Two years after going head-to-head at Super Bowl LVII, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will once again meet on football’s biggest stage.
Super Bowl LVII was an instant classic. Together, the Chiefs and Eagles — the NFL’s top two offences throughout the 2022 regular season — combined to produce the third-highest-scoring Super Bowl in NFL history. Jalen Hurts’ MVP-worthy performance was a masterclass in dual-threat quarterbacking, Patrick Mahomes kept the Eagles’ defence guessing, and the game came down to a single field goal kicked as the Chiefs bled out the clock.
A lot has happened since then. For the Chiefs, it’s been a lot of winning. After defending their title last February and solidifying their status as the game’s next great dynasty, they now have the chance to become the first franchise in football history to win three straight Super Bowls.
The Eagles, too, have maintained their status as one of the league’s top teams — though, the journey’s been a little rockier, considering how the club fizzled out last post-season.
While this rematch will see plenty of familiar foes hit the field, with “three-peat” being the word on everyone’s mind, these aren’t the same teams that met two years ago — not entirely. Because while many members of these rosters were part of that Super Bowl LVII showdown, and are once again poised to play starring roles in Super Bowl LIX, each side has experienced its own evolution since their last meeting. Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and Eagles GM Howie Roseman have been busy — and, while Veach’s Chiefs are in maintenance and in-house development mode as they aim for their third straight championship, Roseman’s dealings the last two years have pointed to a more significant retooling as he’s prepared his club for another shot at glory.
Here’s a look at some of the most significant ways both rosters have evolved since they last met in Super Bowl LVII.
Barkley brings a burst of energy to Eagles’ offence
The Chiefs and Eagles present an interesting case study in the run game. Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco was a revelation as a rookie in 2022, stepping into the No. 1 job and stepping up on the biggest stage in the Super Bowl. The addition of Kareem Hunt, who spent his first two seasons in Kansas City in 2017 and 2018 and re-joined the club mid-season in 2024 when Pacheco was injured, brings a few questions about who the real RB1 is in Kansas City right now and points to a strong system with a run-by-committee approach.
Philadelphia, too, has been known for its RB-friendly offence, thanks to elite offensive line play and depth at running back. But after the club limped to the end of the 2023 season, it was clear this offence needed new energy — and some major star-power at the position. Saquon Barkley brings exactly that — and with it, he’s busted wide open not just Philadelphia’s offensive ceiling but the whole landscape for running backs right now. He’s taken a team that, two years ago, was lighting up opponents through the air and now has Philadelphia taking the ground-and-pound route to victories (with some thrilling, 60-yard sprints mixed in, of course!).
Barkley’s departure from New York was well-documented — literally, you can watch the Giants’ braintrust actually speak the words they’ve been eating all season on HBO’s Hard Knocks series — and his arrival in Philly has been nothing short of spectacular.
Barkley finished the 2024 campaign just 100 yards shy of catching Eric Dickerson’s single-season record (2,105). Through three playoff victories to reach Super Bowl LIX, he’s got 442 rushing yards and five touchdowns — including a 205-yard effort against the L.A. Rams in the Divisional Round and a three-TD outing against the Commanders to win the NFC Championship.
Chiefs finding ways to win, but search for true No. 1 WR continues
Despite hitting the field without star receiver Tyreek Hill, who left for Miami after the 2021 season, the 2022 Chiefs had the NFL’s top offence, racking up more total yards, touchdowns, and points per game than any other team. MVP Patrick Mahomes’ 5,250 passing yards that year marked the fourth-highest single-season total ever.
While the wins haven’t slowed down since that Super Bowl LVII victory, the offence certainly has. The Chiefs’ passing game was ranked eighth in 2023 and 14th this year, and while Travis Kelce remains Mahomes’ favourite weapon, the club’s ongoing search for a true No. 1 wide receiver is ongoing. Mahomes has still been elite, but his individual stats have dipped as his approach to passing favours a conservative approach more heavily than the explosive plays we used to see.
In back-to-back seasons, Kansas City has leaned on rookies to lead its offence in touchdown receptions. Rashee Rice led all Chiefs wide receivers in yards as a rookie last season and was supposed to step into the WR1 role this year had a knee injury not derailed him. Injury also prevented veteran Hollywood Brown, signed over the off-season, from making his debut until late in the year. And while trading for veteran DeAndre Hopkins brought a boost to the offence at mid-season with a pair of touchdown catches in his second game as a Chief, his production has sputtered down the stretch. He’s been a near non-factor in the post-season, catching just one pass through two games.
