Three reasons why Chiefs will win 2025 Super Bowl: Patrick Mahomes winning drive too much for Eagles

History was made on Jan. 20, 2019, although none of us knew it at the time. That day, the NFL’s greatest dynasty this century defeated the team that would quickly take the mantle as the league’s next juggernaut. 

That night, the Patriots defeated the Chiefs to win their ninth and final AFC title with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick leading the way. Their dominance has been mimicked by the Chiefs, who have picked up where New England left off. But on Sunday, the Chiefs can do something not even the Patriots were able to do, and that’s win an unprecedented, third consecutive Super Bowl. 

Kansas City’s opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, is a very worthy challenger to the Chiefs’ kingdom. The Eagles are coming off a 14-3 regular season, boast one of the NFL’s top offensive quartets (led by rushing champion Saquon Barkley) and a tough defense that’ll undoubtedly give Mahomes and Co. some fits. Philadelphia is good, but I wouldn’t bet against the Chiefs and their pending date with destiny. 

Here are the three biggest reasons why the Chiefs will win their fourth Super Bowl during the Mahomes/Andy Reid era, starting with the quarterback who has already become the stuff of legend. 

Just like we thought that we wouldn’t see another team as dominant as the Patriots, not many of us fathomed seeing a quarterback as masterful as Brady this soon. But just as the Chiefs have become the new Patriots, Mahomes has become the new Brady, or dare we say, an even better version of TB12. 

It may be a little premature to coronate Mahomes as the greatest of all time, but he certainly deserves a seat at the table when it comes to the quarterback Mount Rushmore. At this point, the Brady-Mahomes comparison is similar to the Jordan-LeBron debate. Brady still has more rings, but Mahomes’ unique mastery of the quarterback position has led to a similar level of dominance. 

Their biggest similarity is their brilliance in big games. Brady was unflappable in big moments, and so is Mahomes, who can improve to 4-1 in Super Bowls with a win over the Eagles. Like Brady, a big key to Mahomes’ success has been his ability to seemingly always come up with big plays at crucial moments, like his 19-yard run on a third-and-1 play in overtime during last year’s Super Bowl win over the 49ers. The big run helped set up his game-winning touchdown pass. 

That’s just one example of Mahomes making a big play at a critical moment in a big game. Regardless of the opponent or the situation, Mahomes seemingly always come through. He’s the biggest reason why the Chiefs are on the precipice of history. 

One last thing on the Mahomes-Brady comparisons. Brady’s unrivaled desire to win was an underrated part of his success, and the same thing applies to Mahomes. While he may not show it publicly, Mahomes is an intense competitor who will launch himself into harm’s way with zero hesitation if it means winning the game. While he may sound like Kermit, Mahomes’ competitive mindset is more in line with the Terminator; he’ll do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission.  

2. Chiefs’ supporting cast 

While the Eagles have the four-headed monster of Barkley, Jalen Hurts and wideouts A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, the Chiefs have a less heralded, albeit similarly talented group of skill players, led by future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce. The Chiefs’ depth at the skill positions is what makes them so tough to defend against. You simply never know where the ball is going. 

Along with Kelce, the Chiefs’ skill players includes the NFL’s fastest receiver duo in Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown, a possible future Hall of Fame wideout in DeAndre Hopkins, a proven red zone threat in tight end Noah Gray, and two tough, capable running backs in Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco. 

This depth has opened up the play-calling menu for Reid, who routinely keeps defenses guessing by spreading the ball around. The biggest beneficiary of this is Mahomes, who seemingly always finds the open teammate. 

Defenses basically have to pick their poison when facing the Chiefs offense. In the AFC Championship game, the Bills did a good job taking away Kelce, who was held to 19 yards on two catches. But the attention on Kelce opened things up for Worthy, who shined with 101 all-purpose yards that included his second-quarter touchdown catch.

Kansas City’s unique depth at the skill positions harkens back memories of another legendary team. The 1984 49ers offense didn’t have the top-end talent that their opponent, the Miami Dolphins, had going into Super Bowl XIX. But they had significantly more depth, which allowed them to score 38 points in a 22-point romp of Miami in what was Dan Marino’s only Super Bowl appearance. Joe Montana flourished that day with 390 total yards and four touchdowns. 

Like Montana did that afternoon, I expect Mahomes to take full advantage of his offensive firepower on Sunday. 

3. Defense 

Defense has been the Chiefs’ secret sauce during their dynasty. While Mahomes rightfully gets a lion’s share of the praise, Kansas City’s defense has loomed large in the team’s success over the past seven years. 

That has especially been the case the last two years, with the Chiefs defense outperforming their offense from a statistical standpoint. While Kansas City’s offense has been 15th in the league in scoring each of the past two years, its defense has finished second and fourth in the NFL in fewest points allowed, respectively. 

In last year’s Super Bowl, the Chiefs defense held the potent 49ers offense to 19 points in regulation before holding them to a field goal in overtime. Kansas City was especially dominant on third down, holding San Francisco to just 3 of 12 in that department. 

When it comes to Barkley, the Chiefs have experience when it comes to facing an elite back on football’s biggest stage. In last year’s Super Bowl, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey had 160 total yards and a touchdown on 30 touches. While he clearly made his mark, McCaffrey averaged just 3.6 yards per carry with a long run of 11 yards. He had seven touches for a modest 28 yards on the 49ers’ final drive that included a run for no gain on his final touch of the night. 

Kansas City’s ability to contain McCaffrey was a big reason why it won last year’s Super Bowl, and the Chiefs will have to mimic that success Sunday against Barkley. Barkley will likely get his share of yards, but the Chiefs won’t care about that. Their goal will be to limit Barkley’s impact while forcing Hurts to step up. 

The Chiefs defense has high-quality players at every level to do that, from defensive lineman Chris Jones to defensive end George Karlaftis to linebacker Nick Bolton to cornerback Trent McDuffie. They also have one of the best defensive coordinators of all time in Steve Spagnuolo, who likely has several blitz packages rolled up his sleeve for Hurts, who battled through a knee injury during the final stretch of the season. 

Defense may not get the headlines, but it still decides championships. Kansas City’s defense has been stellar for the majority of this legendary run, and the unit will come up big once against on Sunday night.