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Welcome to the Unconventional Preview, a serious yet lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Super Bowl matchup between the Chiefs and Eagles.
So, which is it? Will the most well-rounded team prevail? Or will the best quarterback?
With a victory Sunday, the Eagles have a chance to be remembered as one of the most dominating teams in recent NFL lore. Under justifiably cocky 41-year-old coach Nick Sirianni, they went 14-3 in the regular season with a plus-133 point differential. They’ve won their two playoff games over the Giants and 49ers by a combined 69-14 score. Their pass rush nearly set an NFL record for sacks. Their running game is the best in the league, diverse and relentless, accumulating 2,509 yards at 4.6 yards per carry in the regular season. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is one of the league’s most well-rounded young stars. Sure, they did not play a challenging regular-season schedule, but neither did, oh, the 2016 Patriots or the undefeated 1972 Dolphins. If the Eagles win, history will remember them as a force.
But the Chiefs, who also went 14-3 in the regular season, have Patrick Mahomes, and how fortunate are they? He’s 27 years old and six seasons into his career, and if he retired tomorrow to go run a beet farm with Aaron Rodgers, he’d probably still get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Chiefs are 64-16 in the regular season in his 80 career starts. He’s already thrown 192 touchdown passes — as many as Hall of Famer Bob Griese and more than Canton enshrines Troy Aikman and Joe Namath. In concert with his offensive genius of a coach, 64-year-old former Eagles boss Andy Reid, he’s made five Pro Bowls, won two Most Valuable Player awards, and has led the Chiefs to five conference title games, three Super Bowls, and one Super Bowl win. He has a chance to be the second-greatest quarterback of all time after you-know-who.
There is one crucial variable in all of this: Mahomes is dealing with a high ankle sprain suffered in their divisional-round win over the Jaguars. He played heroically in the sports sense against the Bengals in the AFC title game, but he was hobbled. He says he’s feeling better, and he’d better have some mobility against the Eagles’ swarming defense. The answer to the question — will the best team win in this compelling matchup, or the best quarterback? — depends on Mahomes’s health.
Kick it off, Butker, or perhaps you, Elliott, and let’s get this one started …
Three players to watch other than the quarterbacks
Jerick McKinnon: Travis Kelce is an extraordinary weapon, perhaps the second-best receiving tight end in NFL history. (Rob Gronkowski is, of course, No. 1, and he also was a menace as a blocker, whereas Kelce is more of a minor obstruction.) The Eagles could throw some combination of C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and, I don’t know, vintage Brian Dawkins and Eric Allen, at him, and Kelce is still going to accumulate his catches and yardage.
In the Chiefs’ playoff victories over the Jaguars and Bengals, Kelce totaled 21 catches on 25 targets for 176 yards and three touchdowns. He has a knack for getting open, and though the Eagles featured the NFL’s No. 1-ranked pass defense in the regular season (179.8 yards per game), Kelce should be able to find soft spots in their zone coverage.
Kelce will get his.
