The Eagles and Chiefs were the top seeds in their respective conferences and they’ll meet in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday. However, pundits have taken shots at both Philadelphia and Kansas City’s road to the big game.
There has been talk of the Eagles playing a weak schedule and getting lucky in the playoffs with their matchups, particularly the quarterbacks they went up against.
The Chiefs haven’t quite had those same accusations, but a win against a Jaguars team and a last-second field goal after a penalty hasn’t exuded confidence from some.
Andrew Fillipponi of the Audacy Original Podcast “1st & Pod” explained to his co-host Danny Parkins why he thinks the Chiefs are lucky to be in the Super Bowl.
“I do think, though, that the Chiefs are lucky to be here,” Fillipponi said (13:09 in player above). “I do feel part of that. They needed Ossai to commit a penalty that kept that game from going to overtime. And they needed Jacksonville to complete one of the biggest comebacks in NFL history. Now I would still say that the Chiefs beat the Chargers, but that’s not a 8.5-point spread if they have to play them.”
To play Devil’s advocate, the Chiefs earned the right to play the worst seed left in the divisional round after a 14-3 regular season. That included two wins against the Chargers.
As far as the Joseph Ossai penalty is concerned, it’s a bit more fair to speculate what might have happened if that game went to overtime. The Bengals won in overtime in last year’s AFC Championship Game after Patrick Mahomes threw an interception on the first drive of the extra session.
On the Eagles side of things, they’ve earned a bit of their "luck."
“Sure, but the Eagles got Brock Purdy with no ability to throw forward and Josh Johnson,” Parkins said.
“They knocked him out, though,” Fillipponi replied. “They get credit for that… That’s not injury luck for the Eagles. They mugged a guy.”
Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter how they got there. The Chiefs and Eagles are the two teams left standing and one will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night.
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