Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo, Eagles’ Vic Fangio in 60s demonstrate value of experience in Super Bowl 59

While NFL teams contention to prosecute younger coaches successful hunt of the adjacent Sean McVay, 2 antiaircraft coordinators successful their 60s are providing an important reminder successful Super Bowl 59:

Experience matters. In 2025, acquisition inactive wins.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Vic Fangio, 66, and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo, 65, ran the No. 2 and No. 4 scoring defenses successful the NFL this season, respectively.

Their detail-oriented mindsets are evident successful however their defenses and teams signifier and play. Their approaches person helped make and support the cultures of their organizations.

And connected crippled days, their unit deployment and timely calls person fixed their teams a chiseled vantage successful captious situations.

Spagnuolo’s five-man unit with blitzing information Justin Reid and country Trent McDuffie outschemed Bills violative coordinator Joe Brady, 35, severely connected the AFC Championship’s captious 4th and 5 – erstwhile Josh Allen astir hero-ball’d a solution to Dalton Kincaid anyway.

Fangio’s relentless Eagles defence held a Washington discourtesy that scored 38 points and averaged 6.6 yards per play against the top-seeded Lions to 23 points and 4.5 yards per play successful the NFC Championship Game.

Middle linebacker Zach Baun led the way, with a team-high 12 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Baun was a vocation extracurricular linebacker and peculiar teamer with the Saints until helium signed successful Philly arsenic a escaped cause past spring, and Fangio moved him to off-ball linebacker.

Now Baun is simply a first–team All-Pro and a Defensive Player of the Year finalist.

Talented players thrust immoderate team’s title run.

It surely helps Spagnuolo, for example, that helium has Chris Jones rushing the passer for the Chiefs. Jalen Carter is blossoming into 1 of the astir feared players successful the league for Fangio’s Eagles unit.

The coaches’ interaction connected their teams is undeniable, though, and irreplaceable.

It’s much evident this play successful Philly. The Eagles’ defence collapsed and became arguably the NFL’s worst successful 2023 nether the operation of Sean Desai and Matt Patricia.

It surged instantly backmost into the NFL’s No. 1 wide defence nether Fangio, with the assistance of Howie Roseman’s selections of corners Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.

Not that Spagnuolo is overlooked successful K.C. But helium is inactive underappreciated.

As large arsenic Patrick Mahomes is astatine quarterback, Spagnuolo is portion of the three-legged stool holding up the Chiefs’ three-peat pursuit on with caput manager Andy Reid and the astonishing QB.

Reid, by the way, arsenic caput manager and violative play caller, is 66 years aged and chasing his 4th ring.

Not that there’s thing incorrect with an enactment hiring a bright, young caput to tally a squad oregon defence – to question and harness the cutting borderline of the game’s progress.

Eagles caput manager Nick Sirianni, 43, and violative coordinator Kellen Moore, 36, person helped usher their squad present without the aforesaid tenure arsenic the aforementioned vets.

It’s instructive to understand, however, that McVay – who won Super LVI with the Rams astatine property 36 – is the lone young manager to triumph a Super Bowl recently.

Reid has won the past 2 years successful his mid-60s. Prior to McVay, Bruce Arians won with the Buccaneers astatine 68.

Reid won his archetypal with the Chiefs successful his aboriginal 60s. Bill Belichick won ringing No. 6 astatine 66 by holding McVay’s Rams to 3 points to adjacent the 2018 NFL season.

Doug Pederson was 50 erstwhile helium led the Eagles to their lone Super Bowl victory. And earlier that it was Belichick, the Broncos’ Gary Kubiak astatine 54, Belichick, Pete Carroll with the Seahawks astatine 62 and the Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh astatine 50 successful Feb. 2013.

Tom Coughlin was 61 and 65 erstwhile helium took the Giants to the promised land.

An NFL caput manager younger than 50 has not won a Super Bowl since Mike McCarthy astatine 47 successful Feb. 2011. That was a three-year tally of younger coaches lifting the Lombardi Trophy, opening with Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, 36, and New Orleans’ Sean Payton, 46.

Not that young NFL coaches can’t succeed, if not thrive.

Kyle Shanahan has had his 49ers successful the Super Bowl doubly precocious astatine ages 41 and 45. The Bengals’ Zac Taylor astir bushed McVay astatine 38.

It’s worthy remembering, though, arsenic the Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson, 38, and the Jacksonville Jaguars hired Liam Coen, 39, that determination is much to coaching than calling plays.

Even astatine the coordinator level, wherever Fangio’s and Spanguolo’s vaults of cognition and approaches tin buttress their programs and interaction the civilization – not conscionable the scheme.

It’s besides worthy pondering however the levels of acquisition successful this Super Bowl 59 volition dictate the game: Reid vs. Fangio is simply a overmuch fairer combat connected that beforehand than Spagnuolo vs. Moore. Can the young Moore deliberation guardant capable to flooded Spagnuolo’s acquisition successful these large spots?

When Carroll, 73, took the Las Vegas Raiders caput coaching occupation recently, jokes ran rampant astir the AFC West becoming the NFL’s caller status location for caput coaches. But the existent gag is connected the shot minds who bash not admit the worth of acquisition successful this kid’s crippled played successful the pros.

Tom Brady, the Raiders number proprietor who ran the hunt for caput coach, recognized it aft failing to onshore Johnson, the Lions’ violative coordinator who opted to enactment successful part with the Bears.

Once Johnson packed for the Windy City, Brady fell backmost connected what helium knows works: An older, experienced manager with the contented to cognize however to make a culture, make a crippled program and debar the mistakes young coaches haven’t made yet.

Winning games successful the NFL – fto unsocial winning a title – the cognition of however to debar losing, arsenic Belichick says. Often, it takes idiosyncratic who has mislaid earlier to genuinely recognize however to halt it from happening again.