Believe it or not, it used to be relatively easy to win the Super Bowl the year after you'd won it before. The Green Bay Packers in I and II, the Miami Dolphins in VII and VIII, the Pittsburgh Steelers in IV and V, as well as XIII and XIV, the San Francisco 49ers in XIII and XXIV, the Dallas Cowboys in XXVII and XXVIII, and the Denver Broncos in XXXII and XXXIII.
But in the new millennium, and with both free agency and coaching brain-drain setting reigning Super Bowl winners on the defensive, only the New England Patriots in XXXVIII and XXXIX, and the Kansas City Chiefs in LVII and LVIII have been repeat champions. The Philadelphia Eagles, the team that prevented the Chiefs from becoming the first three-time NFL champions since the 1965-1967 Green Bay Packers, are now on the clock to buck this trend with their 40-22 demolition of Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LIX.
These Eagles are no one-hit wonder. They won Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots at the end of the 2017 season, preventing that particular dynasty in waiting from becoming crowned. And since the 2017 season, only the Chiefs, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Buffalo Bills have better regular-season records than Philly's 83-48-1, and winning percentage of .633. Only the Chiefs have more postseason games (22) and wins (17) in that time than the Eagles' 15 and 10, respectively.
In general manager Howie Roseman, the Eagles have a personnel czar so effective, other GMs tend to be too busy to pick up the phone when the dreaded 215 area code comes across on the caller ID. In Nick Sirianni, they have a head coach who has overcome the issues he used to have when it came to dealing with his players, and is now on the good foot with one Super Bowl ring in his possession. In run game coordinator/offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, they have two assistant coaches who virtually guarantee optimal development for homegrown talent, and career years for veterans entering their jurisdictions.
From a personnel perspective, this team has it about as good as it gets. The best offensive line in football, a running back in Saquon Barkley who was historically great in about 24 different directions last season, a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who appears ready to take that proverbial step forward, a defensive line that upended the Chiefs in the Super Bowl without blitzing once and seems ready to overcome offseason personnel losses, a secondary that could be even better than it was in 2024... the list of riches go on and on.
As far as the inevitable changes to the coaching staff and the roster post-Super Bowl, those impending differences are considerable, but hardly back-breaking. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is now the New Orleans Saints' head coach, but the hope is that Kevin Patullo, who served as the team's passing game coordinator in 2021 and 2022, and the passing game coordinator/associate head coach in 2023 and 2024, can pick things up without a hitch.
"I think really it comes down to just my experience," Patullo said in June. "I’ve been here with Nick [Sirianni] since day one. Knowing the guys and understanding them, their skill sets, what they can do and kind of being in a different role to where I saw big picture at all times, and now I can concentrate on certain things. I’ve been in each room every year with the receivers and the quarterbacks and spread my knowledge around. Now it’s just a matter of getting to know the players at a different level, but they still trust me in that capacity."
The Eagles lost defensive lineman Milton Williams to the New England Patriots in free agency, but there should be enough talent on said line to make up for it, and fourth-round draft pick Ty Robinson from Nebraska may have the attributes to be a like-as-like replacement over time. If that seems like a stretch, keep in mind that Williams began his estimable NFL career as a third-round pick from Louisiana Tech in 2021, and it took Williams a minute to grow into his role.
Philly also moved on from safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson in a trade with the Houston Texans for the services of guard Kenyon Green (yet another player with potential who will benefit from his enrollment in Stoutland University), but to replace Gardner-Johnson's six interceptions and six pass breakups last season, Roseman and his staff went with Texas safety Andrew Mukuba with the last pick in the second round. Mukuba was a middling defensive player in three seasons at Clemson, but the transfer to the Longhorns brought out his best. Last season, Mukuba allowed 10 catches on 23 targets for 74 yards, 16 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, five interceptions, six pass breakups, and a preposterous opponent passer rating of 12.1.
Like any young defender, Mukuba will take his lumps in his NFL transition, but he has everything you want in a deep-third eraser.
Losing veteran cornerback Darius Slay to the Pittsburgh Steelers may be a rough go in that Slay did so much to help a young cornerback room develop, but we already know how good rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean were in 2024, and now, it's time for Kelee Ringo, the team's fourth-round draft pick out of Georgia (of course) in 2023, to step up and step in. Ringo has totaled just 362 defensive snaps in his two NFL seasons, so that's a bit of a projection, but if Vic Fangio thinks you're ready to start... well, most people will take the over on that one.
Could it all go south for these Eagles in 2025? Sure. Maybe Hurts doesn't continue to develop. Maybe the 436 carries Saquon Barkley had last season catch up to him from a health perspective — after all, Barkley has been injury-prone throughout his career. Maybe the defensive backs are too young without Slay's veteran acumen, and maybe the defense feels the loss of Milton Williams more than expected.
But overall, it's tough to imagine another team better-built and better-coached, and that all showed up in 2024. Why would it not become apparent again in 2025?
If you're hoping for the next potential NFL dynasty, start by looking at the team that has derailed a couple of them in the last few years.