Can 2024 first-round pick Xavier Worthy be the difference? His speedy combine time had many thinking that maybe — just maybe! — the Chiefs had finally found the explosive weapon that had been lacking since Hill departed for Miami. And while the fleet-footed rookie has put together a solid campaign (he leads all Chiefs wide receivers in yards and is second on the team behind veteran Kelce while leading the club in touchdown catches), the jury’s still out on whether he can develop into an elite WR1.
Chiefs, Eagles ride rookie surge (and a Philly reclamation project) to secondary success
Coinciding with Kansas City’s drop down the offensive rankings is the club’s rise on defence — and Super Bowl LVII was just the beginning. That team had a trio of rookies stepping into leading roles in defensive end George Karlaftis, linebacker Leo Chenal, and cornerback Trent McDuffie that year. Linebacker Nick Bolton, whose scoop-and-score in Super Bowl LVII brought a big momentum shift for the Chiefs, was in just his second year.
Led by these young stars, the Chiefs’ defence went from being one of the worst against the pass in 2022 to one of the best in 2023 and 2024. The success of that young core is what allowed the team to move on from veteran L’Jarius Snead last off-season without missing a beat. Of course, Kansas City isn’t the only organization that’s excelled at defensive draft picks.
Look at the Eagles’ roster, and you can see a similar trend. Young defensive stars like Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship, both of whom were rookies in 2022, have really hit their strides with the squad this season. And 2024 rookie cornerbacks Cooper DeJean — the youngest player on the team with one of the biggest impacts — and Quinyon Mitchell have been hugely successful parts of a defence that ranked top of the league this year.
One exception to this rule — and he truly has been exceptional this year — is Eagles linebacker Zack Baun. He was one of two reclamation projects signed by Roseman this year (the other being right guard Mekhi Becton, who’s been excellent in Philly after struggling with the Jets). Baun, 28, led the Eagles in combined tackles (151) and forced fumbles (five) this year and earned first-team All-Pro honours — and is about to earn a massive payday in free agency because of it.
Jurgens, Carter headline Eagles’ draft-driven succession plan
Roseman has earned himself a reputation for being a man with a great succession plan. Just look at his offensive line, where Cam Jurgens now suits up at centre in place of longtime leader Jason Kelce. Roseman drafted Jurgens backs in 2022 with the idea that he’d learn from Kelce and gain experience playing alongside the future Hall of Famer. As a result, Philly’s operations barely skipped a beat when Jurgens took over the position this year.
Roseman has applied a similar strategy on the other side of the line with his revamped pass-rush unit.
The defensive line suiting up opposite Mahomes in New Orleans on Sunday will look pretty different from the group of veterans tasked with chasing him down in Arizona two years ago. That 2022 unit led the league in regular-season sacks with 70 — 15 more than the Chiefs, who ranked second — and featured four different defenders with double-digit sack totals (Haason Reddick led with 16, while Josh Sweat, Javon Hargrave, and Brandon Graham each had 11; veteran Fletcher Cox had 7). It was a deep unit, made even deeper by Roseman’s signing of veterans Ndamukong Suh and Linval Joseph to one-year pacts that year. But it was also nearing the end of its run — age and contract status indicated some pretty significant turnover would be coming, and fast.
The drafting and development of Jalen Carter, selected ninth overall in 2023, and his Georgia teammate Nolan Smith Jr (selected 21 picks later) ultimately opened the door for Roseman to part ways with pricey veterans Hargrave (2023 free agency) and Reddick (2024 trade) and hand over the keys to Carter and Smith while also opening up cap space.
Carter’s second season in Philadelphia saw him start 15 games, and he’s really stepped up in the post-season. He was a wrecking ball against the Rams, his third-down sack late in that Divisional Round matchup essentially ending L.A.’s season. He also leads the team in QB hits this post-season, with five.
After Smith played a supporting role in his rookie campaign in 2023, his star rose in 2024 with more opportunities to start following the departure of Reddick. He recorded 6.5 sacks in the regular season (good for second, behind Sweat), and through three playoff games, leads the club in sacks (four) and tackles for loss (four) and sits second in QB hits (three).
from Sportsnet.ca
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