The Kansas City Chiefs meet the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons. This is not what the NFL world wanted. The NFL is a funny thing; there is clearly a ton of parity present. When was the last time the league was truly top-heavy?
Sure, the same teams seem to end up in the championship games, but overall, the league is filled with parity. In 2024, there did seem to be more 'bad' teams than usual, but some of them are clearly trending upward. And when you couple that with certain 'good' teams bound to regress in the following season, perhaps we could see even more parity develop.
Is this what the NFL world wanted?
The Chiefs and Eagles gave us a very dramatic Super Bowl just two seasons ago. It was a three-point KC victory and was their second title in the Patrick Mahomes era. Well, the two teams are filled with many of the same players this time around.
And the main nucleus of each team is still present. However, while the two franchises are perhaps the most well-run in the NFL, I am not sure this is the game that the NFL world wanted to watch, and it really would not shock me if the ratings for this game were lower than expected.
The feel-good story of the Washington Commanders made some root for them. The NFC Championship was not close, though. On the flip side, I bet every single fanbase in the NFL outside of Chiefs' fans wanted to see the Buffalo Bills finally do enough and get past KC.
A Bills-Eagles Super Bowl would have been one for the ages, and a Bills-Commanders Super Bowl may have been the best-case scenario for the NFL in terms of parity.
Instead, a controversially-officiated game in the AFC Championship leaves most of the NFL world wondering just how the Chiefs are able to do this nearly every year, and with them squaring off against the Eagles in Super Bowl 59, what is truly the appeal of this game?
Maybe I am being selfish here, but seeing the same teams constantly in the Super Bowl waters down just how big of an event it is. The Super Bowl might just be the most popular television even in the history of the world, but the fatigue of seeing the same teams in the big game is beginning to wear on the NFL landscape.