Breaking down the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl matchup, by the numbers

New York Times

07-02-2025

Fancy seeing you here, indeed.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles meet on the Super Bowl stage again Sunday, two years after the Chiefs won the first of their back-to-back rings against the Eagles in 2023. Both teams have franchise and league records on the line.
Here's what to know — culture, coaches, quarterbacks and more — about this year's Super Bowl.
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The Chiefs were always a favorite to be back in the Super Bowl, but the path to their fifth appearance in six years included a ton of close calls. During their 9-0 start to the season, they won by a touchdown or less seven times. After losing to the Bills in Week 11, they scooted by the Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Rams by a combined seven points.
Kansas City has won an NFL record 17 consecutive one-score games, including the 32-29 win over the Bills in the AFC Championship Game to reach this point.
Unlike two years ago, when Kansas City led the NFL in points and yards per game, the Chiefs' offense was mortal — averaging 22.6 points per game (15th in the NFL). The Chiefs went 15-2 without ever fully having every dancer in step. If they come to cohesion, there might be no stopping the three-peat.
After going one-and-done in the playoffs last year, pressure mounted on the Eagles entering 2024. A 2-2 start didn't help. But the Eagles went on a 10-game tear after their bye week, finishing 14-3 and winning the NFC East. Philadelphia's resurgence after the first quarter of the season coincided with — surprise surprise — Saquon Barkley's rise. The running back, who came over from the New York Giants in the offseason, rushed for a league-leading 2,005 yards in the regular season.
He put up 176 rushing yards in a revenge game against the Giants on Oct. 20. From then until now, he has eclipsed the 100-yard mark in 12 of 14 games. In Week 12 against the Rams, Barkley set both personal and franchise highs with 255 rushing yards and 302 yards from scrimmage, while both of his rushing touchdowns went for at least 70 yards.
With a fast offense and stout defense, the Eagles are peaking at the right time — scoring 55 points in the NFC Championship Game against the Washington Commanders.
Mahomes and Jalen Hurts hardly need an introduction, having both been here before.
If Mahomes, 29, secures his fourth Super Bowl victory on Sunday, he'll tie Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the second-most such wins by a QB. Tom Brady leads with seven, but Mahomes would be pacing ahead of him.
(Brady is also the only QB to have beaten Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Oh, and he'll be on the call Sunday for Fox.)
Mahomes completed a career-high 67.5 percent of passes for 3,928 yards and 26 TDs against 11 interceptions this regular season. He added 307 rushing yards and two rushing TDs.
Hurts, 26, also completed a career-high percentage of throws this season (68.7) for 2,903 yards and 18 TDs against five interceptions. He added 630 rushing yards and 14 rushing scores.
Hurts delivered a dazzling performance in his Super Bowl debut in 2023, passing for 304 yards and a TD while rushing for 70 yards and three more TDs.
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In this year's NFC Championship Game, Hurts set the record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in the playoffs with nine. His three-TD performance that day marked the third time a QB ran for three TDs in a playoff game, and the Eagles quarterback has done it twice.
Kansas City hired Andy Reid as its head coach in 2013. He spent the first 14 years of his head-coaching career with the Eagles, producing a 130-93 overall record, but was fired after a 4-12 record in 2012, setting him up to take the Chiefs job the following season.
On Sunday, he will coach in his sixth Super Bowl. He is already one of the 13 NFL head coaches with multiple rings, but he can join Bill Belichick (six) and Chuck Noll (four) as the only coaches in league history with more than three rings.
Reid, 66, was the oldest head coach in the NFL before the Las Vegas Raiders hired 73-year-old Pete Carroll in January. But this doesn't sound like it's a finale. Team owner Clark Hunt said Monday that Reid will be back next season.
Nick Sirianni, 43, is in his fourth season leading the Eagles and has made the playoffs every year. After going 9-8 in his first season in 2021, Philadelphia won 14 games in his second year, reaching the Super Bowl.
Sirianni joined Hurts in Philadelphia one year after the QB was drafted. Together, they are the first head coach and quarterback duo in Eagles history to reach two Super Bowls.
For Philadelphia, it's easy. Barkley is a prime reason why the Eagles led the NFL in rushing attempts (621) and finished second in yards. The RB finished the regular season with a career-high 345 carries, averaging a little more than 125 yards per game.
For Kansas City, first-round rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy proved dependable this season to Mahomes after Kansas City lost Rashee Rice to a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. Worthy led the team with 85 receiving yards and a TD in the AFC Championship Game victory over the Buffalo Bills. For the season, he led Kansas City wide receivers with 59 catches, 638 yards and six touchdowns.
