Mahomes, Kelce and the Chiefs' quest for a three-peat faces its toughest challenge vs. the Eagles

NEW ORLEANS — Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are pursuing history and a few of Taylor Swift's records.

Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles stand in their way.

The Chiefs (17-2) will try to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls when they face the Eagles (17-3) on Sunday in the Superdome.

It's a rematch from two years ago when Hurts nearly led the Eagles to a championship only to watch Mahomes snatch it away by rallying Kansas City to a 38-35 win on Harrison Butker's 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left.

Mahomes lifted the Chiefs to an overtime win against San Francisco in another Super Bowl rematch last year. Now, they're poised for a three-peat, a word coach Andy Reid doesn't use much.

"I think the only time I've heard him say it is to the media whenever y'all ask him about it," Mahomes said. "He's very locked in on just, ‘How can we be great with our cadence today at practice?' so that's just the stuff that Coach Reid focuses on."

Reid won more games than any coach in franchise history during his 14 seasons in Philadelphia but couldn't win the big one, going 1-4 in NFC championship games and losing a Super Bowl to the Patriots. He went right to Kansas City after the Eagles fired him following the 2012 season and has built a dynasty thanks to Mahomes, Kelce, Chris Jones and others.

''You don't have time to think about all that,'' Reid said of the three-peat. ''You're focused in on the job at hand here and that's playing against a great Eagles team.''

Jones, the three-time All-Pro defensive tackle, echoed his coach's viewpoint.

''We don't talk about no three-peat,'' Jones said. ''I think that's what we're here for. We understand that. We understand there's one more game until the offseason and we can do whatever we want to do. Our main focus is making sure we're prepared for the Eagles.''

No matter what the Chiefs say, everyone else is talking about it. No team has done it in the Super Bowl era, though the Green Bay Packers won an NFL championship in 1965 and followed by winning the first two Super Bowls. Kelce even started all the three-peat talk on stage last year when he said the team's goal was to win three.

''This is gonna be our biggest test yet,'' Kelce said. ''They got a lot of great players but the biggest thing is they play great together. You could see their communication. You could see the accountability they have, especially in the secondary. It's not gonna make my job any easier.''

These Eagles are different from the group that fell just short against Kansas City in Arizona two years ago.

They have the NFL's most dynamic player in the backfield. Barkley rushed for 2,447 yards with seven touchdowns of 60-plus yards in the regular season and playoffs.

''The goal has always been to win it, not just to get here,'' Barkley said.

Losing to the Chiefs two years ago only motivated Hurts even more. He's determined to hoist a Lombardi trophy and even had a photo of him walking off the field with Kansas City's red and yellow confetti falling around him as the background on his phone.

''It's had a great driving force,'' Hurts said of that loss. ''It lit a flame, lit a fire in me, and to have this opportunity again is exactly what you work for.''

Hurts, Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and a dominant offensive line present a major challenge for Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

The Eagles also have the league's No. 1-ranked defense, featuring eight new starters from 2022 and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun and rookie cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean plus the emergence of defensive tackle Jalen Carter and edge rusher Nolan Smith has transformed a defensive unit that fell apart last season.

''We're fortunate to have Steve Spagnuolo, but I tell you that Vic is one of those guys,'' Reid said. ''He's just one of those really creative defensive minds that survived a long time in this league. He's been time-tested, and, he has the trust of his players.''

If the Chiefs win, Reid and Mahomes will be one step closer to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. They're halfway to the six Belichick and Brady won together in New England and Mahomes is still four away from Brady's seven rings.

''I'm trying to be the greatest Patrick Mahomes that I can be. That's obviously a goal of anyone's — to be the greatest at their profession — but in order to do that, you have to be the greatest that you can be every single day,'' Mahomes said.

''Whenever I'm done with football, if I leave everything out there — the way that I feel like I have so far — as far as effort and mentality, I'll be happy with the results.''

A win for Kansas City also would give Kelce his fourth ring, the same number of Grammy Awards his pop star girlfriend has won for best album. Overall, Kelce has 18 playoff wins and Swift has 14 Grammys.

''She's up there being the superstar that she is and never taking no for an answer and always working her tail off. I better match that energy for sure,'' Kelce said.

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