The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are just days away from meeting in Super Bowl LVII.
Considering how much they have in common, it seems only right that these two clubs should meet on the championship stage.
Both teams finished the regular season with a 14-3 record. Each clinched the No. 1 seed in their respective conference. When you add up their regular-season and playoff point totals, both teams have scored exactly 546 points. Both have a Kelce brother (and both brothers have a Super Bowl ring), and both clubs have a healthy appreciation for Andy Reid.
But most of all, these Super Bowl-bound teams have high scoring in common. The Chiefs averaged a league-high 29.2 points per game in the regular season, and the Eagles weren’t far behind – their offence put up an average of 28.1 points per game, good for third in the league.
Where these elite offences differ is how they score. Patrick Mahomes hasn’t missed a beat this season without Tyreek Hill, leading the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns en route to the fourth-best season all-time by a QB. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, it’s the run game that has taken centre stage thanks to dual-threat QB Jalen Hurts and his team-leading 13 rushing touchdowns. The Eagles landed fifth in average rushing yards this season and first in rushing scores.
Here’s a closer look at some of the most notable numbers, particularly on offence, ahead of this Chiefs-Eagles clash.
0: Through two playoff games, both the Chiefs and Eagles have been playing near-flawless football. Neither club has thrown an interception this post-season, and although the Chiefs turned it over once, the Eagles haven’t given up any through 120 minutes of football.
2-2: This is the Chiefs’ all-time Super Bowl record, which includes a 1-1 record in the Patrick Mahomes era. Kansas City made its first Super Bowl appearance in, well, the first Super Bowl ever held. The Chiefs lost to the Green Bay Packers, and four years later won the franchise’s first championship (1970). Five decades later, Mahomes took the team to back-to-back Super Bowls, winning in 2019 and losing one year later. The Eagles won their first-ever Super Bowl in the 2017 season, and are 1-2 all-time.
2: Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is in his second year with the team. His predecessor, Doug Pederson, also took Philadelphia to the Super Bowl in his sophomore season with the club. And won.
3: Sunday brings Mahomes’ third Super Bowl appearance in the last four years. At 27 years and 148 days old, this makes him the youngest QB in league history to make it to three Super Bowls.
4: Mahomes’ 5,250 regular-season passing yards total in 2022 was not only a new personal best for the 27-year-old, it was also the fourth-best single-season passing total ever. Only Peyton Manning (5,477 yards in 2013), Drew Brees (5,476 in 2011) and Tom Brady (5,316 in 2021) have put up more passing yards in a season.
5: The Chiefs have tallied five passing touchdowns through two playoff games this post-season, while Philadelphia has thrown two.
5: Before this season, no team had four players rush for five or more touchdowns in a single season. The 2022 Eagles became the first (Jalen Hurts, Miles Sanders, Kenneth Gainwell, Boston Scott).
7: The Eagles’ run game has clearly been dominant all season, and that’s continued in the playoffs. Of their nine playoff touchdowns this winter, seven came from the run game. Kansas City has yet to punch it in on the ground this post-season.
7: The Eagles have been dominant defensively in the playoffs. Philly’s allowed just seven points in each of its two playoff games. The Chiefs have allowed 20 in both of theirs.
8: Both teams’ defensive lines have come up big in the post-season. Philadelphia has posted eight sacks through two games and the Chiefs, seven.
10: Should the Chiefs win on Sunday, they’ll become the 10th franchise to have won at least three Super Bowls. They would join the Patriots (6), Steelers (6), 49ers (5), Cowboys (5), Packers (4), Giants (4), Broncos (3), Raiders (3) and Washington (3).
12: Mahomes’ favourite target? Easy – it’s Travis Kelce. The league’s top tight end set a new personal best in touchdowns this season, with 12. He led the Chiefs in receiving yards (1,338) and TDs and ranked second league-wide in receiving TDs. The Eagles, of course, have no shortage of receiving weapons – the team’s leading receiver, A.J. Brown, finished fourth in the NFL in receiving yards (1,496) and is one of two Eagles WRs to rank in the top 10 (DeVonta Smith sits ninth, with 1,196).
