Month: February 2025

As the offseason begins, the test for the Philadelphia Eagles is to show if they can stay on top.

They had a great offseason last year, including bringing in Saquan Barkley as they bounced back from last year’s late season collapse to win the Super Bowl..

But repeating won’t be easy. The first problem is dealing with all the complacency and celebrating that comes with winning.

Then there is facing the fact that several NFC teams are going to be aiming for them. Detroit is likely to have Aiden Hutchinson and several other defensive starters back from injuries. Washington will have Jayden Daniels back for his second year. Chicago has a new coach. Minnesota and Green Bay will be contenders. So will the Rams and San Francisco may bounce back.

Then the players will be looking to cash in with bigger contracts now that they’re on top. They have to decide which players they can keep. Free agency is always a challenge for winning teams as they try to keep as many players as they can.

And they have to find a new offensive coordinator now that Kellen Moore is heading for the Saints.

General manager Howie Roseman has done a great job of improving the team.

The Eagles have now been in three Super Bowls since 2017 and won two of them.

Barkley is already talking about being part of a dynasty.

They’re talking the talk. Now they have to walk the walk.

Did we see the end of one dynasty and the beginning of a new one in the Super Bowl?

That is the big question after the Philadelphia Eagles crushed the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score sounded. The Eagles were ahead 24-0 at halftime and led 40-6 before the Chiefs added two late touchdowns.

The loss foiled the Chiefs big for the first three peat since the Green Bay Packers won three in a row from 1965-67.

The Eagles exploited the Chiefs shaky offensive line by being able to rush four defensive linemen without blitzing and sacked Patrick Mahomes six times and intercepting two passes – one a pick six – to dominate the game. They kept constant pressure on him.

It was the second time in three years the Eagles have been in the Super Bowl. They lost to the Chiefs two years ago.  They are now trying to match the Chiefs feat of repeating the previous two seasons. Before that no team had repeated for 17 years since the Patriots did it in 2003 and 2004.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs obviously have to improve their offensive line if they are to rebound and try to win their third in four years and become the fifth team to win four in a decade. They also are trying to become the first team to lose a Super Bowl and win it the next since Bob Griese and the Dolphins did it in their perfect season in 1972. Tom Brady and the Patriots did it once. 

Mahomes still needs four more Super Bowl wins to match Brady’s record of seven. Of course, the Brady fans point out he beat Mahomes twice including a Super Bowl blowout. But Brady also lost three Super Bowls 

Still, the Eagles bid for a repeat and the Chiefs attempt to rebound from the loss will add some interesting story lines to the upcoming season.

–We’ve seen this movie before.

The Kansas City Chiefs are heading for their third Super Bowl in a row and a shot at the first threepeat since the Green Bay Packers did it in the 1960s and the first time in the Super Bowl era after beating the Bills, 32-29, with a fourth period drive in the AFC title game.. Yes, they found a way to win another one score game and they did it with the help of a controversial call.

–The controversial call came early in the fourth quarter. The Bills were at the Kansas City 41 when they decided to try Josh Allen on the push play on 4th and one after failing to make it on third and one. Allen appeared to get just enough for the first down before being pushed back although it was difficult to tell because the camera angle was to Allen’s back. The officials on each side of the field seemed to disagree but the call that was made that he was stopped short and the review didn’t overturn it. The Chiefs took over and scored a touchdown and the Bills matched it to tie the game 29-29 before the Chiefs got a field goal for a 32-29 lead..

–The Chiefs took over with just over three minutes left. Plenty of time to drive for a game tying field goal or game winning touchdown. But the drive ended after six plays when the Chiefs called a corner blitz on fourth and five and Allen had to rush a deep throw and Dalton Kincaid dropped to it and the Bills had another heartbreaking loss the Chiefs. The Bills may have made a mistake by not giving James Cook a carry on the last drive. It was another heartbreaking loss for the Bills, who are 4-1 against Patrick Mahones in the regular season and 0-4 in playoffs.

–Anyway, the Chiefs kept their drive alive for the first the first Super Bowl threepeat. They will take on the Eagles for the second time in three years in the Super Bowl. The Eagles beat the Commanders 55-23. Saquan Barkley ran 60 yards for a touchdown on the first snap and wound up with 118 yards and three rushing touchdown and quarterback Jalen Hurts added three more.. The Eagles scored three touchdowns off Washington turnovers.

