Superbowl 57: What You Need to Know

The Super Bowl is a staple of American culture as it provides football fans all across the nation time to enjoy a spectacle of athletic ability, musical performances, and funny commercials with friends and family. This year, Super Bowl 57 will be played between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world with over 100 million viewers every year. It will take place Sunday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m. EST in Glendale, Arizona at the Cardinal’s home turf, State Farm Stadium. 

Over the last month, 14 of the NFL’s best teams duked it out to be one of the two teams that reaches the Super Bowl. On Sunday, January 29th the conference championships for the AFC and NFC took place and decided this year’s Super Bowl contenders. The AFC championship was between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs, and the NFC championship was between the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles.

The AFC championship was a close and thrilling game that went down to the wire. Due to a last-minute penalty on the Bengals and a botched call by the refs, the Chiefs were able to score a field goal and secure a spot in Super Bowl 57. The star quarterback of the Bengals, Joe Burrow, yet again finds himself within arms reach of another Super Bowl appearance as he fell short of a victory in last year’s Super Bowl against the L.A. Rams. 

Looking into the history of the Super Bowl, the Bengals have never won and have only been to three, whereas the Chiefs have been to four Super Bowls and won two of them. Their most recent win being in 2020 against the San Francisco 49ers. Although the Bengals were a fan favorite to go to the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs were just too strong to overcome.

The NFC championship wasn’t nearly as exciting as the AFC game. The Eagle’s dominated the 49ers making it a boring game for non-Eagles fans. The main culprit was San Francisco’s quarterback issues, but also because the Vikings weren’t in it. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles have been the most dominant team in the NFL this season and with an easy win over the Giants in the divisional round and a clear victory over San Fran, the Eagles deserve to be in Super Bowl 57. 

San Francisco on the other hand played to the best of their ability but couldn’t get their offense going. The 49ers have had a tough season full of quarterback issues. Their first two starters got injured and their third-string quarterback, Brock Purdy, has been their QB for the last 7 games. Amazingly, Purdy got the 49ers to the NFC championship game, but after Purdy got injured early in the game and the 49ers had to bring in their fourth-string quarterback, they couldn’t recover. 

As mentioned, both the Chiefs and Eagles have appeared in and won a Super Bowl within the last five years. However, Super Bowl 57 is special in many ways. This year’s Super Bowl will be the first Super Bowl where both teams have a black starting quarterback, Mahomes and Hurts. Additionally, it will be the first Super Bowl where two brothers are facing off against one another, Jason Kelce from the Eagles and Travis Kelce from the Chiefs.

Currently, the Eagles are favored to win with a -1.5 spread and the Chiefs with a 1.5 spread, but this is subject to change as we get closer to the Super Bowl. With such a close spread, it should make for a great game!