The last Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Eagles was a back-and-forth affair.
The Eagles held a 27-21 lead entering the fourth quarter before the Chiefs scored back-to-back touchdowns to take a 35-27 edge with 9:22 left to play. Hurts and the Eagles responded with another scoring drive to take the lead with 5:15 left, but Mahomes had the last word, marching his team downfield for a 27-yard Harrison Butker field goal with eight seconds left for the 38-35 victory.
What's different in 2025? Let's start with the Kelces.
Super Bowl LVII pitted brothers Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce against one another. Jason, the longtime Eagles center, retired last offseason and Cam Jurgens was tabbed as his successor.
Jason's absence (and Taylor Swift's presence) is a notable difference between then and now, though having only one son playing in the big game might ease the decision-making of Mama Kelce. As for the rest of the family … Kylie Kelce, Jason's wife, said on her podcast, 'Not Gonna Lie,' that she cheers for her brother-in-law's success but was raised to 'bleed green.' It's a sentiment Jason shares, saying on his 'New Heights' podcast: 'I'm rooting for Philadelphia and I'm rooting for Travis Kelce.'
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Travis Kelce had 81 receiving yards and a score in the Chiefs' narrow victory in 2023. The rest of Mahomes' receiving corps looks different; Worthy and DeAndre Hopkins — acquired via trade midseason — rank second and third after Kelce in receptions and yards.
Kansas City's defense contains several mainstays from the last two Super Bowl teams, including All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have loaded up through the NFL Draft to get back to the Super Bowl. Notable additions from the 2022 team include defensive tackle Jalen Carter, linebacker Nolan Smith and defensive backs Quinyon Mitchell, Kelee Ringo and Cooper DeJean. The team also added linebacker Zack Baun, a first-team All-Pro who recorded 151 tackles.
But the most explosive addition has been Barkley. In three playoff games, Barkley tallied 442 rushing yards and five scores. He is 30 yards away from breaking Terrell Davis' record for most rushing yards in the regular season and postseason combined.
The Chiefs have the slim edge in all head-to-head matchups against the Eagles, leading 6-5 in the series. Their last Super Bowl matchup was the first time the two met in the postseason.
The Chiefs are already a dynasty, but they're out to redefine what that means in the NFL.
Another ring would make the Chiefs the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls. They're already the first team to even get to attempt it.
A victory Sunday would also group Kansas City with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers as teams with five Lombardi Trophies, trailing only the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers with six.
Validation, mainly, for Barkley, Sirianni and Hurts.
Barkley has the chance to be the star of a Super Bowl champion, demanding respect as a veteran running back in a market that hasn't been kind in recent years.
But there's plenty of pressure to share. Despite the 48-20 record Sirianni and Hurts have amassed during their four regular seasons together, fans have found their faults.
Sirianni has been criticized for displaying emotion, the inconsistencies of the Eagles offense and some choice calls during games. And Hurts, while applauded for his legs, has been questioned for his passing performances. Hurts threw for nearly 1,000 fewer yards this regular season than last (3,858).
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A Super Bowl victory would make the case they're the greatest coach-QB tandem in franchise history.
It's not a Super Bowl if it's quiet.
American rapper Kendrick Lamar headlines the halftime show and will bring out American R&B singer SZA, who Lamar starts traveling with in April for their 'Grand National Tour.'
Lamar's hit song 'Not Like Us' won five Grammy Awards on Sunday, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Lamar has 22 Grammys total — as many as U2 and Vince Gill.
Who wasn't at the Grammys was Travis Kelce, who is in a relationship with pop sensation Taylor Swift. But Swift's Super Bowl attendance is highly anticipated yet again after she hustled to get across the Pacific Ocean and back to the United States in time for last year's kickoff. Swift flew from her 'The Eras Tour' stop in Tokyo to Las Vegas to catch the Chiefs' 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, watching from a box alongside Jason, Kylie and Donna Kelce as well as Swift's mom and friends Blake Lively, Ice Spice and Ashley Avignone.
Swift and Kelce began dating in 2023 after Kelce said on his 'New Heights' podcast he wished to meet Swift and give her a friendship bracelet with his number on it at her tour stop in Kansas City that summer.
Insert corny ring joke here.
— Eamonn Dalton contributed to this story.
(Top illustration: Perry Knotts, Ric Tapia, Cooper Neill, Terence Lewis / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images; Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic)