Another year and another Super Bowl, and yet the same familiar faces are still going to plague our screens. Patrick Mahomes and his Kansas City Chiefs are back for a third year in a row. Standing in front of the Chiefs is a formidable foe, the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles are looking to avenge their loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. Philadelphia has leveled up with the addition of running back Saquon Barkley, who rushed for over 2,005 yards this season. The playoffs have not slowed Barkley down, who continued to rush for another 477 total yards.

The Eagles are real, and the roster they have constructed has played very good football all season. They have won 14 of their last 15 games, including playoffs, and their road to the Super Bowl wasn’t an easy one. But they dominated the competition that stood in front of them.

In the National Football Conference championship, the Eagles beat the Washington Commanders, with a final score of 55-23. Philadelphia’s offensive line was on full display during the game, allowing Barkley to rush for 118 yards and score three touchdowns.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts had 246 passing yards, completing 20 of his 28 passes and throwing one touchdown. The game came easy for Hurts, whose struggles during the first two games had fans wary of what was to come.

Hurts’ performance was one that had to have made fans more confident, and it is what they have come to expect from him. This is what fans are going to expect from him when Super Bowl Sunday comes around on Feb. 9.

The Eagles defense has been stellar all season, and the key to much of their defensive output is their ability to force fumbles. During the NFC championship game, they had four forced fumbles, adding to their 29 total for the season.

Their defense has been cemented in defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who has been the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the Philadelphia defense. Carter has been hard to contain for any team this season, with 20 quarterback pressures in the postseason alone, along with nine postseason tackles. The Chiefs’ offensive line is going to have their hands full trying to manage him.

Speaking of having their hands full, Mahomes has a knack for winning when it matters the most. All season, the Chiefs have not been 100% the best team on the field, but they have found ways to win, going 15-2 this season and an undefeated 8-0 at home.

During the matchup in the American Football Conference (AFC) championship game against the Buffalo Bills, Mahomes threw for 245 yards and completed 18 of his 26 passes. It’s a credit to how well this Kansas City team is built. Mahomes has the talent, but he is also able to make everyone that plays around him better.

The Chiefs’ ability to tweak their game plans is what makes it so difficult to play against them. Head Coach Andy Reid and his coordinators are able to shift against anything and everything that the other teams can throw at them.

That showed in how Reid’s game plan changed against the imposing Bills defense. Instead of relying on their receivers, it changed to more rushing plays. Mahomes set a new career high, rushing 11 times for 43 yards. He also set his career record in rushing touchdowns with two.

We should not forget about the Chiefs’ receivers. Xavier Worthy still had 85 receiving yards and a touchdown. JuJu Smith-Schuster also caught for another 60 yards.

Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs defensive coordinator, deserves a large share of the credit and will be one of the keys to this Super Bowl chase. While not being very impressive overall stat-wise, they still averaged the fourth fewest points allowed in the NFL.

The reason for this is the consistency Spagnuolo has been able to provide. Spagnuolo has many tricks up his sleeve. He works with incredible talent in defensive linemen Chris Jones and George Karlaftis. Their blitz rate and quarterback pressures were on full display during the late plays in the AFC championship.

This year was supposed to be the year that the Chiefs were vulnerable to the big opponents in their division, as well as other teams, including the Detroit Lions and even Josh Allen and his Bills. But somehow, the Chiefs just kept on winning when it mattered the most.

The question still stands: Have the Eagles done enough in the last two years to finally do what only two teams have done before them in the Mahomes era and defeat the Chiefs? It’s all going to come down to the performance of Barkley and if he can break through the vulnerable Chiefs line.

The Eagles have to continue to play the brand of football that has gotten them this far already. Focus on defense first and try to stop the Chiefs and limit Mahomes the best they can. It’s something many have tried, and few have succeeded. But the Eagles can make it difficult by utilizing the number one defense in the NFL.

If the Chiefs can consistently speed up the Eagles offense and blitz Hurts, who struggled with it in the past, it could lead to mistakes that will allow Mahomes more time to operate with the ball.

We are in for a very exciting game on Feb. 9. Both of these teams are powerhouses with no shortage of talent and we might witness history if the Chiefs win three in a row. However, the Eagles are not going to make it easy.