Some key takeaways from Philadelphia’s title run.
The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t just win Super Bowl LIX. They embarrassed the Kansas City Chiefs, preventing the reigning champions from coming even remotely close to the historic “three-peat” they talked all week about achieving. And now, just like that, the rest of the NFL will be tasked with following in the Eagles’ footsteps, trying to lay the foundation for a title run of their own come 2025.
So how, exactly, can they do so? Let’s be clear off the bat: It’s impossible to perfectly replicate the champions in any given year. Each season brings all-new challenges, many of them unforeseen: turnover in the roster and staff, significant injuries at key positions, logistical hurdles of the schedule. In the Eagles’ case specifically, just like the Chiefs before them, it’s also far easier said than done for other teams to conjure, say, a quarterback with the talents and mental fortitude of Jalen Hurts or Patrick Mahomes.
Still, the rest of the NFL should’ve learned at least a few things from the Birds’ Super Bowl LIX domination. Here are three key takeaways that could be applied around the league this offseason:
1. It starts in the trenches
Every year, we get fixated on the splashy names and positions. Oooh, Saquon Barkley! Oooh, A.J. Brown! And those toys aren’t nothing. They’re incredible talents. But each of the Eagles’ three Super Bowl appearances since 2018 were primarily driven by their strength and sturdiness up front, on both sides of the ball. Leading up to the first Super Bowl appearance, the Eagles gave Nick Foles clean pockets to finish his improbable run with a Super Bowl MVP showcase, and got after Tom Brady with timely pressure. In 2022, they gave Hurts time to make a seismic leap as a passer, and led the NFL in sacks. This year, they paved the way for a 2,000-yard Barkley breakout, and swallowed up Mahomes with physicality at every level of the defense.
No, it’s not always easy to hit home runs on early draft picks, like the Eagles did with Lane Johnson and Landon Dickerson and Jalen Carter and so on. Yet when push comes to shove, it’s almost always smart to invest in the lines. And then invest some more. The big men, after all, make room for the playmakers.
2. Zig when others zag
To be clear, this doesn’t mean “do the unorthodox thing” just to do it. It means be willing to explore a market deficiency when it comes to assembling a potential championship roster. For example, rather than wait it out on big-name contract extensions like the Cincinnati Bengals or Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles have made a point to strike as early as possible when securing homegrown talent, even if it means needing to eat money at a later date in the event things don’t pan out.
That’s partially why they were even able to take the Super Bowl field with Hurts, Barkley, Brown, DeVonta Smith and a large chunk of the O-line among the game’s highest paid at their respective positions. Barkley is another example; with a firm infrastructure in place, the Eagles scoffed at the popular sentiment that running backs aren’t worth a premium investment, correctly seeing Barkley’s rare skill as a cherry on top of a true supporting cast. Ditto for Hurts; very few celebrated Philly’s selection of the quarterback back in 2020, with another starter in place, but the forward-thinking gamble certainly paid off in the long run.
3. Be patient, and also willing to fail
Again, another lesson that’s much easier proclaimed than practiced, but consider what Eagles management endured to reach this point. Philly, remember, lost six of its last seven games to close the 2023 season, looking totally dysfunctional at year’s end. It would’ve been easier for team owner Jeffrey Lurie to hit the reset button, maybe even pivot to a more proven coach like Bill Belichick. Instead, he stuck to his original big-picture plan of letting Nick Sirianni work his familial touch in the locker room, risked pairing the incumbent coach with all-new coordinators, including an ex-head coach in Vic Fangio, and the patience paid off. The entire squad spoke openly about using 2023’s collapse as 2024 fuel.
Now, again, that’s a mentality that isn’t easily adopted by an entire locker room. Many teams do not have the luxury of such owner/general manager stability. People want results, and they act hastily to get them. But so many NFL teams also get content in the middle. They rush to decisions hoping only to remain relevant — just competitive enough — and aren’t willing to fail completely, then do the hard work to build all the way to the top. Each of the Eagles’ last three Super Bowl runs came almost directly following a major meltdown: in 2017 following Chip Kelly’s ouster, in 2022 following Doug Pederson’s exit and in 2024 following the 2023 slump. Sometimes weathering storms rather than running from them is key.
