The Super Bowl is always an event that grabs people’s attention. The championship game of the most popular sports league in the United States, whose popularity is also growing around the world. This year, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will battle in Arizona’s State Farm Stadium, both looking to add to their trophy cabinets. Each team is 60 minutes away (plus timeouts, penalties, commercial breaks, and a presumable banger halftime show by Rihanna, maybe featuring Drake) from being the world champions of American football. What will they need to do it, though?

The Chiefs

With Tom Brady finally gone, Patrick Mahomes is the new face of the NFL, and he has taken the mantle of best QB in the NFL, at least for now. Mahomes has spearheaded the Chiefs’ budding dynasty since 2018. He was the only quarterback to pass for 40 touchdowns or more in 2022, as he led his team to a 14-3 record. This was despite losing Tyreek Hill, his top target from years past. However, Travis Kelce has stepped up, notching 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns and becoming Mahomes’ top target in the process.

The offensive line has elite talent. Second-year players Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith have been nothing short of sensational, whilst Joe Thuney and Orlando Brown are worth their huge salaries. The right tackle spot is relatively weak, but Andrew Wylie has been held down the starting role.

Also contributing to the Chiefs’ scoring success is their running back tandem. Jerrick McKinnon has become a top receiving back, racking up nine receiving touchdowns. Most of them come from inside the 20-yard line (the redzone). Meanwhile, Rutgers alum and 7th-round rookie Isiah Pacheco has been quite the revelation. Pacheco has taken over starting duties this season and has performed admirably. With an injury crisis at wide receiver looking imminent, the Chiefs have a solid core of running backs to turn to.

Speaking of rookies, the defense has had its own injection of youth, which could prove costly, as most of the players on that side of the ball are playing in their first Super Bowl. Coach Andy Reid does not have a lot of superstar names on defense, apart from Chris Jones. The 2016 second-round pick is coming off his second season of 15.5 sacks (his first since 2018) and was instrumental in helping the Chiefs win the AFC Championship Game, recording a late-game sack that got the Chiefs the ball back in the final minutes. He is much relied on, as the rest of the defense has little to no experience of playing in a game like the Super Bowl. They may have to go without L’Jarius Sneed, who suffered a concussion in the AFC title game and likely will be lacking fitness heading into the Super Bowl. However, another 7th-round rookie, Jaylen Watson, has taken over duties and has recorded two crucial interceptions this postseason. 

The Chiefs are a very strong team overall, but will be going into this Super Bowl without some of their more important names. Andy Reid will hope that the young guys will step up in what is likely the biggest game of their lives.

The Eagles

Just two years ago, the Eagles were coming off a tumultuous 4-11-1 season. Carson Wentz and his remaining teammates from the 2017 Super Bowl winners saw their hot streaks fall flat. The coach, Doug Pederson, would be fired after the season, and general manager Howie Roseman, who had built the squad that won the Super Bowl, faced calls for his firing. Two years later, who’s laughing now?

Sure, the Eagles passed on the chance to take Justin Jefferson in the 2020 Draft and got heavily criticized for it once Jefferson set several rookie records, but Roseman worked magic throughout his second stint as general manager (GM), which began in 2016. For example:

• Roseman’s first notable move was to trade several players and multiple draft picks from 2016 and 2017 to move up in the 2016 Draft to take Carson Wentz (Isaac Seumalo was picked up later in that same draft). Without Wentz, the Eagles would not have gone 13-3 in 2017. Roseman also convinced Nick Foles to sign as a backup, and he left Philly a club legend, famously winning the Super Bowl for the Eagles in Wentz’s place.
• The Eagles had no first-round pick in 2018, but spent Day 2 picks on Dallas Goedert and Josh Sweat, both current starters. Another starter was picked up on Day 3, when Roseman drafted Jordan Mailata straight out of the Australian rugby league. Mailata is now the starting left tackle, opposite right tackle Lane Johnson, who Roseman picked up in his first stint as the GM.
• In 2019, Roseman drafted Miles Sanders in the second round of that year’s draft, whilst picking up undrafted linebacker TJ Edwards, now the team’s best linebacker.
• 2020 saw the Eagles skip on Justin Jefferson, but also saw them pick up Jalen Hurts and several key depth pieces to the squad. Hurts’ selection was widely criticized at the time, but Wentz’s seismic downfall only proved as justification for the selection. What was not criticized was the Darius Slay trade, which only cost the Eagles a third-round pick and got them their current best cornerback, and the signing of Javon Hargrave, one of four Eagles with 10+ sacks (the others are Brandon Graham, Sweat, and another player I will touch on later).
• Roseman fired Doug Pederson, the Super Bowl-winning coach of the 2017 Eagles, and replaced him with former Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni, working under former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who was on Pederson’s staff in 2017.
• He then traded Wentz to Indianapolis for a 2021 third-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick the following offseason. However, Roseman was assured that if Wentz played enough snaps, the second-round pick would become a first-rounder. Sure enough, Wentz played every game, but the Colts missed the playoffs, giving the Eagles a second 2022 first-round selection.
• Using the third-round pick from the Wentz trade, the Eagles traded up with Dallas to get DeVonta Smith, their second-leading receiver in 2022, with their top selection in the 2021 Draft. Their second selection, Landon Dickerson, would become the team’s starting left guard, and fifth-round pick Kenneth Gainwell proved key to Siranni’s running back rotation.
• With the first-round pick from the same Wentz trade, the Eagles traded with the Saints to pick up an extra first-rounder in 2023’s Draft, before using another pick from the Saints trade to acquire AJ Brown, their number one receiver.
• All this, and I have not mentioned the big moves Roseman made outside of the draft. He signed sacks leader Haason Reddick, New Jersey native and alumnus of Temple University, as well as James Bradberry, former Giants stud cornerback. He also sent low-value picks to the Saints for CJ Garnder Johnson, the team’s interception leader. He also has acquired several depth pieces to make a very stacked squad overall.

This list just shows you how Howie Roseman overcame adversity to build an amazing squad, whose rushing attack is certain to cause concern for the Chiefs (Sanders, Gainwell, and Hurts have proven to be viable threats in the run game). Not to mention, the Eagles have one very deep defensive line rotation that could easily snuff out Isiah Pacheco and Patrick Mahomes. But have they faced strong enough opposition at this point? That has become a major criticism of the Eagles this season.

Every opponent the Eagles faced this season, outside of their conference, would end up with losing records. Critics will note that the Eagles struggled at times against some of the weaker opponents, such as close games versus the lowly-ranked Texans and Colts, as well as a struggle against the Giants in Week 18 (when New York rested their starters). They also faced a mediocre Giants team in the Divisional Round and an injury-riddled 49ers team in the NFC title game. However, they dominated both games, and only lost once without Jalen Hurts as the starter. There will be concern if someone gets hurt, but if everyone stays healthy, then Eagles fans are in for a treat.

As for predictions, I expect there to be an offensive shootout. The Chiefs will likely go high-volume passing as they usually do, interspersed with lots of running plays, whilst the Eagles will be very run-heavy with the occasional intermediate-to-deep pass play. On the basis of squad depth, I believe the Eagles will win, but do not be surprised if Patrick Mahomes pulls something magical out of his pocket, like the YouTube highlight reels say he has done before.