Cote: Chiefs & Eagles: Teams we love to hate & great game -- but not Super Bowl we wanted | Opinion
Gamblers will be rooting for their bet, for their money. Most of the rest of us might have a problem choosing a side to cheer for in this Super Bowl. If you are not from Kansas City or Philadelphia and a fan by birth, siding with the Chiefs or Eagles is like having to root for Hannibal Lecter or Voldemort.
Two villains were cast for the NFL’s championship game Feb. 9 in New Orleans. There is no lovable underdog here. No feel-good story. The choice is yours America: Decide which team you hate the least.
We all hate the Chiefs because jealousy is a big part of human nature, we loathe sports dynasties unless the charmed franchise is ours, and Kansas City will be playing in its fifth Super Bowl in the past six years, which is ridiculous. Football fans thought this nonsense ended when Tom Brady finally retired and Bill Belichick lost his mojo.
Then coach Andy Reid, who always looks like he would rather be eating a piece of cake, lucked to inherit Patrick Mahomes and here they are, one win from a first ever threepeat in the Super Bowl era. Understand: Nobody really thinks the Chiefs’ success is a clandestine NFL orchestration involving cheating referees or the Taylor Swift cabal; we’re just that desperate to not credit K.C. for having the greatness our team never attains.
(Thirty NFL fan bases right now are trying to figure out why their team isn’t as good as these two. In the case of Miami, as an example, I can honestly say the Dolphins aren’t that far from the AFC king Chiefs, other than not having as good a coach, quarterback, general manager, owner or overall talent in general. Still there is every reason for Fins fans to be optimistic moving forward, other than Mahomes in his prime, Buffalo being better, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry being awesome, Joe Burrow, Houston and Denver on the upswing, the Steelers always being good, Jim Harbaugh making the Chargers matter and the AFC overall being tougher than a $6 steak.)
But the Chiefs? Cheering for them is like wanting Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk to win the Powerball lottery
Why we hate the Eagles is even simpler. It’s their fans. Hey, don’t take it personally, Philadelphia. Fine city. Liberty Bell, Rocky statue, I get it. Love a cheesesteak as much as the next fat guy. And the team is great. Saquon Barkley should win the league MVP award. But Eagles fans are the worst greatest fans in sports. Wear it. Own it. I mean, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner warns his wife to not wear any Niners colors to games in Philly, so renowned are friendly Eagles fans for making visitors feel welcome.
As much as we would all love to see the Chiefs derailed, wishing happiness for Eagles fans is too big an ask. Plus Philly has won a Super Bowl fairly recently (2017) and been in the big game again after the 2022 season, losing to the Chiefs, 38-35. That makes this the Rematch Bowl. Problem is, somebody has to win it.
So either the Chiefs dynasty preens on, or Eagles fans get to celebrate by jumping on car hoods, setting fires and booing Santa Claus. This matchup is what they had in mind when coining the phrase, “Who said life was fair?”
Don’t get this wrong. Most of us may hate both teams, but we’ll still watch Super Bowl 59. Can we retire the Roman numerals, by the way? They don’t even use ‘em in Rome anywhere, but still the NFL insists on calling this one ‘LIX.’ Which sounds like the name of a strip club.
Anyway, widespread animus for the participants aside, it’s a great matchup. The NFL is thrilled, Fox TV is thrilled and why not? No Cinderella team needn’t always be a bad thing. The Chiefs (40-11) and Eagles (39-12) have the two best records in the league across the past three regular seasons and deserve to be here.
It’s a heavyweight bout that will do huge ratings numbers as Mahomes tries to make history and Barkley tries to take the last step in proving the running game in football is back from the dead like Lazarus of Bethany.
Ah, but what might have been...
Buffalo Bills vs. Washington Commanders was the Super Bowl America wanted, by which I mean it’s the Super Bowl I wanted.
It would have been Josh Allen trying to deliver Buffalo its first Super Bowl win ever and first championship of any kind since a 1965 crown in the old AFL. Beatlemania was happening. The Vietnam war was escalating.
It would have been Washington, freed from the shackles of miscreant owner Daniel Snyder and led by Jayden Daniels as the first rookie quarterback ever to lead his team to a Super Bowl.
It would have been two franchises that had not been in a Super Bowl in a combined 64 years — two modern-era underdogs and a hard choice which to root for because you sort of liked both.
Instead: Chiefs and Eagles, teams you love to hate in the game you hate to admit you love.
This story was originally published January 27, 2025 at 12:09 PM.
