch – like he did in the NFC championship game, when he broke off a 60-yard touchdown run on Philadelphia’s first play from scrimmage, setting the tone for the Eagles in their emphatic 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders.

That was Barkley’s 13th rushing play of 30 or more yards for Philadelphia, with three coming in the playoffs – and all of those were at least 60 yards. With one more run of 30+ yards, he’ll match Chris Johnson of the 2009 Tennessee Titans for the most such rushes in a single season since 1991.

The Chiefs, though, have done a good job of limiting big plays on the ground. They allowed a 33-yard run to Buffalo’s James Cook in the AFC championship game, but that was just the second running play of at least 30 yards they surrendered all season. Only the Baltimore Ravens (0) and Atlanta Falcons (1) yielded fewer runs of 30+ yards this season.

Kansas City also managed to bottle up the NFL’s rushing leader in last year’s Super Bowl.

This marks the seventh time in the Super Bowl era the league rushing leader is playing in the Super Bowl, and coincidently the second year in a row after Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers faced the Chiefs in last year’s title game.

McCaffrey and the 49ers were unable to establish any kind of ground game, though. The Chiefs limited CMC to 80 yards on 22 carries for an average of 3.6 yards per attempt, with his longest run going for only 11 yards.

Barkley is trying to become the first NFL rushing leader to win a Super Bowl since Davis with the Broncos in the 1998 season.

And if Barkley plays a big role in leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl title, he seemingly has a good chance to achieve something else that hasn’t been done since Davis. No running back has been named the MVP of the Super Bowl since Davis from the 1997 season, when he rushed for 157 yards and three touchdowns in Denver’s 31-24 win over Green Bay.

Seeing as he is a threat to score a touchdown any time he touches the ball and given how instrumental he has been to the Eagles’ success this season, it’s no big surprise Barkley is one of the favourites to be named the MVP of Sunday’s game.

The only player with better odds already has three Super Bowl MVPs on his résumé and is on a career trajectory unlike any quarterback in NFL history.

Mahomes: The GOAT?

By helping the Chiefs capture three of the last five Super Bowl titles, Mahomes has garnered three Super Bowl MVP awards along the way.

The only player with more Super Bowl MVPs is Brady with five.

With a victory this Sunday, Mahomes would capture his fourth Super Bowl ring, pulling him even with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw and bringing him within three of Brady’s seemingly untouchable record of seven Super Bowl titles.

Mahomes is just 29 years old and is set to play in his fifth Super Bowl at the conclusion of his eighth pro season.

John Elway also appeared in five Super Bowls during his 16-year Hall of Fame career, and Brady is the only QB to play in more, starring in 10.

When Brady won his seventh Super Bowl title just four seasons ago, it seemed unfathomable another QB would ever challenge that mark, but Mahomes is quickly making a serious run for his record.

This will be Mahomes’ 21st career post-season game, and he has a chance to win a fourth championship.

Like Mahomes, Brady had three Super Bowl titles under his belt through his first 20 play-off games, but he didn’t win his fourth until his 29th play-off game at the end of his 15th season in the NFL.

Comparing Mahomes’ post-season career to Brady’s first 20 career play-off games, and Mahomes has the edge in every major statistical category.

Mahomes has thrown for 5,557 yards with 43 touchdowns to just eight interceptions for a 105.8 passer rating. He has completed 67.8 per cent of his passes and has 50 throws go for at least 25 yards.

Brady, meanwhile, threw for 4,770 yards with 36 TDs and 17 interceptions in his first 20 play-off games for an 89.1 QB rating. He completed 62.8 per cent of his passes with 26 going for 25+ yards.

In terms of winning, Brady is the gold standard.

Mahomes, though, has outplayed Brady at this stage of his career.

Mahomes has only thrown for 422 yards with two touchdowns in Kansas City’s two post-season wins this season but hasn’t thrown an interception, and his 66.7 completion percentage and 105.2 QB rating are right in line with his career play-off average.

He has already cemented his place in history as one of the greatest quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen, and if he can help the Chiefs beat the Eagles, there will be only one QB with more Super Bowl wins.

Even with a victory this Sunday, Mahomes still has a ways to go before he has as many Super Bowl rings on his fingers as Brady, but he’ll have accomplished something Brady never achieved and that is win three straight Super Bowl titles.

Brady may hold the title of GOAT, but Mahomes is positioning himself to be bestowed with that moniker someday.