PHOENIX — Andy Reid, now in his second decade in Kansas City, has already proven he can coach his team to victory in the big game. He did so three years ago with the Chiefs — after coming up short in the NFL playoffs several times during his 14 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Leading the Chiefs to a victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII would only add to his legacy and further cement his credentials for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And while he obviously wants to win, Reid will have no personal scores to settle Sunday at State Farm Stadium.
“Listen, I had 14 great years there,” Reid said about Philadelphia, where he won more games than any coach in franchise history, though his 130-93-1 regular-season record was countered by a 10-9 playoff mark and a loss in the Eagles’ lone Super Bowl appearance during his tenure.
“I loved every minute of it. It’s a great organization. I still am close with the people there. It was great to see the kids that we had drafted that are now these veteran players — All-Pro players — on that team. I had the chance to give them a hug, and now we go our separate ways and get ready to play.”
Sunday’s kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Fox will televise the game.
Reid, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs (16-3) are in the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons and aiming to win their second title in that span. Three years ago at Super Bowl LIV, they beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 to win the franchise’s second NFL championship — it came 50 years after the first — but then lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-9 the following season as quarterback Tom Brady won his seventh title.
A year after losing in the AFC title matchup to the Cincinnati Bengals, Reid’s crew is back in the big game, but the Eagles (16-3) will present a tough challenge. They have a dynamic offense, led by quarterback Jalen Hurts, and a stingy defense, which includes Chattanooga native Patrick Johnson, with both units fronted by dominant lines.
The matchup is filled with intriguing storylines beyond Reid facing his former team.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Eagles center Jason Kelce, both of them All-Pro first-team selections this season, will become the first brothers to play against one another in the Super Bowl. This will be the first Super Bowl with two Black starting quarterbacks. And then there’s the coaching subplot: Nick Sirianni, now in his second season leading Philadelphia, began his career as a Chiefs staff member from 2009 to 2012, but he was not retained when Reid took over in Kansas City.
Over the past two weeks, that material filled sports pages and websites, gave pundits ample opportunity to opine and increased the hype leading into the 57th edition of the NFL’s biggest show.
AP photo by Chris Szagola / Philadelphia Eagles fans will be celebrating the franchise’s second Super Bowl title five years after its first if their team can take down the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.On the field, however, this is a true matchup of heavyweights. It’s the first time the NFL’s two No. 1 playoffs seeds are here since the Eagles beat the New England Patriots 41-33 to capture their first Lombardi Trophy five years ago. (The franchise had been 0-2 in the Super Bowl but owned three NFL titles — 1948, 1949, 1960 — from the era preceding the AFL-NFL merger.)
The teams appear evenly matched. The Chiefs led the NFL in scoring offense and total yards, while the Eagles were third overall in both categories. The Eagles do have a statistical edge on defense with the second-ranked unit, while the Chiefs were 11th.
Philadelphia’s defense is so nasty, Mahomes couldn’t even point to one standout area.
“They’re great everywhere,” he said. “It’s hard to pick one. I’d probably say the defensive line because they’re on a historic sack rate, and the way they’re able to get to the quarterback. Everybody knows that everything starts up front. So that’ll be a great challenge for our offensive line, to try to do what they can in the run game and pass game of protecting and run blocking. But they’ve got great DBs, great linebackers.”
Mahomes and Hurts finished 1-2 in voting for NFL MVP, with the 27-year-old Chiefs star winning the award for a second time (his first came during the same season he won the Super Bowl). Both have been dealing with injuries. Mahomes played the AFC title game with a badly sprained ankle but was able to lead the Chiefs past the Bengals. Hurts missed two games late in the season with a shoulder injury.
They’ll go all out one more time and have plenty of time to rest in the offseason. Whichever quarterback gets better protection will likely be the winner.
“If you slip up, he can make you pay with his legs, his arm, any way he can,” Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay said of Hurts. “We just have to approach it as he’s a weapon. This week we know he’s a big key for us. We have to slow him down.”
Mahomes can do it all, too. His MVP came in a landslide as he received 48 of 50 first-place votes. The extra week off has helped his ankle heal, so the Eagles will have to be wary of his ability to create plays with his legs.
“He’s one of the quarterbacks in the league that I haven’t been able to sack yet or haven’t gotten to yet,” said Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick, who was a one-man wrecking crew in the NFC title game against the 49ers. “If I’m able to get to him and I get him in the Super Bowl, that’s going to be historic for me.”