Tag: CHAMPIONSHIP

After 272 regular-season games and three rounds of playoffs, the NFL’s championship matchup is finally upon us. That’s right: It’s Super Bowl time. Festivities begin Monday, when the last two teams standing meet in New Orleans for Opening Night, and then it’s a countdown until Sunday, Feb. 9, when the best of the best go head to head in Super Bowl LIX for this year’s ultimate football prize.

Here are 59 things to know for the NFL’s 59th Super Bowl:

Gameday details

1. Super Bowl LIX will be held on Sunday, Feb. 9.

2. The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles in the big game.

3. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.

4. The game will be held at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, home to the Saints.

5. This marks the eighth time a Super Bowl has been played at the Superdome, and the 11th time the game has been held in New Orleans. No other city besides Miami has hosted as many Super Bowls.

6. Fox will broadcast Super Bowl LIX with the following crew: Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play), Tom Brady (color commentary), Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi (sideline reporting), and Mike Pereira (rules analysis).

Super Bowl 2025 bold predictions: Five hot takes as Chiefs look for third straight title against Eagles

Tyler Sullivan

How to watch, live stream

7. Fox will carry the traditional broadcast of Super Bowl LIX on TV.

8. Fox is also available to stream, including on smart TVs, via fubo (try for free).

9. In partnership with Fox Sports, Tubi will also stream the game live in 4K, for free, on select devices.

10. A live stream is also available for mobile devices via NFL+.

Chiefs vs. Eagles overview

11. Kansas City is making its third straight Super Bowl appearance, becoming the first NFL team of the modern era to have a chance at a “three-peat,” having won its last two championship bids.

12. This is also the Chiefs’ fifth Super Bowl appearance of the last six years. They’ve advanced to — or past — seven straight AFC championships, coming within one game of matching the all-time record set by the New England Patriots from 2011-2018.

13. Super Bowl LIX is a rematch of Super Bowl LVII, when the Chiefs played the Eagles to close the 2022 season in Glendale, Arizona.

14. The Chiefs won that last Super Bowl meeting, 38-35, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Eagles on a last-minute field goal by Harrison Butker.

15. Kansas City’s 2022 title win included a polarizing fourth-quarter penalty on the Eagles, when cornerback James Bradberry was called for pass interference against Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, enabling the Chiefs to exhaust most of the remaining clock before Butker’s field goal.

16. The Eagles got a historic effort from quarterback Jalen Hurts in that Super Bowl. Then in just his third NFL season, Hurts totaled four touchdowns, including a Super Bowl-record three rushing scores, plus a successful two-point conversion that knotted the game at 35-35 in the closing minutes.

17. The Chiefs entered this postseason as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, finishing with an NFL-best 15-2 record and enjoying a first-round bye in the playoffs.

18. The Eagles claimed the NFC’s No. 2 seed with a 14-3 record, then won three straight home playoff games to reach the Super Bowl.

19. The two teams share history at the head coaching position: Chiefs coach Andy Reid spent 14 seasons running the Eagles from 1999-2012. Current Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, meanwhile, began his NFL career as a Chiefs assistant, working for Kansas City from 2009-2012.

20. Both teams have been prolific in terms of championship contention. Since 2004, only the Patriots have more combined playoff wins than the Chiefs (18) and Eagles (14).

21. The Chiefs are the NFL’s gold standard with perennial Super Bowl contention, but the Eagles are also making their third Super Bowl appearance of the last eight seasons.

Super Bowl history

22. The Chiefs’ last Super Bowl win came at the end of the 2023 season, when they edged the San Francisco 49ers, 25-22, in Super Bowl LVIII, in the Las Vegas area.

23. Prior to the Chiefs’ back-to-back titles over the 49ers and Eagles from 2022-2023, Kansas City also appeared in Super Bowl LIV (2019 season) and Super Bowl LV (2020), vying for consecutive trophies.

24. The Chiefs won that first appearance, also against the 49ers, to cap quarterback Patrick Mahomes‘ second full season as the starter. Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP that year, becoming one of the youngest signal-callers in NFL history to claim a Lombardi Trophy, at age 24.

25. The Chiefs lost their Super Bowl LV appearance to close the 2020 season, however, falling 31-9 to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mahomes threw two interceptions under heavy pressure from Todd Bowles’ defense in that defeat, which marked Brady’s record seventh and final title.

26. Prior to their championship bout with the Chiefs in 2022, the Eagles also reached Super Bowl LII in 2017, famously upsetting Brady and the Patriots to claim their first-ever Lombardi Trophy. Those Eagles were led by backup quarterback Nick Foles, who won Super Bowl MVP as an injury replacement.

27. Super Bowl LIX marks the Chiefs’ seventh all-time Super Bowl appearance; they also lost Super Bowl I (1966 season) and won Super Bowl IV (1969). It also marks the Eagles’ fifth all-time appearance; they previously lost Super Bowl XV (1980) and Super Bowl XXXIX (2004).

Chiefs stars to watch

28. Mahomes hasn’t ranked among the NFL’s most dynamic passers in recent seasons, but he thrives in crunch time, leading the Chiefs to a record 17 straight one-score victories. His backyard-style mobility has especially come in handy during tight games.

29. Rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy is arguably the team’s top big-play weapon thanks to his straight-line speed. He led all Chiefs receivers with six touchdown catches during the regular season.

30. Tight end Travis Kelce, who’s finishing his 12th season, remains Mahomes’ favorite target in the passing game. He logged a career-low 8.5 yards per catch this year but led the team with 97 receptions.

