SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
One and one-half point Philadelphia Eagles favorites remain, which makes this an even-up 57th Super Bowl on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.
Yes, that’s the way the oddsmakers have made their say from the early line until the 4:30 p.m. kickoff.
And that’s what makes it one of those even-up tilt. Both the National Conference Eagles and American Conference Kansas City Chiefs have identical 14-3 records, both match up well on both sides of the ball, and which makes this only the first time since the 1970 merger that the squads with the two best records meeting for the National Football League championship.
In fact, the last time it happened came after the 2003 season when Seattle trounced Denver in a match-up of 13-win teams.
That blowout was relatively typical of these meetings, with the average margin of victory in the previous five powerhouse match-ups has been 21 points.
Believe it, the closest game was Washington’s 37-24 win over Buffalo following the 1991 season. The three others featured San Francisco knocking off Miami in 1985, Dallas getting by Denver, 27-10 in 1978, and Oakland winning over Minnesota, 32-14 in 1976.
Since seeding began in 1975, this is the 15th time the top team in each conference made it to the big stage. The previous time came after the 2017 season when the Eagles won their first Super Bowl by outscoring New England, 41-33.
This is also the third time both Super Bowl teams won at least 14 times in the regular season, even though KC and Philly needed wins in the added 17th game to get there. Atlanta and Denver did it in 16-game seasons in 1998, and Miami and San Francisco in 1984.
Both teams have been in control all postseason, with neither trailing in the playoffs. The only other times both Super Bowl teams did that was in the 2004 season — the Patriots versus the Eagles, as well as in 1991 – the Bills and Washington, and in 1966 – Packers against the Chiefs.
Also interesting is Kansas City head coach Andy Reid joins Dan Reeves as the only coaches to face a franchise in the Super Bowl that they previously took in the big game.
Reid coached Philadelphia to its second Super Bowl in 2005 before getting fired after the 2012 campaign and quickly built KC into a power and now is ready for his fourth Super Bowl appearance as a head coach — the ninth coach to reach that mark.
The Eagles will be the sixth franchise to reach the Super Bowl under four coaches, with Philadelphia’s head coach Nick Sirianni joins Doug Peterson, Reid and Dick Vermeil.
The Raiders, 49ers, Colts and Rams all did it with four coaches, and the Broncos did it with a record five.
Two other coaches faced their former teams in the Super Bowl and ended up on the winning side when Jon Gruden led Tampa Bay past the then-Oakland Raiders in 2003 and Weeb Ewbank coached the Jets to a huge upset over the then-Baltimore Colts in 1969.
So unless the oddsmakers decide to go past these current ones, it’s Super Bowl time between two well-prepared teams.
