PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — When the Philadelphia Eagles take the field at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, Feb. 12, it will be only the fourth time the franchise has made it all the way to the NFL’s championship game. The matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs will feature a familiar figure of recent Eagles past, as well as a tale of two brothers and a historic matchup of quarterbacks.
Brotherly love? History? This year's Super Bowl has Philadelphia written all over it.
Here are five things to know about the Super Bowl LVII matchup.
1. A former head coach stands in the Eagles' way
The Chiefs head coach is former Eagles head coach Andy Reid. He spent 14 seasons in Philadelphia.
Reid is the winningest head coach in Eagles history, and it’s not even close. He racked up 130 victories over 14 seasons, with an additional 10 coming from 19 postseason games. It was a dramatic change from the decades prior to his tenure, when the team was not setting the standard in the NFC East, let alone regularly participating in the postseason.
More often than not, the Eagles were very competitive in the Reid years (1999-2012), and sometimes they were Super Bowl contenders. Still, those seasons ended in heartbreak.
Reid and his longtime quarterback Donovan McNabb often came up small in the biggest games. They went 1-4 in NFC Championship games. Two of those losses happened in Philadelphia. They also lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots — a game remembered for Reid’s questionable clock management in the fourth quarter, a defining weakness of his time coaching the franchise.
Reid joined the Chiefs in 2012, when Eagles Chairman Jeffrey Lurie let him go with a 4-12 record. Ten seasons in now, he has had arguably better success in Kansas City than he had in Philadelphia. It’s fair to say Reid will be remembered more for his time coaching the Chiefs than for his time coaching the Eagles.
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Even considering McNabb’s success, it’s hard to dispute that current Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is Reid’s best. The Chiefs have played in the last five AFC Championship games. They have been AFC West Champs seven seasons in a row. And Reid will be coaching in at least three times as many Super Bowls as he did with Philadelphia.
His Chiefs are also 3-0 against the Eagles with wins in 2013, 2017 and 2021 since he joined that franchise.
There’s no debate that in less than two weeks, he’s coaching the toughest opponent the Eagles will face this season.
2. Hurts, Mahomes make Super Bowl history
This is the first Super Bowl ever in which the starting quarterbacks from both teams are Black.
Jalen Hurts will be playing in his first Super Bowl. This is his third NFL season and only his second full season as the Eagles’ starting quarterback. Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV in Miami in 2020 but lost Super Bowl LV the very next year in Tampa.
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Mahomes will be the first Black quarterback to start in three Super Bowls. And if the Chiefs win, he would be the first to win two. The Eagles are the first franchise to play in a Super Bowl with opposing Black quarterbacks. Donovan McNabb, who is Black, was their starter in their Super Bowl XXXIX loss to the Patriots.
According to CBS Sports, Hurts, 24, and Mahomes, 27, are also the youngest starting quarterback matchup in the history of this game.
3. Brotherly love: ‘The Kelce Bowl’
While the Eagles going up against a former head coach is a significant storyline for many fans, there may be additional drama in a coincidental subplot that guarantees someone named Kelce will leave Glendale, Arizona, with a second Super Bowl Championship. Which Kelce that will be, exactly, remains to be seen.
Eagles center Jason Kelce and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, brothers, will both be playing in Super Bowl LVIII, even if they will not be on the field at the same time. This is the first time in Super Bowl history that siblings will be playing against each other.
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Travis may have summed it up best when he said this: “My mom can’t lose.”
Donna Kelce spoke to NFL Network about the possibility of her kids facing each other prior to Championship Weekend.
4. Not much history between Eagles and Chiefs
Because the Eagles are in the NFC and the Chiefs are in the AFC, and because the latter originated from the AFL, the two teams have not often played against each other — just nine times since 1972, according to The Football Database. There were no meetings from 1973 through 1991.
The Chiefs lead the series 5-4, because they have won the last three matchups — the ones in which Reid coached them. The last time the Eagles beat the Chiefs was 2009. Reid, of course, was on the Eagles sideline at Lincoln Financial Field for that game.
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Coincidentally, current Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was on the Chiefs staff as a 28-year-old offensive quality control coach — his first season in the NFL.
On Feb. 12, Sirianni will coach in his first Super Bowl, while trying to send Reid to a 1-3 mark as a head coach.
5. Philly, K.C. met in big sports final before
While the Eagles and Chiefs lack a substantial history of on-field action together, the cities they play for have a significant professional sports connection. The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 in the 1980 World Series. It was the first World Championship in Phils franchise history, and the Royals’ first appearance in the Fall Classic.