Top 5 Storylines to Follow Leading Up to the Super Bowl
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will meet in Glendale, AZ for Super Bowl LVII next Sunday. The Chiefs are hoping to see more red and yellow confetti falling from the sky, while the Eagles want to see green and white taking over the field. After what everyone is anticipating will be a fantastic game from start to finish, only one team will be able to hold up the Lombardi Trophy when it’s all said and done.
There are several fun storylines that will likely be hammered over and over again during media week. A few of them have already been overdone, but let’s dive into some of the storylines leading up to the Super Bowl.
Head coaches Andy Reid and Nick Sirianni up against former teams
Andy Reid spent his first 14 years as a head coach in Philly with the Eagles. Reid led the Eagles to four consecutive NFC East titles and four consecutive NFC Championship Game appearances between 2001-2004. He also led the Eagles to a Super Bowl, though they didn’t win one with Reid. The Eagles did win their first Super Bowl with Doug Pederson, who was hand-picked from Reid’s coaching tree, so the people of Philadelphia will always be grateful to Reid and what he did for the city of brotherly love.
Nick Sirianni’s first NFL job came with the Chiefs as an offensive control coach under Todd Haley. He was promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach during the 2010 season, the lone good season during the Haley era in Kansas City, and was eventually retained as wide receivers coach under Romeo Crennel during one of the worst seasons in the history of the organization. When Reid was hired as head coach of the Chiefs in 2013, Sirianni was not retained.
It will be future Hall of Fame head coach, Reid, vs. a Haley disciple in Sirianni. Advantage Chiefs.
The Kelce Bowl
Eagles center Jason Kelce and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce will be the first brothers in NFL history to play against each other in the Super Bowl. However, they won’t be the first brothers to play in the big game together. Twin brothers Jason and Devin McCourty were the first brothers to appear in the Super Bowl together on the same team. They played on the New England Patriots and helped the defense lead the way to a 13-3 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
There was also the “Harbaugh Bowl,” when head coaches Jim and John Harbaugh led their respective San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens into battle at Super Bowl XLVII. That game will be remembered for having a blackout in the stadium mid-game and being the longest Super Bowl in NFL history. John Harbaugh ultimately won the battle of the brothers.
As stated by the Kelce brothers on their New Heights podcast, they grew up near Cleveland, OH hoping to one day play for the Browns and win a Super Bowl together. Jason won one in 2018 with the Eagles, while Travis Kelce won a championship with the Chiefs in 2020. For Super Bowl LVII, only one Kelce brother will walk away as a two-time world champion.
Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts making history
Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts will be the first Black quarterbacks in NFL history to start opposite each other in a Super Bowl. There have been several Black quarterbacks to start in the Super Bowl, but only three have been the winning quarterback of the game. Doug Williams was the first, Russell Wilson was second and Mahomes was the most recent to win it all.
This wasn’t a fluke meeting, either. These two quarterbacks will likely finish first and second in the NFL’s MVP voting and have given their respective teams an advantage all season long. Mahomes and Hurts are two of the best in the game and will play for the ultimate prize in Super Bowl LVII.
This has placed a spotlight on how far the league, and sport of football in general, has come over the past decade. The league had more starting Black quarterbacks across the league this year (11) than any other year in NFL history. If Mahomes wins the big game, he will be the first Black quarterback in NFL history to win two rings. It’s great to see as we kick off Black History Month.
The Willie Gay Jr. and A.J. Brown connection
Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay Jr. and Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown will be on opposite sides of the ball as the two teams play for the Lombardi Trophy. However, the Starkville, MS natives were once on the same high school football team that won a state championship in 2015. (Imagine a high school version of Gay running through blocks to take out a quarterback or a high school version of Brown posting up on an undersized cornerback in the end zone.) These two will be vying for their first Super Bowl championship against each other, but they have that legitimate connection dating back far longer.
Legacy game for Mahomes and Reid
If the Chiefs were to win this Super Bowl, Mahomes would become the 13th quarterback in NFL history to win two of them. This would put him in a rare club that no other current NFL quarterback would be part of now that Tom Brady has retired. Despite being a starting quarterback for only five seasons, Mahomes would be putting his name among the all-time greats and could potentially be viewed as a top-five quarterback of all time with two Super Bowls and two MVPs at age 27.
Andy Reid is already on a trajectory to be a first-ballot Hall of Fame head coach, but a second ring would cement his legacy in the sport. It would also move his Super Bowl record to 2-2 all-time.
There will be plenty of other stories to follow over the next week leading up to the Super Bowl, but these are a few that will likely be top of mind as the media frenzy descends on Glendale.
