The Philadelphia Eagles had a thrilling come-from-behind win on Sunday, and even witnessed a lineman at high speed. But repeating as Super Bowl champions is extremely difficult. Only eight teams in history have been able to do it. So NFL observers need to pump the brakes on the Eagles’ back-to-back Super Bowl hype as if they’re an unstoppable machine.
Basically, the Eagles are this year’s Chiefs, who went 11-0 in one-score games in 2024. The Eagles will likely win a ton of close games, but that doesn’t mean they’ll win the Super Bowl. They have three wins by a combined total of 14 points. And six of those came on a meaningless tack-on score after a game-winning blocked field goal.
Kansas City won close game after close game in 2024, including a tight 32-29 decision over Buffalo in the AFC Championship game. But the Eagles drubbed the Chiefs 40-22 in the Super Bowl.
Philadelphia Eagles are still NFL elite
All of this isn’t to say the Eagles don’t belong in the driver’s seat. After all, the last 20 times they’ve lined up in a football game, they’ve won 19 of them. Plus, an injury to Jalen Hurts contributed to the 36-33 loss to the Commanders during that rather amazing stretch.
But the Eagles outscored the Commanders and Chiefs 95-45 in their final two games of 2024. This year, they could have lost each of their first three games.
If CeeDee Lamb had caught, instead of dropped, a pass in the final minutes of their Week 1 game, the Eagles could have been 0-1. If Travis Kelce hadn’t turned a touchdown into an interception with a drop, the Eagles might have fallen to 0-2. Look at those names. Those aren’t guys you expect to fail in those moments.
And then the Rams dominated them into the third quarter. Furthermore, the Rams had a chance to win on the last play with a 44-yard field goal — a kick with a success rate around 80 percent. The Eagles were going to lose, but they made their own break with the blocked kick.
Yes, it is undeniably true that the Eagles are 3-0 instead of 0-3. But can they count on the same bounces for the rest of the season and throughout the playoffs?
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts said the Eagles are fine
Hurts said it doesn’t matter, according to The Athletic.
“Nobody cares how it gets done,” Hurts said. “Just a matter of getting it done. You guys care about how it gets done — I don’t. Just going out there and find a way to win. A.J. made some big-time plays. He made some big-time catches, some big-time catches. Smitty made some big-time catches. Fred (Johnson) showed up, showed up when his number was called on. (Jordan Davis) on the other side. It’s a beautiful game. I just take a lot of pride in finding ways to win.”
But the problem is, it actually does matter. At least in terms of whether the Eagles can repeat their Super Bowl title. Why? Because it’s extremely tough to win two in a row. It may not matter how a team looks in Week 3, but it doesn’t matter whether the team looks like a repeat champion. Because evidence is reality. Sure, there are upsets. But there are reasons why nobody mentions teams like the Browns and Panthers as legitimate contenders. They both looked good Sunday, but their body of work — and rosters — says otherwise.
So even though the Eagles are 3-0, they don’t look 3-0. They kind of look 1-2.
But let’s look at history.
Eight NFL teams have repeated titles
The first four can be given an asterisk, not for the sake of history but for this debate. Without trying to take away from Green Bay (1966-67), Miami (1972-73), Pittsburgh (1774-75), or the Steelers again (1978-79), the rules were different in those days. The NFL had less overall league talent, fewer strong franchises, and rare free agency.
Things changed somewhat for the 49ers (1988-89) and Cowboys (1992-93), but those teams still had built-in advantages. It was easier to keep continuity from one season to the next. Free agency and the salary cap changed things, for the better overall. But it made it harder to repeat.
Over the last 32 seasons, there have been only three repeat champions. The Broncos (1997-98), Patriots (2003-04), and Chiefs (2023-24) pulled off the feat. And since all of those teams are from the AFC, that means no NFC team has been able to repeat since the Cowboys.
The Chiefs proved it can be done in the modern era, even with all of the free agency and crazy contracts, and such. The team needs to keep key players healthy. For the Eagles, that means guys like Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, Zach Baun, and Jalen Carter. Take any of those guys out of the postseason equation, and the Eagles probably can’t repeat.
Barkley said the Eagles believe they have enough talent to get things done when it matters most.
“We know what we have,” Barkley said. “We know how great they are, and they’re gonna come up big.”
Living on the edge is no good place for NFL teams
The Eagles can smirk and act like they’ve got it all under control. But the outsiders’ eyes are telling a different story.
Keep in mind, the Eagles have a very good football team. They easily rank in the top five. The Ravens, Bills, and Chargers are on that level. Right now, the Eagles probably stand fourth, based on what they’ve shown.
But there are some NFL people who think the Eagles aren’t even the most feared team in the NFC, according to The Athletic.
“I’m more afraid of the Rams than I am Philly,” an exec from another NFC team said. “I think Philly is suffering from a Super Bowl hangover, and I think there are ways to beat Jalen Hurts. They’ve got to be on it and run the ball perfectly.”
Yes, that’s disrespect. But it’s honest disrespect. Maybe the Eagles need to hear a little bit of that at this point.
