3 shrewd decisions that took the Eagles to Super Bowl 59

There is no tried and true formula for reaching the Super Bowl.

Every year, we try and diagnose some kind of set plan for all 30 teams unlucky enough to reach the Big Game. We talk about it like it’s so simple, like everyone should follow a basic 30-minute baking recipe you find online, and you, too, will soon play for the Lombardi Trophy. But we don’t realize that most of this championship-caliber football team discussion is irreplicable. There are so many extenuating relationship factors, team-building marks, and coaching decisions that go into playing the last football game of the season.

(Not to mention a much-needed splash of good old-fashioned luck.)

As we look ahead to Super Bowl 59 between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday, it’s worth looking back upon their two distinctly different paths to New Orleans. For the Eagles, in particular, it was about re-instilling a quality sense of disciplined, smashmouth football.

Let’s unpack exactly how Philadelphia reached its second Super Bowl in three years with its most essential decisions.

1. Sign the all-worldly Saquon Barkley (for pennies on the dollar)

By now, you know the story.

The Eagles acquired Barkley, the NFL’s premier running back, after their NFC East division rival, the New York Giants, essentially let him walk for nothing. Suffice it to say, the Eagles constructed their offense around putting the ball into Barkley’s chest over 20 times a game. Even when Jalen Hurts struggled, Philadelphia rode Barkley’s gifts to a 17-win campaign (including playoffs).

But folks, it’s so much more than that.

Armed with an elite offensive line that let him get to the second level at will, Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for at least 2,000 yards in a single season. If Philadelphia didn’t have grander Super Bowl ambitions in mind, Barkley would’ve played the Eagles’ final regular-season game and could’ve broken Eric Dickerson’s all-time record, too.

Oh, and lest I forget, per Over The Cap, Barkley will not carry a salary cap hit higher than $9.8 million until 2027. At the risk of hyperbole, we might already be looking at one of the greatest free-agency additions pro football has ever seen.

2. Lure Vic Fangio over after the Miami Dolphins unceremoniously dumped him

Everything an exceptional defensive coordinator like Fangio touches turns to gold. Literally.

Years ago, in the Bay Area, he was the maestro of a ferocious San Francisco 49ers defense that played in three consecutive NFC title games from 2012 to 2014. After leaving the 49ers, Fangio was the one pulling the strings for the Khalil Mack-led Chicago Bears in the late 2010s. At this point, Fangio has a well-earned reputation as one of the finest defensive minds ever to grace this chaotic game.

The Eagles should consider themselves so fortunate they were able to swoop in and nab Fangio this past offseason. This, after apparently not being a “culture fit” for Miami Dolphins defenders last year.

Well, guess what, fellas?

Fangio jumped ship to Philadelphia and coordinated the NFL’s No. 1 defense from October on. On a team featuring the remarkable Barkley, Fangio’s dominant unit set the table for the NFC’s No. 2 seed. Hmm. That’s funny. I’m starting to think the culture fit had much more to do with the players in Miami rather than their exiled genius ex-coach, who, more or less, has an esteemed reputation everywhere else he’s been.

Who would have thought? (Everyone.)

3. Drafting defensive backs Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean and empowering them without hesitation

Of course, Fangio’s coaching doesn’t go as far without the Eagles revitalizing their secondary.

In 2023, Philadelphia watched any old bog-standard offense torch its washed-up secondary featuring formerly important standouts like James Bradberry. It was decidedly rather easy for almost anyone’s playmakers to get behind the Eagles’ coverage and burn them for chunk plays. General manager Howie Roseman saw this unfortunate development and decided to go all-in on a youth movement in April’s NFL Draft.

Roseman used both of the Eagles’ top-40 draft picks on Mitchell (No. 22 overall) and DeJean (No. 40). Mitchell quickly became arguably the league’s top defensive rookie as an absolute lynchpin on the boundary. DeJean morphed into Fangio’s favorite Swiss Army Knife as a do-it-all nickel cornerback. None of what the Eagles accomplished on defense this year is possible without Mitchell and DeJean performing like seasoned veterans in a scheme that lets them be themselves. Full stop.

And the scary part for the rest of the NFC?

Philadelphia has both young men under cheap contracts for the foreseeable future. Here’s yet another stroke of genius from Roseman, the NFL’s top personnel executive by far.