On Sunday, February 12th, the Kansas City Chiefs will be taking on the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium. Each team being the number one seed in their respective conference has paid off, as they had an impressive road to the Super Bowl.
Starting with the Eagles, they came out the gate hot in the divisional round, taking down the New York Giants 38-7. Despite some key injuries to the San Francisco 49ers, the Eagles still outplayed them in every aspect of the game, resulting in a 31-7 Philadelphia win. This Philly roster is nothing short of stacked, their explosive offense is led by breakout quarterback and MVP candidate, Jalen Hurts. He has alway been an athlete, however his throwing ability and decision making has elevated his game immensely this year. Combining him with the offensive weapons AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and running back Miles Sanders, all while being behind the highest PFF graded offensive Lane Johnson, guard Landon Dickerson, and center Jason Kelce makes it impossible to doubt the Philly offensive.
Kansas City, although not winning their playoff games by a large margin, still has a convincing resume. Forced to play the scorching hot Jacksonville Jaguars, the Chiefs prevailed with a 27-20 win. In the conference championship, they had to play the Cincinnati Bengals team who hadn’t lost a game since October. The Chiefs offense drove down the field, and thanks to a late hit penalty, they walked it off on a 45 yard field goal by Harrison Butker, winning the game 23-20. The Chiefs are also powered by an explosive offense, led by none other than former league MVP and Super Bowl 54 champion, Patrick Mahomes II.
Their wide receiver core is much different than in 2020. Still having Mecole Hardman, but adding JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kadarius Toney, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, they might not be led by the same caliber of receivers, but they do have arguably better depth at the position. Tight end Travis Kelce has been as consistent as ever, and running back Jerick McKinnon has been reviving his career with the Chiefs. All behind a very solid offensive line, featuring 23 year old center, Creed Humphrey, making this Kansas City offense as dangerous as ever.
The offense will help, but defense wins championships. Philadelphia has a well rounded defense with an insane defensive line. They have so much depth on the line in players Fletcher Cox, Josh Sweat, Robert Quinn, Brandon Graham, Javon Hargrave, and Jordan Davis. They are hoping that their defense will give Mahomes chances to throw some dangerous balls into their secondary. Their secondary contains Darius Slay and James Bradbarry. Although not having the same defensive line depth, Kansas City still has two stars, Chris Jones and Frank Clark. They have a pair of great defensive backs L’Jarius Sneed and Juan Thornhill. The spot where this Chief’s defense really shines is their linebacker core. They have three star linebackers in Willie Gay, Nick Bolten, and Carlos Dunlap.
The sibling rivalry between Travis and Jason Kelce is predicted to make this game even better. This is the first time siblings have gone against each other in the Super Bowl, and even though they both play very different positions on offense, tempers will definitely be flaring. In the Kelce brother’s podcast New Heights, they went over how the probability of two brothers playing in the Super Bowl.
“It’s got to be something like a lottery pick,” said Jason Kelce.
All signs lead to a very good game. Even down to the special teams units, these teams are stacked. The coaches have faced adversity before, and have powered through them, so it will be interesting to see what trick they pull out of their sleeves. Philadelphia is favorites by 1.5 points, but it is certain it will be a close game. This one will most likely come down to the last possession of the game, and you won’t want to miss it.
