As many of us know by now, the Super Bowl matchup we have on tap for Sunday, February 9, is the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles… for the second time in three years. While many aren’t excited for either of these teams, considering this is the fourth time in the past five years we will be seeing the Chiefs in the big game, and the Eagles are… the Eagles, how we got to this underwhelming Super Bowl was far from that. Let’s delve into how we got here.

To start, both of the number one seeds in the AFC and NFC (the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, respectively), received first round bye weeks for their stellar records during the regular season. The first round of the playoffs, or as the NFL calls it, “Super Wild Card Weekend”, kicked off in Houston on Saturday, January 11. The underdog Houston Texans easily took care of the Los Angeles Chargers, 32-12, off the back of four interceptions by Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. After that game, we head to Baltimore, where the Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-14, thanks to 186 rushing yards by Ravens running back Derrick Henry. On Sunday, January 12, we were served up 3 more games. The day started in Buffalo, where the Bills easily dispatched the Denver Broncos, 31-7. Then in Philadelphia, the Eagles did enough to beat the Packers, 22-10, off the back of three interceptions by Packers QB Jordan Love. For the night game, we were treated to a back and forth clash between the Washington Commanders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels played spectacularly, it was ultimately the kicker, Zane Gonzalez, who made the game winning field goal as time expired to give the Commanders the 23-20 win. On Monday night, the Minnesota Vikings took on the Los Angeles Rams. The game was relocated to Glendale Arizona due to the wildfires in LA. After being forcefully relocated, the Rams played with a vengeance and breezed past the Vikings, winning 27-9.

After the wild card weekend, the following divisional matchups were set:

AFC:

• Texans at Chiefs

• Ravens at Bills

NFC:

• Commanders at Lions

• Rams at Eagles

On Saturday, January 18, we started with the Texans taking on the Chiefs. The Texans were resilient, pulling the game within one point in the third quarter, but the Chiefs were able to sack sophomore quarterback C.J. Stroud eight times, leading the Chiefs to a 23-14 win. In Detroit, the underdog Commanders ran riot, scoring 45 points and cruising to a 45-31 victory. Out in Philadelphia, the snowy conditions made for an enticing matchup between the Rams and Eagles. It was a tight game, but costly turnovers by the Rams and big runs by Eagles running back Saquon Barkley propelled the Eagles to a 28-22 win. The final game of the divisional round was between the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills. This matchup was headlined by the two MVP frontrunner quarterbacks, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, going head to head. The game was tight, with the Bills leading for the whole game, the Ravens scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 2 with 1:33 remaining in the fourth quarter. However, Ravens tight end Mark Andrews dropped the game-tying two point conversion, ultimately losing the Ravens the game, 25-27.

This set up the conference championship games of Commanders vs. Eagles in the NFC and Bills vs. Chiefs in the AFC.

Conference championship Sunday started with the Commanders taking on the Eagles in Philly. The game started close, but the Eagles’ star power was too much for the Commanders, resulting in a blowout win for the Eagles, 55-23. On Sunday night, the Bills took on the Chiefs, with the former looking to head to their first Super Bowl since 1994. The game was going down to the wire, with the Bills leading 22-21 entering the fourth quarter. However, a controversial call ruling that Josh Allen had not made the first down marker on a 4th and 1 early in the fourth quarter shifted momentum in the Chiefs’ favor. With momentum at their backs, the Chiefs were able to seal the victory with another fourth down stop with 1:54 remaining, winning 32-29.

These 12 games have led to the final game of the 2024-25 NFL season, Super Bowl 59.

Eagles vs. Chiefs, 6:30 P.M., Sunday, February 9. A game which will undoubtedly make half of the entire country upset.