Super Bowl 59: Redemption
- Arjun Peroor
- Feb 11
- 4 min read
The Philadelphia Eagles are your 2024-2025 Super Bowl Champs! They knocked off the mighty Chiefs to get back to the mountaintop for the first time in seven years! Not only did they beat the Chiefs, but they dominated. One thing that stuck out to me was the roller coaster that the Eagles Franchise endured over the last two years, from their Super Bowl loss 57 vs. the Chiefs to yesterday.
Let's go back to two years ago. The Eagles have lost to the Chiefs 38-35 in an incredibly thrilling Super Bowl. The Eagles had also lost their 2 coordinators. Shane Steichen, OC, was hired by the Colts, and Jonathan Gannon, DC, was hired as HC for the Cardinals. Despite all that, people appreciated Jalen Hurts's performance as he had 4 total touchdowns and were impressed with the young team as they went toe to toe with the MVP winner Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. It wasn't crazy to think that this team would be back on the big stage the next year. We then fast forward to the 2023-2024 Season. They started the season 10-1 but there were many skeptics because of the way they won their games. In 7 of their 10 victories, they won by 7 or less. Some came against bad teams like the Commanders and Patriots but also beat formidable opponents like the Bills and Chiefs. So even though it wasn't pretty 10-1 is still 10-1 right?? Well, that sentiment died quickly when they lost 42-19 to the 49ers to drop to 10-2 and then their season became an utter mess as they ended the season with an 11-6 record, and that one win came over the Giants whom they beat by 8. They then got waxed in their first playoff game in Tampa vs Mayfield and the Bucs 32-9 and the skepticism only got louder. Was Jalen Hurts's 2022 season a one-off? Was Steichen more valuable than we give credit? Is Nick Sirianni(Head Coach) on the hot seat? These were the questions that were constantly being asked by the media and to some extent the fans.
Enter the 2024 offseason. The Eagles were involved in one of the biggest free agency signings of the summer as they acquired Saquon Barkley. The running game that was once the Eagles' calling card en route to their SB 57 appearance just got a whole lot scarier. The Eagles also made some changes to the staff as they hired former Cowboys OC Kellen Moore to be their OC and former Dolphins DC and Broncos HC Vic Fangio to be their DC. Saquon, right from the get-go, proved to be the move of the offseason as he had 131 total yards and 3 TDs in his debut. However, it was not smooth sailing as the Eagles started 2-2 in their first 4 games. They lost games to the Falcons and Bucs. They got blown out by the Bucs 33-16 and all of a sudden it felt like 2023 again. Things didn't get as better as the Eagles came out of their week 5 bye and beat the lowly Browns by 4 and Nick Sirianni was seen yelling at his fans as he heard the noise of the fanbase wanting him gone. It just wasn't a good look. And then all of a sudden, everything changed. They finished out the season winning 11 of their last 12 games and ending 14-3. They had some impressive victories: Beat the Bengals by 20, the Rams by 27, Ravens by 5 in Baltimore, and blew out all the bad teams they should've beaten. Something that wasn't the case the year prior. They ended the season 14-3 and finished with the second seed. Saquon finished the season with 2,005 rushing yards and 13 TDs and won the Offensive Player of the Year Award. As much of a spark Saquan Barkley gave this team, the biggest difference was Vic Fangio. The Eagles went from the bottom 5 in the league in almost every major defensive category in 2023 to being the best in most of them. Going into the Super Bowl they forced a combined total of 10 turnovers in their victories over the Packers, Rams, and Commanders. Oh yeah, they scored 55 points in the NFC Championship which was the most ever in an NFC Championship game. Saquan also had combined for 448 yards and 5 Touchdowns in those 3 games.
This team was firing on all cylinders heading into the Super Bowl. The only question people had was would Jalen Hurts be able to play well in the big game. Well, he had around 300 total yards and 3 Touchdowns with just 1 turnover earning him the honor of being Super Bowl MVP. So I'd say he was pretty good once again in the Super Bowl. How about that defense? They held Mahomes and the Chiefs outside of the opponent's territory until the last 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter. They sacked Mahomes 6 times without blitzing him and they harassed him all day in the pocket. Mahomes looked even worse than he did in the Tampa SB. His final stat line is not indicative of how bad he was all game. He struggled to crack 100 yards until the game was 34-0 and was over. Also, shoutout to Cooper DeJean for getting a pick 6 in his first-ever Super Bowl as a rookie on his birthday. It was the play that got the defensive demolition started.
It was a crazy 2 years but the Eagles prevailed as Champs once again and looking at this team, there's no reason to believe they aren't the favorites heading into next year.
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