A look at intriguing Eagles-Chiefs matchup in Super Bowl LVII originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Now this is an intriguing matchup.
The Eagles vs. the man who coached them for 14 years.
Jason Kelce vs. Travis Kelce.
Jalen Hurts vs. Patrick Mahomes.
Howie Roseman vs. Chiefs GM Brett Veach, who was once an intern here.
One of the best offenses in football vs. one of the best defenses in football.
The only two 14-win teams in the NFL.
The Eagles will face the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The Eagles are 4-5 all-time vs. the Chiefs. Andy Reid has been the winning coach in the last six matchups - in 2001, 2005 and 2009 with the Eagles and 2013, 2017 and 2021 with the Chiefs.
Mahomes has only faced the Eagles once. He was 24-for-30 for 278 yards, five touchdowns and one interception (by Eric Wilson) in the Chiefs' 42-30 win early last season at the Linc.
Jalen Hurts had one of the best games of his career that afternoon, completing 32 of 48 passes for a career-high 387 yards and two TDs with no interceptions.
Last time the Eagles beat the Chiefs was Week 3 of the 2009 season at the Linc, when Kevin Kolb had a career day with 24-for-34, 327 yards and touchdown passes to DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek.
Veach, a Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, native, was a wide receiver at Delaware, where his quarterback was current Bears quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy. Veach began his Eagles career as a coaching intern and entry-level coach's assistant before moving to scouting under Roseman from 2010 through 2012.
He's credited for first identifying Mahomes as a potential franchise quarterback and for building the Chiefs' 2019 Super Bowl championship.
Nick Sirianni spent the 2012 season with the Chiefs on Todd Haley's coaching staff. When Reid replaced Haley, he interviewed Sirianni but planned all along to hire long-time Eagles assistant David Culley as his wide receivers coach.
Reid's coaching staff is loaded with Eagles connections:
• Special teams coach Dave Toub was the Eagles' assistant special teams coach from 2001 through 2003 under John Harbaugh.
• Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy played for Reid with the Eagles in 1999.
• Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo coached secondary and linebackers under Reid here from 1999 through 2006
• Linebackers coach Ken Flajole served in the same role under Doug Pederson with the Eagles from 2016 through 2020.
• Running backs coach Greg Lewis caught 127 passes for 1,699 yards and seven TDs with the Eagles from 2003 through 2008.
• Tom Melvin has been Reid's tight ends coach with the Eagles and Chiefs for 24 straight years.
• Quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy - the losing coach in the Double Doink game - began his coaching career under Reid with the Eagles from 2008 through 2012.
The only former Eagle on the Chiefs is offensive lineman Prince Tega Wanogho, the Eagles' 6th-round pick in 2020. He's played in all 19 of the Chiefs' games.
Mutual opponents are the Cards, Colts, 49ers, Titans, Jaguars, Texans.
The Eagles went 6-0 against those teams, and the Chiefs went 6-1 beating the Cards, 49ers, Titans, Jaguars twice and Texans and losing 20-17 to the Colts in Week 3 while they were still being coached by Frank Reich.
This will be the Chiefs' fifth Super Bowl appearance. They lost to the Packers in Super Bowl 1 at L.A. Coliseum after the 1966 season, they beat the Vikings in Super Bowl IV at Tulane, they beat the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami after the 2019 season and then lost to the Buccaneers the next year in Super Bowl LV in Tampa.
This is the Eagles' fourth Super Bowl. They lost to the Raiders in Super Bowl XV at the Superdome after the 1980 season, lost to the Patriots in Jacksonville with Reid as their coach in Super Bowl XXXIX in 2004 and won Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis after the 2017 season with Reid's first opening-day quarterback, Doug Pederson, coaching.
Reid is the ninth head coach to reach four Super Bowls. The Chiefs' win over the Bengals Sunday in the AFC Championship Game was the 21st of his career in the postseason, 2nd-most in NFL history behind Bill Belichick's 31. The first 10 of those were with the Eagles.
The only head coaches in Eagles history who've won more than one postseason game are Reid (10), Pederson (4), Dick Vermeil (3), Greasy Neale (3) and Sirianni (2).
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