31. Defensive tackle Chris Jones remains one of the game’s premier interior defenders, leading the Chiefs’ fourth-ranked scoring defense with 61 quarterback pressures. The six-time All-Pro has also racked up nine tackles for loss, serving as the anchor to coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit.

32. Linebacker Nick Bolton is the missile at the heart of Spagnuolo’s defense, excelling not only as a run defender with a team-high 106 tackles but as a blitz artist, pressuring quarterbacks on 15% of his pass-rushing snaps. He’s also deflected six passes and logged 11 tackles in the backfield.

33. Cornerback Trent McDuffie is the top cover man in Kansas City, leading the team with 13 pass breakups. Pro Football Focus graded him as the third-best cornerback in the NFL this year.

34. Butker has been shakier since undergoing knee surgery in November, but he’s been money in the playoffs over the course of his career, converting 90% of postseason field goals.

Eagles stars to watch

35. Hurts has endured clunky stretches as a thrower even in more of a run-first offense, but he’s been a master at situational ball control, totaling just one turnover in his seven playoff games since 2022. He’s also undeniable as a short-yardage runner, with 64 career scores, including playoffs.

36. Running back Saquon Barkley has enjoyed one of the best seasons in NFL history, which also happens to be his first in Philadelphia. A prized free agent signing from the rival New York Giants last offseason, he eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards in the regular season and remains an MVP candidate. Including the playoffs, he’s already logged 21 different carries of at least 20 yards.

37. Wide receiver A.J. Brown is the Eagles’ top downfield threat, averaging 16 yards per catch in tandem with DeVonta Smith on the perimeter. He’s hit 1,000 yards receiving in five of seven NFL seasons.

38. Offensive tackles Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson help make up one of, if not the most formidable front in the NFL. Both big men excel at moving in space, helping pave the way for an explosive ground game, while leaning on the interior push of peers like Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson.

39. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who’s in just his second NFL season, has emerged as one of the league’s most disruptive talents. Endlessly physical, he led the Eagles with 12 tackles for loss.

40. Linebacker Zack Baun went from offseason flyer to All-Pro stalwart under the direction of coordinator Vic Fangio. He’s been around the ball on basically every Eagles takeaway, with five forced fumbles.

41. Rookie cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean have helped steady a once-porous Eagles secondary, pairing with veteran corner Darius Slay and ball-hawking safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to give Philadelphia the NFL’s top-ranked pass defense during the regular season.

Key questions

42. Will the Chiefs go heavy on the blitz? Hurts hasn’t always fared well when flushed out of the pocket, and suffered an ugly 2023 playoff loss in the face of strong pressure. Spagnuolo, meanwhile, has built a sturdy reputation when it comes to sending extra rushers at precisely the right time.

43. Can Barkley run free (again)? All year, teams have tried and failed to contain the Eagles’ new running back. And while the Chiefs boast a top-10 run defense, they’ll also have to account for an elite group of pass weapons on the Eagles’ end, including tackle-shedding tight end Dallas Goedert.

44. Will the Chiefs keep Mahomes upright? Kansas City also boasts a battle-tested front, with Pro Bowlers like Joe Thuney and Creed Humphrey holding things down. Carter has been a warrior in the middle, though, and the young Nolan Smith Jr. has also emerged off the edge for the Eagles.

45. Can the Eagles match the Chiefs’ situational strategy? Reid’s creative play design does a lot to elevate an otherwise so-so crop of talent around Mahomes, whereas Sirianni and Kellen Moore’s Eagles offense has been fairly predictable, leaning mostly on the sheer star power of the players in the lineup.

Injuries to monitor

46. The Chiefs have endured the absence of a slew of wideouts, including 2023 standout Rashee Rice, but are otherwise healthy at the skill spots.

47. Right tackle Jawaan Taylor, who sat out Week 18 with a knee injury, is still recovering from that ailment going into the Chiefs’ final week of practice before the big game.

48. The Eagles are battling several bruises in the trenches, with both Dickerson (knee) and Jurgens (back) missing early practices after fighting through pain in the NFC Championship.

49. DeVonta Smith is also nursing a hamstring injury for the Eagles, but is expected to play.

Super Bowl odds

50. The Chiefs opened as 2-point favorites, per SportsLine consensus odds. They are currently 1.5-point favorites over the Eagles, according to the oddsmakers.

51. The opening Over-Under point total for Super Bowl LIX was 49.5, per SportsLine.

52. Mahomes is the betting favorite to win Super Bowl MVP, which would be his fourth such honor. Barkley is next in line on oddsmakers’ list of favorites for the game’s top individual award.

Miscellaneous notes

53. The Eagles are the designated “home” team for the game; this designation rotates between the AFC and NFC each year. As a result, they got first choice of their uniform for the game, and elected to wear their signature Midnight Green jerseys, which they also wore against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.

54. With the Eagles wearing green, the Chiefs will wear their white away jerseys. Teams wearing white jerseys in the Super Bowl are 16-4 in the last 20 title games. The only two teams to win wearing home colors over the last decade are … the Chiefs and the Eagles.

55. Ron Torbert will serve as the game’s referee. He previously refereed Super Bowl LVI (2021).

56. Grammy-winning singer Jon Batiste will perform the pregame national anthem, while Ledisi will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

57. Lauren Daigle and Trombone Shorty will perform “America the Beautiful.”

58. Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar will headline the halftime show.

59. Find all of CBS Sports’ Super Bowl LIX coverage, from game predictions to matchup previews to onsite reporting of Super Bowl Week, right here. And follow our boots on the ground — John Breech, Cody Benjamin, Jared Dubin and Jeff Kerr — for additional insights from New Orleans.