A rematch and the next Super Bowl?: This NFL showdown has the United States excited

A rematch and the next Super Bowl?
This NFL showdown has the United States excited

Written by Heiko Olddorp
November 19, 2023, 9:22 am

With the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, the best teams of the season face off against each other in Monday night action. It’s a rematch of the last final – and perhaps also a preview of the next one.

Many people have been eagerly waiting for this duel. More than nine months. 280 days to be exact. Monday Night Football. Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles. The hero welcomes the runner-up. A rematch of Super Bowl LVII. There is simply nothing else to do in the NFL right now. It’s the “most anticipated Super Bowl ever,” according to CBS. The online portal “The Athletic” writes about “Super Bowl 57 ½” and “sports.yahoo.com” calls the game simply “the best ever”. For only the second time, Monday’s prestigious match is the stage for a new version of the latest final.

The reunion after the epic showdown on February 12 in Glendale is a look in the rearview mirror and a preview of a potential final duel on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas. Because they are both outstanding teams so far this season. Philadelphia leads the NFL with an 8-1 record, while Kansas City leads the AFC at 7-2. “Two teams always find a way to win. Monday Night Football, the world is watching, it’s going to be great,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes says. “I’m glad we’re playing at home.”

Can Philadelphia “slay the dragon”?

Although both teams made some roster changes during the offseason, the champions remain intact. There is no favorite, but according to sports.yahoo.com an Eagles win on the road would be more important than a Chiefs win at home. She says Philadelphia is “a talented, well-coached team that can defeat any opponent.” But after a Super Bowl defeat, Philadelphia now has to prove it can “slay the dragon.”

Eagles are flying high against the Chiefs. They are the fourth team to win eight of their first nine games in two straight seasons in the past 30 years. And beware, Philadelphia fans, the other three clubs (Dallas/1995, Denver/96 and Indianapolis/06) all became champions in their second year. “You are what your record says you are. That’s why we’re in a good position,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni asserts.

Ailing Hurts trains without a knee brace

He was happy to note Thursday that Jalen Hurts was able to practice without a knee brace. The quarterback again complained of pain in his left knee after a 28:23 win over the Dallas Cowboys on November 5th. He’s been having this problem for weeks. In this regard, Hurts said, it was ideal for the Eagles not to have any games last weekend. The Chiefs know that success on Monday depends above all on not allowing Hurts, who loves to run, to develop. “If we can limit his play, no matter what, then we’re doing something right,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said.

Of course, both teams’ press conferences over the past few days focused a lot on the Super Bowl, though the questions afterward sparked very different memories for the Eagles than they did for the Chiefs. And of course, in preparation for the new edition, the Eagles had to watch the 35:38 recording of the defeat on February 12 again to know what to definitely avoid this time around. For example, the scene in the 21st minute when Jalen Hurts tried to avoid Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton, but stumbled and lost the ball, so Bolton easily equalized to make it 14:14. Hurts otherwise played a great final.

Excellence is painful with one blunder too many

He was involved in 26 of the Eagles’ 35 points, including bringing the football into the end zone three times for touchdowns and a 70-yard gain, more than any quarterback has done in a Super Bowl. But that fumble and the resulting seven points for the Chiefs was too much of a blunder in such a close game.

Everyone carries different wounds from the game, Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson says. But the question is how to respond to it. Defensive end Brandon Graham, for example, says frankly: “There’s a lot of us who are still really hurting from the loss.” However, he doesn’t want to spend too much time thinking about the past, preferring instead to focus on the present – and the near future.

See you again in 84 days?

“If we do what we have to do, the pain will be over soon. And then we’ll have the championship trophy in our hands,” Graham said. There are still 84 days until the next Super Bowl. Right now, Kansas City vs. Philadelphia would not only be a conceivable playoff game, it would undoubtedly be the best thing that could happen to the league.

But back to the current duel. Jason Kelce doesn’t believe in talk of “Super Bowl revenge.” Because nothing that happens Monday “is going to undo anything from the end,” the 36-year-old Eagles center adds. The fact that he and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce had a brotherly duel for the first time in the Super Bowl was one of the big stories surrounding the finale. Even Mother Donna has made a number of TV appearances.

But this time, the brothers’ reunion takes a bit of a back seat. Instead, it’s more about Taylor Swift. As known, the singer has been Travis Kelce’s girlfriend since September. Whether Swift will be at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday is one of the big questions leading up to the game. Because: The 33-year-old is an Eagles fan and grew up about 100 kilometers west of Philadelphia.

But since she’s now in a relationship with the opponent’s most important pro alongside Patrick Mahomes, a Philadelphia radio station has come to conclusions — at least temporarily. Since Friday at 5 p.m., Q102 has stopped playing Taylor Swift songs. “There’s only one Kelce Swift couple in our city that we care about,” the station said. This refers to Jason Kelce and running back D’Andre Swift. Q102 announced that Swift’s boycott would continue until Tuesday.