Chris Berman is again to make his decide for Tremendous Bowl LIX between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
Berman has picked the winner in 5 of the previous six years, and in every of the previous three Tremendous Bowls, he has accurately picked the winner AND the precise margin of victory.
Odds courtesy of ESPN BET.
Kansas Metropolis Chiefs (-1, 48.5) vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Sunday, Feb. 9, 6:30 p.m. ET, Caesars Superdome, New Orleans
Fifty-nine Tremendous Bowls! Loads of historical past. This recreation, nevertheless, may need a richer historical past going into it than most.
As most of you already know, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs are attempting to be the primary staff to win three straight Lombardi Trophies within the Tremendous Bowl period. What you may not know is that since they began enjoying NFL championship video games in 1933, just one staff — Vince Lombardi’s Inexperienced Bay Packers — has received three straight championships (1965 to 1967).
When it got here time for the Pack to win three straight Tremendous Bowls, nevertheless, they fell brief. As did the Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers (twice), San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos and New England Patriots. Give the Chiefs loads of credit score already. They’re the one ones making an attempt to three-peat that made it again to the Tremendous Bowl.
Here is the Philadelphia Eagles’ facet of historical past. Saquon Barkley is the ninth participant to hurry for two,000 yards in a single season. Of the opposite eight gamers to take action, solely Terrell Davis of the Broncos in 1998 reached the Tremendous Bowl in that season.
This actually is a “Tremendous” Tremendous Bowl. The Chiefs have misplaced just one actual recreation since Christmas Day in 2023. In any case, they sat most of their starters within the Week 18 loss to the Broncos.
Some query how they received this season. They pulled out victories by a toenail towards Baltimore, a blocked discipline purpose on the finish of the sport towards Denver, a Raiders fumble within the ultimate seconds and a doink on a game-winning discipline purpose try going through the Chargers, simply to call some. Nonetheless, whenever you’ve received 17 straight one-score video games, most just lately the AFC Championship Recreation towards the Buffalo Payments, these questions ought to have stopped way back. It isn’t an accident.
To not be outdone, the Eagles have just one loss for the reason that begin of October. Head coach Nick Sirianni has stated a number of instances, “We do not care how we win.” Once more, wins aren’t at all times related to fashion factors. The underside line is the 2 groups with the fewest query marks on their roster made it to the Tremendous Bowl and, trying again, that is no shock. One different fascinating word: These groups received the primary two video games of the season — the Chiefs within the Thursday evening opener and the Eagles on Friday evening in Brazil — and now they’re enjoying within the final one.
Two years in the past, they performed in a wonderful Tremendous Bowl LVII in Arizona, a recreation I referred to as “The Roaster within the Toaster” (I name the Cardinals’ residence stadium “The Massive Toaster”). Kansas Metropolis received 38-35 within the ultimate seconds, naturally by one rating. I do not suppose this recreation will likely be fairly as high-scoring. Nonetheless, I anticipate each groups to attain within the neighborhood of the higher 20s.
What can we take from that recreation two years later? For the Eagles, clearly Barkley is now the working again. The offensive line has undergone a few adjustments — Jason Kelce now works for ESPN — however they’re nonetheless excellent. The tush push is alive and properly. Apparently, the Eagles have modified each coordinators twice since then, with Kellen Moore calling the offense and Vic Fangio calling the protection. A fast look again at that Tremendous Bowl reveals that QB Jalen Hurts, who performed brilliantly that day, hit DeVonta Smith seven instances and related with A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert six instances every. They’re all nonetheless there. Basic supervisor Howie Roseman deserves enormous kudos for making a robust protection even stronger, and youthful. His first-round picks from 2023, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith Jr., have excelled up entrance, and the highest two picks final 12 months, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, have stood out within the defensive backfield. He additionally traded for Zack Baun, including him to an already top-notch unit. The consequence: The Eagles are plus-10 in turnover differential of their three playoff wins alone.
On the opposite sideline, Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes have already written their names into NFL lore as one of many nice coach/QB duos of all time. So, too, has TE Travis Kelce, who had six receptions and a landing in Tremendous Bowl LVII. Kelce caught 97 passes through the 2024 common season, an “off” 12 months for him. Within the receiving division, except for Kelce, the Chiefs have taken an “all people eats” method, primarily due to accidents way back to the summer season, forcing Reid and Mahomes to ad-lib fairly a bit. The Chiefs now are as wholesome as they’ve been all season, which suggests Hollywood Brown is again at large receiver and Isiah Pacheco is again at working again (although Kareem Hunt may get extra carries on this recreation). The largest change has been on the O-line, the place Professional Bowl guard Joe Thuney has been enjoying left sort out down the stretch out of necessity. Clearly, that has gone simply effective.
Final season, the Chiefs received the Tremendous Bowl on the power of Steve Spagnuolo’s protection. This season has adopted an analogous formulation, as Chris Jones, Nick Bolton and Trent McDuffie give Ok.C. a stalwart at each degree. True shutdown nook L’Jarius Sneed went to Tennessee within the offseason, however Spagnuolo’s well timed blitzes have as soon as once more labored wonders. That was obvious within the ultimate minutes of the AFC Championship Recreation towards the Payments when McDuffie’s blitz altered Josh Allen’s fourth-down throw, simply as an analogous McDuffie blitz within the ultimate minutes of regulation in final 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl affected Brock Purdy’s third-down move.
So … who wins on Sunday? The largest matchup I will be watching is what the Chiefs’ protection will do to maintain Barkley from one other standout efficiency. Keep in mind, he ran for 205 yards towards the Rams and over 100 within the Eagles’ different two playoff wins. That is so intriguing as a result of we have not seen a season for working backs like we noticed with Barkley and Derrick Henry in a couple of decade, when Adrian Peterson was working this robust for the Minnesota Vikings. I am certain Spags did not neglect how one can defend nice working backs, it is simply that we have not seen this for some time, particularly within the Tremendous Bowl. For the Eagles, if Barkley runs for, let’s simply say 115 yards, will that be sufficient to spring the whole lot else?
Then there’s the ball service whom only a few individuals speak about, however one who continues to confound opposing defensive coordinators. His title is Patrick Mahomes. I name him the “electrical eel,” as a result of he’ll slither for a key third-down run within the greatest moments of the sport. His arm and his capacity to seek out Kelce, or the appropriate receiver on the proper time, stay one thing to behold. I’ve puzzled all season whether or not the Chiefs might carry their quest for 3 straight Tremendous Bowl titles from begin to end. If that’s the case, perceive that we’d by no means see this once more. I am a sucker for historical past — I majored in it at Brown — and I actually do not thoughts seeing it now and again.
Kansas Metropolis 27, Philadelphia 24
P.S. Perhaps I am additionally a softie for a three-peat, which by some means I’ve carried out on this column. If the Swami can do it, I figured the Chiefs can, too.
