Super Bowl LIX preview: A first look at Chiefs-Eagles rematch

Ralph Vacchiano

NFL Reporter

Two years ago, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs put on quite a show in Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz. They combined for 750 yards of offense and eight touchdowns, and it wasn’t decided until a field goal with eight seconds left in the game.

It was exciting and dramatic. It featured big plays and big performances by some of the NFL’s best players.

It was so good, in fact, that they have decided to do it again.

The rematch will take place in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9 at the Superdome in New Orleans (6:30 p.m. ET on FOX) when the NFC Champion Eagles take on the AFC Champion — and two-time defending Super Bowl winners — Chiefs. The coaches and quarterbacks are still the same as they were two years ago, and they still feature many of the same players.

But there is no doubt that a lot about both teams has changed, and this could be a very different game. The last time they engaged in an offensive shootout.

This time they could end up locked in a much more defensive game.

That’s because neither team is built for the same kind of offensive explosion they were capable of two years ago. The Eagles might actually be closer to the juggernaut they were back then, but they’re not the same kind of offense. They are almost all about the run, powered by their newest star, running back Saquon Barkley. His near-record season with 2,005 rushing yards has powered them all year long and turned them into arguably the most dangerous rushing team in the league.

As a result, they lean much more on Barkley than they do on quarterback Jalen Hurts, who was an MVP candidate two years ago. Hurts showed on Sunday that he’s still capable of big games, throwing for 248 yards and a touchdown and running for three touchdowns in a 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game. But offensively, at least, the Eagles are now Barkley’s team.

That doesn’t make them any less dangerous necessarily. But it does make them less explosive at times.

Meanwhile, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was the MVP two years ago when the Chiefs beat the Eagles for the championship, but he wasn’t even a Pro Bowler this season when he threw for 3,928 yards and just 26 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. Kansas City has been much more reliant on their top-10 defense — which, by the way, was particularly strong against the run all season long. That’s been what’s kept them in almost every game they’ve played, almost all of which have come right down to the wire.

In fact, the Chiefs have played 12 one-score games this season, leading many to think they might finally be vulnerable. But they’ve still won them all, including their dramatic 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night in the AFC Championship Game.

Mahomes did have one of his best games of the season against the Bills, throwing for 245 yards and a touchdown and running for 43 yards and two touchdowns. But it was still the Chiefs’ defense that was called on to preserve the win in the fourth quarter and kept Buffalo’s dangerous quarterback Josh Allen mostly in check, by limiting him to just 237 passing yards and 39 yards rushing.

Even if that defense finds a way to shut down Barkley and the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, though, the Chiefs still might need a little more, because Mahomes is going to have to find a way to break through against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. The Eagles don’t boast the same historic pass rush they had two years ago when they had 70 sacks in the regular season. But they are a better defense with a better scheme and better tacklers. And they have become dangerous in creating turnovers, like the four they forced on Sunday against the usually sure-handed Commanders.

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It won’t be as easy for the Eagles in two weeks, of course. The Chiefs are still basically the same core group that has been to seven straight AFC Championship Games and five Super Bowls in the last six seasons, winning three of them so far. And they are motivated by trying to become the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl three years in a row.

The Eagles had a chance to stop that run before it started two years ago when they went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, thanks to a brilliant performance by Hurts. The Eagles quarterback threw for 304 yards and a touchdown and ran for 70 yards and three touchdowns. It took a 27-yard field goal by Harrison Butker in the final seconds for the Chiefs to avoid overtime and escape with a 38-35 win.

But the defenses took a backseat in that game. Both offenses were virtually unstoppable.

These Chiefs and Eagles just aren’t built that way this season, so another shootout seems hard to envision. This time the Super Bowl championship might come down to the best defense, and which of the two battle-tested coaches and quarterbacks can find a way to break through.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.