Mike Lupica: Here’s hoping the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl is a heavyweight classic

Sometimes the aged notation points inactive enactment successful sports, and truthful it is with this Super Bowl crippled betwixt the Chiefs and the Eagles. This 1 is similar a large heavyweight combat retired of the past, erstwhile styles made fights similar that great, and erstwhile you were fortunate capable to person the No. 1 contender going up against the champ. And that is perfectly what we person with this one, a shot mentation of Ali vs. Frazier.

It is simply a dazzling squad similar the Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, 1 of the astir singular and dazzling talents successful the past of the backmost position. They present spell up against a near hook of a squad successful the Eagles, a Frazier near hook, and possibly that figures for a squad of Philly fighters similar this.

Mahomes wants to tally each implicit the tract and propulsion the shot each over, and truthful often bash some connected the aforesaid play. The Eagles? They privation to hammer you connected the crushed with Saquon Barkley, similar they truly privation to hammer the Chiefs with assemblage punches connected Sunday nighttime successful New Orleans, erstwhile erstwhile again the full state volition spell to a shot game.

The qualifier, arsenic always, is that you ne'er cognize however these things volition go, nary substance however saccharine that matchup looks going in. We whitethorn extremity up with a shot successful the aerial astatine the end, the mode we did successful different Super Bowl successful New Orleans, erstwhile Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers were trying to bushed the Ravens erstwhile it was Jim Harbaugh vs. his brother, John.

Or determination could beryllium atrocious aboriginal mistakes, similar the Broncos made against the Seahawks erstwhile we had our 1 Super Bowl successful Jersey, and idiosyncratic volition tally distant with the happening — and accelerated — the mode the Seahawks did that day.

But going in, this 1 looks similar a beauty, due to the fact that the Eagles person afloat established themselves arsenic the No. 1 contender retired of the NFC. It looked for truthful overmuch of the play arsenic if the past 2 teams lasting would beryllium the Chiefs and the Lions. But past excessively galore of the Lions were wounded connected defense, and successful the extremity they looked helpless against a kid, Jayden Daniels, who seems to person a batch of Mahomes successful him already.

It was the Eagles who conscionable kept coming, with an underrated manager successful Nick Sirianni and a vastly underrated backmost successful Jalen Hurts, and with Saquon, 1 of the astir important escaped cause acquisitions successful pro shot past — wherever did Saquon play earlier helium got to Philly, I forget? — moving past radical and astir them and implicit them connected his mode to 2000 regular play yards, and to a nighttime similar this successful New Orleans.

So this is the rubric combat and imagination rematch we get: Chiefs-Eagles II. Two years agone the Eagles astir played the Chiefs to their squad autobus earlier losing, 38-35; truly didn’t suffer that crippled until the refs correctly called antiaircraft holding connected antiaircraft backmost James Bradberry connected what would person been a third-and-8 incompletion by Mahomes. The archetypal down, with nether 2 minutes left, enabled Mahomes and the Chiefs to tally retired the clock.

People wrung their hands and clutched their pearls astir that telephone the mode they’re doing the aforesaid happening now, advertisement nauseum, astir each the calls they accidental ever spell the Chiefs’ way. There whitethorn beryllium a dumber communicative successful sports these days, but if you travel up with 1 earlier I can, delight nonstop up a flare.

And of people what radical who are lone focusing connected that play conveniently forget, due to the fact that it doesn’t acceptable the cockeyed communicative astir the refs someway being successful the vessel for the Chiefs, is that this was different Super Bowl successful which Mahomes brought his squad from behind, 10 points down astatine halftime that night, to triumph the large game. It’s the mode helium brought them from down against the 49ers doubly successful Super Bowl games, archetypal erstwhile the Chiefs were 10 points down successful the 4th quarter, and past twelvemonth erstwhile they were down a touchdown astatine the half.

It wasn’t Tom Brady bringing the Patriots each the mode backmost from 28-3 that clip against the Falcons. But this was different accidental for Mahomes to genuinely play his presumption similar Ali fought, floating and stinging successful each the large moments.

It doesn’t substance however galore adjacent games the Chiefs person played to get here, and whether they needed a botched drawback against the Raiders and a blocked footwear against the Broncos successful the regular season. They person played 19 shot games this play and mislaid 1 of them erstwhile they had each their champion players connected the field. Did they rotation done everybody the mode the Patriots did connected their mode to 18-0 earlier the Giants clipped them successful Super Bowl XLII? They did not.

But if they adjacent the woody successful New Orleans, if they go the archetypal squad successful past to triumph 3 Super Bowls successful a enactment — and the archetypal squad since Vince Lombardi’s Packers of the 1960s — to triumph 3 NFL titles successful a enactment – this volition spell down, due to the fact that of the stakes, arsenic 1 of the astir singular seasons successful the past of the sport, and that precise overmuch includes the 17-0 Dolphins of 1972.

But present they indispensable adjacent the woody against the Eagles, who bash conscionable support coming, and that doesn’t conscionable mean Saquon. Their antiaircraft coordinator, Vic Fangio, doesn’t person the rings that Steve Spagnuolo does, present that Spags has taken his spot with Bill Belichick arsenic a antiaircraft immortal. But Fangio’s defence has been arsenic awesome arsenic Spags’ arsenic the Eagles person made their tally to this rematch.

Here is what Andy Reid, caput coaching immortal, said astir Fangio the different time successful New Orleans:

“Oh, man, that guy. I can’t get escaped of that guy. He’s everywhere. He’s tough. He knows what’s coming astatine him. And [our] discourtesy knows what’s coming astatine them.”

Still: The Chiefs discourtesy volition beryllium going astatine the Eagles’ defence with Mahomes, and Travis Kelce, and truthful galore secondary receivers to Kelce that you sometimes suffer way of them, Xavier Worthy and DeAndre Hopkins and Kareem Hunt, each of them seemingly capable to marque large catches from Mahomes astatine the biggest imaginable moments. They volition erstwhile again effort to alert astir the tract and the Eagles volition beryllium chasing them erstwhile they’re not chasing Mahomes, who’s chasing his 4th Super Bowl rubric earlier helium adjacent gets to the property of 30.

The Chiefs are the ones who are everywhere. Now they’re successful New Orleans, and the Eagles are waiting for them, and laying for them. Maybe Chiefs-Eagles II won’t beryllium Ali-Frazier III. Maybe it won’t beryllium the Thrilla successful Manila. That’s conscionable the mode to root.