The Philadelphia Eagles will play in their fourth Super Bowl on February 12 when they take on the Kansas City Chiefs. They have made it to the NFL’s title game under four different head coaches (Dick Vermeil, Andy Reid, Doug Pederson and now Nick Sirianni) and they have won once. The Eagles steamrolled their way to the top seed in the NFC and then breezed through playoff wins over the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers. They are still waiting for a test in the postseason, and if the Super Bowl betting odds, which opened with the game at a pick’em or with the Chiefs as a slight favorite, depending on the book you consult. Let’s take a look at how the Eagles got to the title game this time – and how that path has prepared them to take on the Chiefs.
NFL News: The Philadelphia Eagles’ Road to Super Bowl LVII
→ Easy pickings for the defense
If you look at the games Philadelphia played from Week 18 through the NFC Championship, the quarterbacks they faced were Davis Webb, Daniel Jones, Josh Johnson, Brock Purdy (briefly) and Christian McCaffrey (bizarrely). While the Eagles do have an elite defense, the Giants had already been exposed multiple times in the last third of the season. The Eagles dared Webb and Jones to beat tem down the field, and they could not do it. Facing Patrick Mahomes will represent a major upgrade, but the Eagles may have the defense to pull it off.
→ The 49ers were their own worst enemy in the NFC Championship
Let’s look at some ways the 49ers made the Eagles’ skate through the NFC Championship even simpler. Obviously, losing Purdy in the first quarter was a major blow, but there were some other factors as well.
Penalties. The 49ers committed six in the first half, including three on one 75-yard drive that led to a Philadelphia score. The bogus roughing-the-kicker call that came later in the game (when the 49ers’ rusher was pushed into the punter) wasn’t the 49ers’ fault, but it also played a role.
Missed chances to challenge. On the Eagles’ first scoring drive, Jalen Hurts found Devonta Smith to convert on 4th-and-3. However, a replay showed that he didn’t make the catch. Kyle Shanahan did not challenge the call, though, and the drive continued.
Poor ball security. Yes, the Chiefs lost a snap to a fumble late against the Bengals and overcame the gaffe. The 49ers also saw a shotgun snap go awry near the end of the first half, and the Eagles turned that into a 21-7 lead going into the intermission.
→ So how dominant are the Eagles?
You can only play the teams on your schedule, and the teams that appear before you on the playoff bracket. While the Week 18 win over the Giants was somewhat close, the Eagles then beat the Giants and 49ers in the playoffs by a combined score of 69-14. While the Giants showed that the sixth seed was basically what they deserved, on the basis of their playoff performance, the win over the 49ers came, at least in part, thanks to the injury to Brock Purdy. After that happened, the 49ers devolved into chaos, and even when Purdy returned after halftime, it was obvious that his arm woud not allow him to throw the ball, which means that the game basically ended when Purdy and Johnson went down to injury.
The Eagles have the offense to keep the Chiefs on their heels, and they have the defense to disrupt Kansas City’s rushing and passing games. Can they impose their will on an elite team, though? The Eagles played five regular-season games against playoff teams, and they won four of them (beating Dallas once, the Giants twice, the Jaguars and the Vikings). It will be interesting to see what they can do when they face one of the league’s best offenses and a most resilient defense.
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