The greatest spectacle in sports takes place in New Orleans this Sunday. The Chiefs and Eagles square off in Super Bowl 59 from Caesars Superdome. Kansas City has already made NFL history after becoming the first team to make three consecutive Super Bowl appearances–after winning the previous two. Now K.C. is trying to become the only three-peat champion in the Super Bowl era. The team that stands in their way is the same one that helped start Kansas City’s quest for a third straight title. The Eagles are eying revenge against Patrick Mahomes for a Super Bowl 57 loss two years ago in Glendale, Arizona.
There is one storyline that will be the key to the Chiefs pulling off the three-peat. They need to build a lead early and history has proven one thing for sure. Starting fast has not been a strong suit for the Chiefs in recent Super Bowls.
In the Chiefs’ previous four Super Bowls, K.C. was down 10 to the 49ers going into the fourth quarter, before storming back to win. They were down 21-6 at the half to Tampa Bay when they lost, trailed by 10 against the Eagles at halftime in the first matchup, and were down a touchdown at halftime last year against San Francisco. If the Chiefs were able to win three of those four games when coming from behind, why is this Super Bowl different? One player…Saquon Barkley. Philly has a not-so-secret weapon this time around in Barkley, the Offensive Player of the Year, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in nine of his last 10 games.
In the AFC Championship game, Buffalo strayed from their run scheme in the second half against the Chiefs and it probably cost them a trip to the Super Bowl. Philadelphia will not do that. The Eagles are going to rely on Barkley throughout the game, but if they build a lead and take that late into the third quarter or early fourth quarter, you can believe Barkley will get a heavy load and the Chiefs will have a difficult time slowing him down.
Patrick Mahomes needs to build a lead and force Philly to throw late to play catch-up. Mahomes needs to take advantage of an Eagles secondary that can be exploited, but he’ll need time. The second part of this equation is watching left tackle Joe Thuney. He’ll be protecting Patrick and after two young players struggled and veteran D.J. Humphries suffered an injury, Thuney moved from inside guard to the tackle position. In his first three games at left tackle, he didn’t allow a sack and that included going up against former Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt. Mahomes was sacked a career-high 36 times this year, but only once in his final three regular season games. After getting criticized for the line allowing three sacks and eight hits in the playoff win over Houston, Thuney didn’t allow anyone on the Bills to touch Mahomes in his matchups. He will play another important role as he prepares for his fifth Super Bowl. Thuney will join Brady and former defensive lineman Charles Hayley as the only players in NFL history to have five Super Bowl rings if he and the offensive line give Mahomes the time he needs.