I won’t lie, I was honestly pulling for the Commanders and the Bills to both come up victorious on Championship Sunday yesterday. I get jazzed by the possibility of history being made, and the fact that the Bills are one of the few NFL franchises without a Super Bowl title made them am emotional choice for me. As for Washington, well yes, they technically have won a couple of them, most recently in 1992 when they convincingly sent that very same Buffalo franchise down to their fourth consecutive Super Bowl loss (still a record for post-season futility). But they were then known by a nickname that now it’s politically incorrect to even reference, so let’s just call them the Crimson Epidermises for these purposes. So technically, the Commanders don’t have any rings of their own, either.
But a couple of seasoned veterans with ties to Philadelphia had other plans. The one that’s in place now who at times almost single-handedly propelled what at times was a lackluster and injury-riddled Eagles offense rose to the occasion yet again yesterday, and this time he actually had some real help. As the homestanding EJ Smith chortled to his PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER readers yesterday:
It was early in the fourth quarter when a few rogue flecks of green confetti started catching the light up near the rafters of Lincoln Financial Field. Premature perhaps, but understandable. For a second time in three seasons, the party started early in a lopsided NFC championship game as the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders, 55-23, to earn their place in Super Bowl LIX. It was the type of win that allowed for Nick Sirianni to use a timeout to give Jalen Hurts a curtain call, a few plays before Saquon Barkley and Will Shipley celebrated the rookie running back’s touchdown to push the Eagles into a franchise-record scoring total.
Barkley didn’t waste time picking up where he left off. The Eagles running back broke off a 60-yard touchdown run on the offense’s first play of the game, getting past a couple Commanders defensive backs to break into the open field for the early lead. After an apparent check at the line of scrimmage from Hurts, Barkley benefited from the left side of the Eagles offensive line creating a wedge despite Washington loading up the line of scrimmage before the snap and got key blocks from A.J. Brown and Dallas Goedert on the perimeter as well. It was Barkley’s third long touchdown of the postseason(.)
After two weeks in which the Eagles offense masked a disjointed passing game with solid defense and Barkley’s explosive runs, Hurts & Co. delivered in key moments with regularity as the Eagles built a decisive lead.
Hurts went 12 for 18 for 141 yards and one touchdown in the first half, with several timely completions on third down and in the red zone. He found wide receiver A.J. Brown for a 30-yard completion on fourth-and-5 with a well-placed deep ball down the sideline and hit Brown again one series later for a touchdown when facing third-and-goal from the 4.
Meanwhile, the guy that used to coach that franchise, Dr. Rosen’s erstwhile dental patient Andy Reid, oversaw a resillient Kansas City Chiefs team that yet again did just enough to win a post-season game and yet again deny the Bills a chance for Super Bowl redemption. CBS SPORTS’ Dennis Dodd told the story in what for Bills Mafia was undoubetedly excruciatingly matter-of-fact terms:
Now we know why it’s taken this long. In an unexplored part of the American football universe we’re finding out in real time why it has been almost impossible to win three championships in a row. Almost everything has to go right. That’s for starters. The Kansas City Chiefs took that assertion to the brink once again Sunday night in the AFC Championship.
In beating Buffalo 32-29, the Chiefs won for the 12th time this season in a one-possession game without losing. The streak now is at 17 such games going back to last season. That’s what they do. That’s who they are. Now they’re staring at history two weeks from now in New Orleans. A three-peat hasn’t happened in college football in the wire service era (since 1936). It hasn’t happened in the NFL in the Super Bowl era (since 1966). But as the world knows by now a franchise born in Texas, long suffering here in the Midwest and now an ongoing dynasty is this close to Star Trekking pro football.
And with Bill Belichick safely enschonched in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his Gen A squeeze in tow for the time being, Reid is on the verge of being in the driver’s seat to become unquestionably the greatest coach in NFL history. Yesterday’s victory, which was his 17th overall in 2024 after leading the Chiefs to their best-ever regular season (where a regular season loss to Buffalo was the only blemish) , was his 301st in his career, putting him just 46 behind clubhouse leader Don Shula. At this rate, he conceivably could be top dog by the end of the 2027 season. And thanks to the foresight of current Raiders ownership, he’s now no longer the oldest coach in the league.
Considering more than 40 per cent of that total was achieved in his tenure as Eagles coach, the concept of Reid winning an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl would be especially titillating–if it wasn’t for the fact that that a mere two years ago that streak began with a thrilling 35-32 cliffhanger victory in Supe LVII over the Eagles. As you might recall, the Chiefs overcame a 10-point fourth quarter deficit with much the same mix that they utilized in yesterday’s win–meticulous ball control and clock management, occasionally outstanding plays from quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the cajones to go for and succeed on crucial fourth downs, eventually leading to a game-winning Harrison Butker field goal that may or may not have had divine intervention behind it.
So with a heavy sigh I guess we’re gonna have to endure a run-it-back Super Bowl with some familiar players (save for the wild card of Barkley). But considering what’s at stake for the Chiefs and Reid and what they were able to deliver in 2023 that might not be such a bad thing.
Courage…