Conference Championship Record: 2-0
Overall Playoff Record: 8-4
Kansas City Chiefs over Philadelphia Eagles:
For the 2nd time in 3 years, the Chiefs and Eagles are playing in the Super Bowl. As much as things have changed with both these teams over the past 2 years (including the public enthusiasm in seeing them square off in the Super Bowl), the results have a good chance of ending up being the same as they were last time.
On paper, I actually like the Eagles in this matchup quite a bit. The Chiefs run D has started to unravel in the playoffs (they've allowed 148 YDS over their 2 playoff games, up considerably from the 101.8 they allowed during the regular season) after a strong regular season-which bodes well for Saquon Barkley's chances of putting together a great game, the Eagles passing attack is pointing up after Jalen Hurts settled into a nice groove (20/28, 246 YDS, TD) against the Commanders following a quiet start to the playoffs and Vic Fangio's defense is completely capable of stifling the Chiefs unsexy offense at every level if they are able to maintain the elite form they've shown for most of this season in the biggest game of the year. So why am I picking against the Eagles despite sincerely believing that they are the better team? Simple: I don't have the fucking stomach to pick against the Chiefs.
While they're still a little bit away from matching the prolonged dominance of the Patriots dynasty of the 2000's/2010's, the Chiefs have already become the successor to those Brady/Belichick teams by becoming basically impossible to pick against in the playoffs. It's not that they can't lose, they got run over by the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl 4 years ago and got popped by the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game 3 years ago. It just seems unwise to pick against a team that has proven to be so good at winning, especially in an era where both their coach and quarterback have zero peers on their level. The last two times that I went against them (last year's AFC Championship Game versus the Ravens, the Super Bowl against these very Eagles 2 years ago) ended poorly and despite all my reservations about their multiple vulnerabilities on both sides of the ball and the fact that no team in league history has won 3 straight Super Bowls, I'd rather back the team with the track record of delivering on this stage then naively doubt their ability to do so once again. It's unquestionably a gutless move on my part, but nothing in the world could stop me from making it and I don't give two shits if I end up being wrong.
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