How did the Philadelphia Eagles reach Super Bowl 2025?
© Imago
After the first four weeks of the regular season, few would have predicted that we would see the Philadelphia Eagles winning the NFC title for a second time in three seasons.
Nick Sirianni's crew were just 2-2, and Jalen Hurts had six touchdown passes and seven interceptions at that stage of the season.
Since then, however, this group have looked like the team that came within a whisker of capturing the Super Bowl two seasons ago, suffering just one defeat since Week Four (36-33 against the Washington Commanders).
The Eagles finished the regular season with a record of 14-3, boasting the best defensive unit in the NFL, along with the #1 rusher in Saquon Barkley.
Philly have continued to ride that hot streak into the playoffs, getting past the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round (22-10) before narrowly eliminating the Los Angeles Rams (28-22) and crushing the Washington Commanders (55-23) to claim another NFC crown.
In the playoffs, Hurts has yet to toss an interception, Barkley is averaging close to 150 yards on the ground per game (147.3), and Nolan Smith has four sacks to lead all post-season performers in that department.
Against the upstart Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game, Philly were unstoppable on the ground, with Barkley wracking up 118 yards rushing and three touchdowns, two on his first two touches of the game.
Hurts also ran for three scores and found AJ Brown with a TD throw in a game that was essentially over heading into quarter number four.
How did the Kansas City Chiefs reach Super Bowl 2025?
© Imago
Coming off back-to-back Super Bowl victories, the Kansas City Chiefs knew they would be the team to beat once again in 2024.
During the regular season, though, only two teams got the better of Andy Reid's group, the Buffalo Bills in Week 11 (30-21) and the Denver Broncos in their final game before the playoffs (38-0), one in which star quarterback Patrick Mahomes did not play.
KC began the season 9-0 for the first time since 2013 and later became the first team to win 15 games in the regular season since the 2015 Carolina Panthers.
Kansas City's success was by committee, beginning with Mahomes, who threw for 3,928 yards and 26 touchdowns, with Travis Kelce once again his top target (823 receiving yards).
Steve Spagnuolo's defence was strong, with Nick Bolton registering over 106 tackles and Chris Jones making it to another Pro Bowl on the defensive line.
In the playoffs, Mahomes has just two TD throws but has not tossed a pick, while nine different players have at least one catch for this team.
The Houston Texans gave them a good fight in the Divisional Round, but the KC defensive line won the day, sacking CJ Stroud eight times, three of which came courtesy of George Karlaftis.
We witnessed another epic playoff showdown between the Buffalo Bills and Chiefs for the AFC crown at Arrowhead Stadium in their previous encounter.
It was once again the Chiefs coming out on top, stuffing Josh Allen on a fourth and short in the fourth quarter to turn the tide of that game in their favour and send them to the Super Bowl for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
Joel Lefevre