13: The Mahomes-Kelce combination has been historic. The pair have connected for 13 playoff touchdowns, which is more than the legendary Joe Montana-Jerry Rice (12) and just two behind the all-time best post-season duo of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski (15).
13: The Eagles’ run game is one of the league’s most dangerous, and Hurts is a major reason. His team-leading 13 rushing touchdowns through 15 regular-season games saw him finish second league-wide in the category, tied with Derrick Henry and Austin Ekeler. Only Detroit’s Jamaal Williams scored more rushing TDs (17) this year.
14: Chiefs head coach Reid, now in his 10th season with the Chiefs, spent 14 years at the helm of the Eagles. He took Philadelphia to the Super Bowl once, losing 24-21 to the Patriots in 2004, with his lone Super Bowl win coming with the 2019 Chiefs. Interestingly, Reid actually fired Sirianni in Kansas City when the former stepped into the head coaching position in 2013. (Sirianni was an assistant with K.C. at the time.)
15: Add his 13 regular-season rushing scores to his playoff total, and Hurts has 15 rushing TDs this season – the most by a QB in a single season, all-time.
15: As consistent and dominant as the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce is in the regular season, he always finds another gear come playoffs. He’s scored three times through two games this post-season, bringing his career playoff total to 15 … and counting.
16: Including his pair of playoff wins last month, Hurts is 16-1 as a starter this season. (The Eagles lost both late-season games while he was sidelined with injury.)
32: The Eagles finished the regular season with a league-best 32 rushing touchdowns, which is eight more than the second-place team (Cowboys, 24). Hurts accounted for more than one-third of Philadelphia’s rushing TDs (13), with lead running back Sanders close behind (11). The Chiefs finished the regular season with 18 rushing TDs, seventh-most in the league.
34.5: Philly made quick work of both playoff matchups this year, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 69-14 and averaging 34.5 points a game. The Chiefs’ margin of victory has been smaller – a combined 50-40 – but they haven’t been slowed much by Mahomes’ ankle, averaging 25 points.
41: The Chiefs make no great mystery of their top priority on offence – they’re going to go through the air, early and often. K.C. finished the 2022 season with the most passing TDs, with 41. The Eagles’ 25 passing TDs this season ranked them 14th.
51: When Mahomes, 27, and Hurts, 24, meet on Sunday, it’ll mark the youngest quarterback matchup in history at a combined age of 51 years and 337 days old.
70: The Eagles’ defensive line has wreaked havoc on opposing offences all season, to the tune of 70 sacks. That’s good for the league lead, and it’s not particularly close – the Chiefs finished second in sacks, with 55. Haason Reddick has been Philly’s greatest wrecking ball this season, tying Cleveland’s Myles Garrett for the second-most sacks, with 16. Right behind him is Kansas City’s sack leader, Chris Jones, with 15.5.
72: Mahomes and Hurts have met just once on the NFL stage, and there were some serious fireworks. In total, 72 points were scored in their Week 4 matchup in 2021, with the quarterbacks putting up a combined 665 yards and seven touchdowns through the air. Mahomes’ Chiefs came out on top, 42-30.
147.6: The Eagles averaged 147.6 rushing yards per game in the regular season, which ranked them fifth. Kansas City, meanwhile, averaged 115.9 rushing yards per game – good for 20th.
208: Philly’s run game has found another gear this post-season, averaging 208 rushing yards through two games, compared to Kansas City’s 93.
272: Rather than running, the Chiefs’ offence has been doing what it does best this post-season, averaging 272 passing yards a game through two games.
308.8: In addition to leading the way in regular-season passing TDs this season, Patrick Mahomes & Co. also led the NFL in passing yards, averaging 308.8 per game. The Eagles averaged 256.7 yard per game through the air, good for ninth in the league.
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