Super Bowl Preview (Part 1)

As has become an annual tradition at Sportsfreak towers, our resident NFL fans Hamish Girvan (Chiefs), Scott MacLean (49ers), Stephen Gallagher (Buccaneers), Jonathan Paterson (Browns), and Ryan Nixon (Falcons) turned their attention towards the big game. It’s a rematch of two seasons ago, when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in a thriller. There’s plenty to discuss heading into the big game, so let’s get to the key questions.

1. If the Chiefs win their third straight Superbowl, where do they rank among the great NFL teams?

HG: They will rank highly based on a three-peat if it happens, but it still feels like early days. The word dynasty gets thrown around pretty liberally, however three in a row has never been done before. Chiefs coach Andy Reid does have a legacy cemented regardless of result though.

Then again there are non Chiefs fans who seem to think they shouldn’t even be there based on so-called referee bias which is ridiculous. It’s hardly like any playoff opponents had points taken off the board so it’s really a case of “whataboutisms”. No one seems to like a dynasty regardless of any sports and perhaps there are also some fans who can see their recent dynasties becoming irrelevant now there is a new kid on the block. Who can remember the Dallas Cowboys’ dynasty these days? Remember Mahomes is only 29.

JP: Well, the popular narrative that no team has ever achieved a three-peat is, well, wrong. The Packers did, twice, albeit in the pre-Super Bowl era, which included 4 titles by my beloved Browns (PS: I love you Myles, please don’t break my heart more than it already is). That being said, I have little to no functional knowledge of the era, or indeed any era prior to the 90s, which means that in terms of actual performance, star power, entertainment value, and all around dominance, the only teams that one can compare the Chiefs to are the Niners and Cowboys of the 90s, and the Patriots of the 2000s. And they have to sit at the top of that pile. 7 consecutive AFC Championship games. 5 Super Bowl appearances. Potentially 4 wins. Adding the most powerful entertainer on the planet as a subplot. And, most improbably of all, being so dominant that they are making the Patriots dynasty, complete with their Spygate and Deflategate shenanigans, and prominently featuring a murder, seem likeable in comparison. They are the greatest. The scary thing for the future is that they have shown an ability to re-invent themselves on the fly while maintaining their greatness.

SG: A three-peat would put a stamp on their dominance. We don’t see dynasties like we used to in sport. It would truly be a dynasty. I’m putting it on the line. A win will cement them as the greatest NFL side in history.

SM: At the very least, you have to put them on a par with the late-70s Steelers (four titles in six years) and the Brady-era Patriots for their sustained success. And that’s without considering being the first to go back-to-back-to-back.

RN: The NFL implements a number of measures to try and encourage parity in their league, including the draft, scheduling process, and salary cap. Yet we still see the cream rise to the top when organisations manage to combine elite quarterback play, excellent coaching and a competent front office. What the Chiefs have achieved through Patrick Mahomes’ career is incredible, and a three-peat would put them in the conversation alongside Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s Patriots as the greatest ever. And they might not be close to finished, either.

 

2. If the Eagles win, what does it do for the legacy of Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and Nick Sirianni?

HG: It’s still early days for the Eagles as well but they have built a very complete team. Sirianni is the ideal coach for the Eagles – brash, loud and hardly humble. It suits both the fan base and culture. Saquon Barkley has been immense since he moved from the New York Giants last season and Jalen Hurts is very consistent. Consistency wins things. Until they get a ring the word legacy cannot be thrown around (unless they want a legacy like the Buffalo Bills!)

JP: This is biggest for Hurts and Sirianni, who were the darlings of the world two years ago but have been dragged through the mud for the last two years despite performing at a pretty high level overall. In Sirianni’s case, that is the price of being aloof, unlikeable, and a little bit unstable, but a Super Bowl win covers over all of that (at least a few years). However, for Hurts it all feels a bit more sinister and tinged with racial stereotyping. In his breakout season of 2022, he was 4th in Total QBR at 68.3, but if you would believe the naysayers, he’d been abysmal in the two years since. The numbers paint a different picture, though, as he ranked 12th in 2023 at 60.9, and 10th in 2024 at 65.7. So a win in the biggest game, especially if he has a big game, should hopefully kill some of those unfair criticisms of his game.

SG: I know the Eagles don’t get a lot of love from anyone outside of Philadelphia, but a win against this Chiefs team would give them the flowers they deserve. We saw Philly fall off a cliff at the end of last season, and they went down to the wire in the Super Bowl the season before that. Hurts is capable of leading them to a ring. Barkley, well – I want him to win everything. Seeing him unleashed from prison (New York Giants) was the greatest thing for his career. And you can say what you want about Sirianni (most people do), but I think he deserves more credit than he’s currently getting. A Super Bowl win will only drive them further next season.

SM: Philadelphia might be the most notoriously difficult place to win over the fans in the US; they are after all the people who once pelted Santa Claus with snowballs. At the very least they get to be called winners, which probably cements their place in the city’s folklore. Overall though, it would probably do more for Sirianni and Hurts as an individual achievement than it would for Barkley, who is with few peers as a running back in the league and solidifies the “WTF” of the New York Giants letting him walk last offseason.

RN: The three might be grouped together as part of this team’s fabric, but their legacies are all vastly different. For Hurts, it’s a case of silencing the critics who have unfairly clouded many of his achievements in the league, and cementing his place among the game’s elite quarterbacks. For Barkley, he’ll be viewed as one of the most important free agent signings in recent times, carrying his team to a trophy, and again making people glance sideways at what’s happening with the Giants. As for Sirianni, it’s a big middle finger up to the fans and media who criticise him. Most of that is as a result of his persona more than coaching ability, but you feel he’d take great satisfaction in proving himself.

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