As the NFL 2022-23 season comes to a close, the final game with the Kansas City Chiefs, who will face the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, takes place on February 12. Every year fans anticipate Super Bowl action. This year’s game will not fail to be entertaining as it’s expected to be one of the closest matchups in recent Super Bowl history. 

Chiefs Path to the Super Bowl

      The Chiefs cemented their place in history in 2020 as Super Bowl winners. The match against the 49ers was a comeback victory, but they lost the following year to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. The Chiefs have been very consistently making it to the big game in the recent 3 years under leadership of Patrick Mahomes. Although the Chiefs lost their best wide receiver in Tyreek Hill last offseason, the slack has been picked up by Travice Kelsey and the recent experience in the Super Bowl is going to help the Chiefs greatly.

      The Chiefs played the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC conference championship in order to secure a spot in the Super Bowl. This was expected to be a good hard game for both teams considering the success the Bengals have had in the recent years with Joe Burrow joining the roster. This was a very controversial game with a 3rd down re-do and many cases of resetting the game clock by the refs. The Chiefs held the lead against Cincinnati for the entire game until they tied it up 20-20 at the end of the 4th to go into overtime. The Chiefs then won off of a field goal after they were moved up 15 yards for a late hit on Mahomes.

Eagles path to the Super Bowl

The Eagles hosted the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC conference championship. The Eagles and 49ers were obviously the top two powers in the NFC, however the championship game didn’t seem like much of a challenge for the Eagles, with the final score coming to 31-7. Philadelphia made it to the big game only one other time in the past 10 years, that being 2017 when the Eagles won their redemption game against Tom Brady and the Patriots. The young quarterback Jalen Hurts has been able to lead his team through the regular season and the playoffs. Now we’ll have to see how Hurts, who is appearing in the Super Bowl for the first time, will face up against Mahomes who will be appearing in his third Super Bowl. Hurts and the Eagles have had a fairly easy path in the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl. Will this affect their mindset going into the game?

Past Eagles and Chiefs match-ups

In the past, the Eagles and Chiefs have matched up nine times: So far the Chiefs have gotten the better of the Eagles five out of nine times. The Chiefs hope to keep their winning record against the Eagles to come out victorious, while the Eagles want to even out the record to lift the trophy on Sunday. Most recently when Kansas met Philadelphia in 2021, Kansas found victory with the game finishing at a scoreline of 42-30 in favor of Kansas. 

Prediction of Super Bowl LVII

We predict that this will be one of the closest and most intense Super Bowl games in recent years. The Eagles have been such a defensively dominant team this season that they will pose many problems for Mahomes and his Chiefs. Despite this, we still think Mahomes will be able to overcome the blistering defense as he’s seen more trials and tribulations in his time playing. Jalen Hurts has proven to be a rising star, but we think his lack of experience will be the reason for his shortcomings and inability to defeat the experienced Chiefs team this year. Both teams are so on par with each other considering both have unique and effective offensive and defensive weapons.This year we expect a high octane game full of defensive highlights, quarterback competition, and offensive creativity in this matchup. I think the Chiefs will clasp victory with an overtime field goal conversion. Our prediction is a 30-27 or 27-24 in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Image from NBC Sports

Written by Jayden Renteria and Louie Bain