Getting ready to play in a Super Bowl is nothing new for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but this year’s team has still found a way to stand out in his mind.
Mahomes is preparing for his fifth Super Bowl in the last six years and he was asked at a Thursday press conference if there is anything about this team that separates them from the rest. Mahomes said it has been the way that players from all facets of the team have stepped up to make winning plays for the team over the course of the season.
“To me, this team’s been special because it’s been everybody,” Mahomes said. “You look at our entire season, it’s like someone makes a big play at the biggest moment to go out there and win a football game, if that’s offense, defense or special teams. I think the fact that it’s been everybody, it’s not just offense, it’s not just defense, it’s everybody on the entire team. It’s something I’ll remember this season by, and hopefully we can do it the right way and get this final win.”
There are plenty of examples of what Mahomes was talking about throughout the team’s recent run of success, but the role that defense and special teams played while the team’s offense was sorting things out early in the year felt a bit more pronounced this time around. The offense eventually came around and the Eagles will have their hands full as they try to stop Kansas City’s run at a historic three-peat in New Orleans.
Defensive end Brandon Graham’s bid to return to action in the Super Bowl has taken a step forward.
Graham was thought to be done for the season when he tore his triceps in Week 12, but he has been talking about a potential return over the last few weeks and the Eagles are giving him the chance to show he’s able to play. Graham has been designated for return from injured reserve and he’s set to take part in practice on Thursday.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said earlier this week that the Eagles would give Graham the full two weeks before making a call about his availability against the Chiefs.
The Eagles also announced that they have opened the practice window for tight end C.J. Uzomah. Uzomah suffered an abdominal injury in Week 17 and appeared in seven games this season.
The Chiefs are going for their third straight Super Bowl win and they’re in the game for the fifth time in six years, so it’s no surprise that fatigue has set in from fans who would like to see a little more variety at the top of the league.
That fatigue has been expressed in gripes about how they’re officiated along with support for their opponents to put an end to Kansas City’s winning ways. During the most recent New Heights podcast, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce discussed how it has felt to see people go from rooting for you to viewing you as a villain over the course of this run.
“I love it,” Kelce said. “At one point in time, it wasn’t that. I was the ‘do you feel bad for ‘em guys.’ I’m enjoying doing this with the guys together. The guys that we have in there, because it just makes us even more of a family. You just circle the wagons. When people are saying whatever they want, you just band together and it makes you appreciate more of what you have because people want what you have.”
The Eagles are one of the teams that have tried and failed to stop the Chiefs during their stretch of success. They’ll get another chance to topple the kings of the league on February 9 and they’ll likely have plenty of people rooting for them to do so, but it doesn’t sound like that will bother Kelce one bit.
The Eagles know most of the players who will be available to them in Super Bowl LIX on February 9, although it remains to be seen if defensive end Brandon Graham is going to make it back to the lineup.
Graham was thought to be out for the season when he tore his triceps in Week 12, but he’s talked about the possibility of returning for the Super Bowl in recent weeks. He said on Monday that he’ll take things one day at a time in regard to returning to face the Chiefs and head coach Nick Sirianni said at a Tuesday press conference that the team will be taking the same approach.
“Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see how that goes and how that plays out,” Sirianni said. “I can’t answer that question right now, but we’ll see how the week works out and how the two weeks work out.”
Graham had 20 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and a forced fumble in 11 regular season games.
Getting to the Super Bowl is hard. Just ask Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, who fell short once again this season. Warren Moon and Dan Fouts are Hall of Famers and never got there. Dan Marino, Steve Young and Aaron Rodgers each started one. All-time great quarterbacks have failed to reach the Super Bowl, or been there once and never made it back.
So it’s noteworthy that at Super Bowl LIX, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts are starting against each other in the Super Bowl for the second time. And particularly notable that Mahomes is starting his fifth Super Bowl — and he’s just 29 years old.
Mahomes has joined some truly elite company, tying John Elway for the second-most Super Bowl starts, with five. Only Tom Brady, with 10 Super Bowl starts, has more.
And Hurts already starting his second Super Bowl is also impressive. He’s the 22nd quarterback to get to the Super Bowl twice.
The quarterbacks with four Super Bowl starts are all in the Hall of Fame: Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Roger Staubach, Peyton Manning and Jim Kelly.
The quarterbacks with three Super Bowl starts are Hall of Famers Troy Aikman, Bob Griese, Kurt Warner and Fran Tarkenton, plus Ben Roethlisberger, who will be selected to the Hall of Fame when he’s eligible.
The quarterbacks Hurts is joining in the two start club are Bart Starr, Jim Plunkett, Eli Manning, Len Dawson, Joe Theismann, Brett Favre, Russell Wilson and Craig Morton.
Starting multiple quarterbacks is a great achievement, one some all-time great quarterbacks haven’t been able to accomplish.
The Chiefs notched one milestone on Sunday night when they became the first back-to-back Super Bowl champions to advance to the game for the third straight year and they’ll try for an even bigger place in the record books in New Orleans.
A win over the Eagles would make them the first team to win three straight Super Bowls, which quarterback Patrick Mahomes referenced in an on-field interview after the win by saying they will be trying to make history on February 9. In his press conference, though, Mahomes downplayed the significance of that bid when asked about his mental approach to his fifth Super Bowl in the last five seasons.
