GRAY DEYOSports Writer

After breaking down a poll on who some of the readers of Tullahoma News want to win the Super Bowl matchup this Sunday between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, the results were overwhelming. Over 70% of people voted that they wanted the Eagles to win rather than the Chiefs. Is this because of the simple fact that people prefer the mean green jerseys of Philadelphia over the bright saturated red jerseys of the Chiefs, or is it the fact that the sight of Taylor Swift a few times a game is enough to make a person annoyed enough to root for the other team. Let’s break down a couple of reasons for what the cause behind these results might be.

2020: Chiefs put Titans’ magical season to an end

It’s hard to believe that just four seasons ago, the team that has the #1 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, was just one game away from the Super Bowl.

The 2019-2020 Tennessee Titans made the AFC championship game which at the time was a shock in the football world. After the Titans started the season 2-4, they moved away from five-year signal-caller Marcus Mariota and went with backup quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The throw-in of Tannehill at the time, felt like the road map to another mediocre season, but instead, the veteran quarterback got the Titans to play some of the best football they had played in a long time. Tannehill went on to play statistically the best ball of his career–throwing for 22 touchdown passes with the the sixth-best quarterback rating in the league, at 117.5. The combination of his play, along with the emergence of running back Derrick Henry, who finished the year with over 1,500 yards rushing, made them a formidable force as they went on to finish their last 10 games of the season with a 7-3 record. However, the resurrected season looked like it was about to be put to rest with their first opponent in postseason play, Tom Brady.

Widely considered the goat of football stood waiting to knock off Tennessee at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Brady proved to be almost unbeatable at Foxborough during playoff time. In his 23 games at home in the postseason with the Patriots, he had a record of 20-3. The Titans however were able to combat this.

 Many players on the roster were never put in a big game situation like that before, and just went out and treated it like a regular game. Tennessee played well and knocked off the Patriots in the Wildcard round 20-17. The Titans seemed to keep that same mindset, as they then went to take on the 14-2 Baltimore Ravens.

Tennessee was listed as a double-digit point underdog against the 2019-2020 league MVP, and quarterback for the Ravens, Lamar Jackson. The Titans won this matchup 28-12. The two improbable wins led the Titans to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Chiefs. It was their first appearance in an AFC championship since 2003.

They led the Chiefs at the start of the game 10-0 but soon fell apart. Kansas City went on to outscore Tennessee 35-14 the rest of the way, winning the game 35-24, and just a couple of weeks later they went on to win the Super Bowl. Since then the Titans have not sniffed a shot at the big game.

So for some people who voted for the Eagles to win, they might have still not forgiven the Chiefs for putting the Titans best season in the last 20 years to an end.

They have won too much and are everywhere.

People love to see someone win for the first time in a long time, but not many people like to see someone win consecutively three years in a row. The Chiefs Super Bowl win in 2020 was their first one since 1970. The Chiefs Super Bowl win last year was their first win, well since the year before that. They are currently one game away from doing what no one in NFL history has ever done before, which is that no team has ever won three Super Bowls in a row. Some people who voted for the Eagles to win might be getting a little tired of Patrick Mahomes lifting that Lombardi Trophy. Another reason people might not want Kansas City to win is it feels like they’re everywhere. People may be getting tired of hearing about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift on whatever morning talk show they choose to watch, or they might be tired of seeing countless numbers of Chiefs games on national TV.

The Chiefs in the 2024-2025 season had the most nationally televised games out of any team in the NFL, with 12 total games.

Why people might want the Eagles to lose

Now it is the smaller majority, with less than 30% of people voting that they want the Chiefs to win, but here are a couple things that might have swayed voters to not choose Philadelphia to win–other than the fact that they are just a Chiefs fan.

One reason people may have is they can’t stand seeing a former Titans star player in an Eagles uniform.

The Titans in the 2022 NFL draft made a trade that no one saw coming. Tennessee decided to move on from their star receiver A.J. Brown for a return hall of the 18th pick in the draft that turned into wide receiver Treylon Burks, and they also received the 101st pick which they later traded in the draft. Brown in three seasons with Philadelphia has totaled 4,031 receiving yards–averaging out to 1,343 yards a season. Burks in his three years as a Titan has got just 699 yards receiving–not even a fifth of Brown’s total yards. So, there still may be a little salt there for Tullahoma natives who support the NFL team stationed in TN.

Another reason people might not like the Eagles to win is because of a play they run titled “the tush push”. It is a unique quarterback sneak that Philadelphia has perfected. Every time the Eagles run it they almost always get a yard. If the yardsticks show second, third, or fourth and short, the Eagles are undoubtedly going into that jumble formation despite how unappealing it may appear to viewers.

In their previous game against the Washington Commanders they had the ball on the one-yard line, and lined up to do the “tush push” five straight times. They drew the Commanders offside four times before quarterback of the Eagles Jalen Hurts pushed himself into the end zone for a touchdown.

At the end of the day there are many reasons to like or not like either of these teams, let’s just hope it’s a good game on Sunday, as two of the most talented squads the NFL has to offer square off for 48 minutes.