 –The Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35 without Barkley two years ago in the Super Bowl and it figures to be another close game now that the Eagles have Barkley. Let the hype begin.

One of the big story lines about the Super Bowl is that the Chiefs are attempting to become the first team of the Super Bowl era to get a threepeat.

But that is not the only milestone the Chiefs will be aiming for. They will attempt to become only the fifth team to win four titles in a decade since the league started playing title games in 1933. Eight teams won three in a decade, including the Patriots who did it in consecutive decade with a nine game gap between the two. The Chiefs are the ninth to do it and have a good shot at getting the fourth before their decade is over.

Here are the four teams that won four in a decade since the league started playing title games:

–The Bears won four in seven years from 1940-46. They also made the title game in 1942 but lost to Washington so they were in five title games in that span.

–The Lombardi Packers won five titles in seven years from 1961-67 and three peated from 1965-67 although the first one was the year before the Super Bowl was founded. They also lost the title game in 1960 to the Eagles so they appeared in six title games from 1960-67 and won five.

–The Noll Steelers were the last team to win four Super Bowls in six years from 1974-79. Kansas City can match that feat with a victory Sunday.

–The Walsh 49ers won four titles in nine years from 1981-89.

Here are the teams to win three titles in a decade but couldn’t get the fourth one:

–The Packers won three in nine years from 1936-44. The Patriots won three in four years from 2001-2004 and the Cowboys also won three in four years from 1992-1995. The Patriots also won three in five years from 2015-2019. They also made the Super Bowl in 2017 but lost to the Eagles so they made the Super Bowl four times in five years. Tom Brady was the only Patriot to be on the first three and second three title teams so it was like two different teams. Brady, of course, won his seventh with the Bucs. 

–The Cleveland Browns won three in six years from 1950-55 and appeared in the title game all six years in a row, a feat no team has duplicated. They also won four straight AAFC titles from 1946-49 but the NFL doesn’t count those records. But they appeared in ten title games in a row from 1946-55 and won seven.

–The Detroit Lions won three in six years from 1952-57 and they played the Browns in the title game three years in a row from 1952-1954. They won the first two and lost the third. It was the last time two teams have met in the title game three years in a row.

–The Raiders won three title games from 1976-83 while the then Redskins went to four from 1982-1990 and won three of them.  

–Of the teams from the league’s founding in 1920 to 1933 when title games were started, a team named the Bulldogs deserves a mention. The Canton Bulldogs won the title in 1922 and 23 and were then purchased by the owner of the Cleveland Indians and merged with the Bulldogs and won the title in 1924 as the Cleveland Bulldogs. The Packers won three titles from 1929-31 so they have the only two threepeats on their record. The Packers also won three from 1936-44.

  Teams that deserve to be mentioned: 

–The Giants appeared in the first three title games but only won one. They also appeared in the 1938-39 title games against Green Bay and split them so they appeared in five title games from 1933-39 but only won two. The Bears won the first title game in 1933 and appeared in the title game in 1934 and 1937 but lost both so they appeared in three titles games from 1933-37 before starting their four title game run in 1940s. The Bears were unbeaten in the regular season in 1934 and 1942 but lost the title game in both years including the so called sneakers game in 1934 when a Giants official went to Fordham to get sneakers at halftime for the Giants and they had better traction on a frozen field in the second half.

–The New York Giants went to six title games in eight years from 1956-63 but only won the first one including three straight losses from 1961-63. But they were very influential in the growth of pro football because they played in New York and their 1958 overtime loss to the Colts was dubbed the greatest game ever played. 

—The Miami Dolphins went to three Super Bowls in a row from 1971-73 and won last two including their 1972 perfect season. The Buffalo Bills went to four in a row from 1990-93 and lost all four. The Minnesota Vikings played in four Super Bowls from 1959-1977 and lost all four. 

So now the Chiefs will be going for their place in the history books. Even if the Chiefs  lose Sunday to the Eagles, they will have more shots to become the fifth team to win four or more titles in a decade. This is their fifth Super Bowl appearance in the last six years and they have won three. Even if they lose, Mahomes will be 3-2 in Super Bowls, which was Brady’s record after his first five Super Bowls. He lost to the Bucs and Tom Brady in 2020. After winning three of his first four appearances, Brady lost his next two to the Giants. If Chiefs win, Mahomes will be 4-1 in his first five Super Bowls compared to Brady’s 3-2 mark.