Mahomes said he tries to “maximize every moment” and that he’s treating this Super Bowl run as a unique one amid the team’s long run of success.
“I put every single season as its own season,” Mahomes said. “Every team is different. You get new guys, you get guys that have to step up in different roles. I just go about my business and try to prepare everybody to be in the best possible situation to succeed. Obviously, it will be awesome. I think it will be something that I look back at the end of my career if we’re able to go out there and get that three-peat, but at the same time, you just treat it as one season and one Super Bowl run, which is always hard to do.”
It’s hard to argue with an approach that’s been as successful as the one the Chiefs have employed and we’ll find out if it pays off for them again in a couple of weeks.
The Eagles and Chiefs will meet in Super Bowl LIX, and this is how the path to the 2025 Super Bowl unfolded:
AFC Playoff Bracket
1. Kansas City Chiefs beat Texans 23-14 in divisional round, beat Bills 32-29 in AFC Championship Game.
2. Buffalo Bills beat Broncos 31-7 in wild card round, beat Ravens 27-25 in divisional round, lost to Chiefs 32-29 in AFC Championship Game.
3. Baltimore Ravens beat Steelers 28-14 in wild card round, lost to Bills 27-25 in divisional round.
4. Houston Texans beat Chargers 32-12 in wild card round, lost to Chiefs 23-14 in divisional round.
5. Los Angeles Chargers lost to Texans 32-12 in wild card round.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers lost to Ravens 28-14 in wild card round.
7. Denver Broncos lost to Bills 31-7 in wild card round.
NFC Playoff Bracket
1. Detroit Lions lost to Commanders 45-31 in divisional round.
2. Philadelphia Eagles beat Packers 22-10 in wild card round, beat Rams 28-22 in divisional round, beat Commanders 55-23 in NFC Championship Game.
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to Commanders 23-20 in wild card round.
4. Los Angeles Rams beat Vikings 27-9 in wild card round, lost to Eagles 28-22 in divisional round.
5. Minnesota Vikings lost to Rams 27-9 in wild card round.
6. Washington Commanders beat Buccaneers 23-20 in wild card round, beat Lions 45-31 in divisional round, lost to Eagles 55-23 in NFC Championship Game.
7. Green Bay Packers lost to Eagles 22-10 in wild card round.
Playoff Schedule
Wild card round
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Texans 32, Chargers 12.
Ravens 28, Steelers 14.
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Bills 31, Broncos 7.
Eagles 22, Packers 10.
Commanders 23, Buccaneers 20.
Monday, January 13, 2025
Rams 27, Vikings 9.
Divisional Round
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Chiefs 23, Texans 12.
Commanders 45, Lions 31.
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Eagles 28, Rams 22.
Bills 27, Ravens 25.
Conference Championships
Sunday, January 26, 2025
NFC Championship: Eagles 55, Commanders 23.
AFC Championship: Chiefs 32, Bills 29.
Super Bowl LIX
Sunday, February 9, 2025
6:30 p.m. ET: Chiefs vs. Eagles (Fox)
Travis Kelce was a high school quarterback, and when he enrolled in college at Cincinnati he briefly played quarterback at the college level. He says his dream then was to make it to the NFL and be a quarterback who could make big plays as a passer and a runner — exactly like Josh Allen.
As Kelce’s Chiefs prepare to play Allen’s Bills on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game, Kelce reflected on the kind of player Allen is, and said it’s the kind of player he would have been — if only he’d had Allen’s arm.
“Josh is who I used to dream of being like in the NFL,” Kelce said. “Big, athletic quarterback, big arm, being able to be a dual threat guy, I just never had the arm talent that Josh has, so they kicked me over to tight end.”
Kelce said what impresses him most about Allen, however, is not his physical talent but the way he has taken command of the Bills as their leader.
“You could tell he really took the bull by the horns and became their leader,” Kelce said. “Guys come in and out of the building and he’s the main piece in there making that thing go, week in and week out. I’ve got so much respect for that guy.”
Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner shared his thoughts on what the team has to do to limit Eagles running back Saquon Barkley earlier this week and the team confirmed he’ll be part of those plans on Friday.
Wagner missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday with an ankle injury, but he has no injury designation for Sunday after returning for a limited session. Wagner will be bidding to make it to the Super Bowl for the third time in his career after making it twice during his time in Seattle.
The Commanders did not get defensive lineman Daron Payne back at practice, but they haven’t ruled him out. He’s questionable due to play because of knee and finger injuries.
Quarterback Jeff Driskel (illness) and defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste (shoulder) are also listed as questionable. Right guard Sam Cosmi will miss the game with a torn ACL.
The Eagles got center Cam Jurgens back on the practice field on Friday, but they aren’t ready to say that he’ll play against the Commanders on Sunday.
Jurgens missed two days of practice with a back injury before returning for a limited session. He’s been listed as questionable to play.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts (knee), cornerback Quinyon Mitchell (shoulder), and tight end Dallas Goedert (ankle) are all good to go after avoiding injury designations. Hurts plans to wear a brace on his left knee during the NFC Championship Game.
The Eagles ruled defensive tackle Byron Young out with a hamstring injury and they will not activate wide receiver Britain Covey (neck) from injured reserve.
