I am recording this fourteen hours after the Eagles beat the Chiefs, and I want to take care not to make too much of one game, even a victory over an Andy Reid x Patrick Mahomes team. I should've made my prediction about the Eagles' season before they played, of course, but things got in the way, so here I am doing it with the defending Super Bowl champions at 2-0.
Now, when you come back as champion, only one obvious question follows you — can you do it again? It's hard to repeat in any sport; there's the fatigue factor, there's the revenge factor, and there's the schedule factor. In the NFL, they give winning teams a tougher road to hoe, and that is certainly true of the Eagles. There is also what Lakers coach Pat Riley used to refer to as the "disease of more." You win it once, everybody wants more; more playing time, more endorsements, more credit, more pats on the back, more everything.
Repeating in the NFL is rare. People may not realize it because the Chiefs did it so recently in '23, '24, but only one other time in the last 25 years has a team repeated — the Patriots in '04 and '05. Yes, even with Tom Brady, who won six Super Bowls, only one of those was a repeat.
Take the Eagles after they won it all in 2017. Not much changed on the surface — same head coach, same miracle worker quarterback — but there were notable losses, too; tight end Trey Burton, defensive end Vinny Curry, cornerback Patrick Robinson. Coach Doug Peterson was still hopeful that Carson Wentz would be the quarterback, but he got hurt and when he was made a starter, the flow was disrupted. Injuries took a toll; safety Rodney McLeod, runningback Jay Ajayi. At one point, the Eagles were 4-6 and they had to rally just to make the playoffs before they lost to the Saints.
The disease of more took Kellen Moore after last season. Super Bowl champion assistants almost always benefit from super wins. The winning head coach gets a lucrative extension and more power, which means the only way coaches under him can gain more power is by leaving. So, Kellen Moore left to become the Saints head coach, where he's 0-2, by the way, and the Eagles are on their fourth Offensive Coordinator in five years. There were other big losses, defensive linemen Josh Sweat and Milton Williams wanted more money, more playing time, more recognition, so they left the Eagles for the less friendly confines of Arizona and New England.
But can the Eagles repeat as Super Bowl champions? Well, of course they can. They are, I'd say, one of five teams capable of winning it all, along with the Ravens, the Packers, and Bills, and the Lions. I eliminated the Chiefs, by the way, after watching Sunday's game. But will they repeat? It's a harder question, we'll hold onto that. They have one obvious problem: no matter what Jalen Hurts may claim otherwise, there is a problem they are not better going downfield in the passing game. At some point this season, Hurts is going to have to figure out how to get the ball to AJ Brown — 27 receiving yards against the Chiefs, 8 against the Cowboys — and DeVonta Smith. If anyone on this team is suffering from the disease of more, it's certainly AJ Brown, who wants more of everything.
If your main reason for optimism is, "Well, they still have Barkley, the best player in the game," it's true. But it's already clear defenses are going to set 80% of their game plan to stopping him, and sooner or later (I think it's sooner), the Birds are going to have to figure out their down the field passing game. I think they have the defense to keep them in most games, but I think Jalen's reluctance or inability or whatever it is will keep them from repeating. Sorry, that's just an opinion, but remember, it's hard to repeat.
