As the NFL season ends this weekend, the highly anticipated Super Bowl LIX will occur tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. This year’s contest will feature the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles and the AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs, looking for their third straight Super Bowl victory.
A Chiefs win would make them the first team in NFL history to capture three titles in a row. The game will take place at Ceasers Superdome in New Orleans, in what’s supposed to be an exhilarating matchup between two of the NFL’s best.
These teams aren’t unfamiliar with each other. This game will also be a rematch of Super Bowl LVII, in which the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38 to 35 on February 12, 2023. Both of these teams had incredible runs this year.
The Chiefs have only lost two of the 19 games they played this season. On the other hand, the Eagles ran away with their division and ended the regular season by winning eleven of their final thirteen games.
The AFC #1 seed Chiefs squeaked by the Houston Texans in a defensive battle 23-14 in their first playoff game thanks to their dominant defense and superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes. They are also looking to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowl titles.
The 14-3 and NFC #2 seed Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers 22-10 in their first game, thanks to 119 rushing yards by their MVP candidate running back Saquon Barkley. After that, they squeaked out a 28-22 win over the Los Angeles Rams thanks to their impenetrable defense in the divisional round.
In the NFC Conference Championship game, the Eagles obliterated the Washington Commanders 55-28. This was mainly due to five combined rushing touchdowns by quarterback Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley and the three fumble recoveries by their defense.
In the AFC Conference Championship game, the Chiefs edged the Buffalo Bills 32-29, with help from two rushing touchdowns from Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a game-winning field goal with 3 minutes left by kicker Harrison Butker.
The public is slightly favoring the Chiefs in this matchup, as ESPN currently gives the Eagles a 56% of raising the Lombardi Trophy on February 9.
Another interesting storyline of this year’s Super Bowl will be the scrutiny of the officiating. Players, coaches, and media members have complained that the Chiefs are constantly bailed out of negative situations by penalties.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell believes that the concept of the officials favoring the Chiefs, “is a ridiculous theory.”
Multiple players have issued complaints about the officials during games against the Chiefs. Most recently, Houston Texans Defensive End Will Anderson Jr. was fined $25,000 for criticizing the officials following the Texans’ divisional-round playoff loss to the Chiefs.
“We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game,” Anderson said.
My prediction for Super Bowl LIX is the Eagles will scrape out the upset against the Chiefs by a score of 34-31. The Eagles’ superior defense and superstar running back Saquon Barkley, will be crowned Super Bowl MVP after scoring 3 rushing touchdowns including the game-winner late in the fourth quarter.
