Can Philly Repeat?

August 7th, 2025

By Stephen Juza

With the NFL season starting next month(!), attention in Philadelphia will soon shift to “Can the Eagles repeat?” While the recent success of the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots has certainly shifted the opinion that every champion is a budding dynasty, the simple fact remains this: Repeating is hard.

Overall, there have only been three other teams to repeat as Super Bowl Champions in the last thirty years: Kansas City Chiefs (2022-2023), New England Patriots (2002-2003), and the Denver Broncos (1997-1998). So in today’s article, let’s look at what the Eagles have, and how that may compare to what recent back-to-back champions have had in their favor.

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Coaching Staff

It’s impossible to get far in the league with a subpar head coach. So how does head coach Nick Sirianni stack up? In his four seasons as a head coach, he has made the playoffs each season, winning one Super Bowl and appearing in a second, all while averaging 12 wins a season. Certainly impressive numbers to the start of his career. How does Sirianni compare to the other three? Well, let’s just say if he can achieve half the career the others have, he could be on the cusp of a Hall of Fame career.

Between the other three coaches, Andy Reid (Chiefs), Bill Belichick (Patriots), and Mike Shanahan (Broncos), they have eleven Super Bowl titles and 748 career wins. Sirianni has a long ways to go before he is included in the rarefied air of those three coaches. But, after only four seasons, he does compare favorably to the others.

It took Reid twenty one years before he won his first Super Bowl. Belichick? Seven. Shanahan? He won his first in his fifth year as head coach. Each of the three also had several seasons of poor results before finally reaching the mountaintop. Sirianni was leading winning seasons right out of the gate. While it may take a while before people start attaching the “future hall of famer” label to him, the Eagles certainly feel they have something special with their coach.

Players

While coaching is important, it’s ultimately down to the players on the field, and the Eagles have a lot of terrific players on both sides of the ball. They are loaded with offensive firepower, led by reigning offensive player of the year, Saquon Barkley. In 2024, Barkley put together one of the best seasons by a running back in league history. When they weren’t running the ball, All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Brown was tacking on yards through the air.

On the defensive side of the ball, They are led by All-Pros Zack Baun (LLB) and Jalen Carter (LDT). In the secondary, they have two players in the top five of last year’s defensive rookie of the year voting and key veterans to help guide the way.. Overall, the Eagles defense allowed the fewest yards of any team in the league last year, and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will have them ready for 2025.

The past three times a team has repeated, they have had a hall of fame quarterback behind the center. While it’s earlier in Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts’ career, it is a night-and-day comparison between him and the other three quarterbacks (John Elway, Tom Brady, and Patrick Mahomes). Hurts could grow into that quarterback, but he may also not need to be as long as the Eagles defense keeps chugging along at the top of the league.

Luck and Injuries

Ultimately, there are so many factors that are out of a team’s control when the calendar flips to September. Promising seasons can be derailed by a key injury, similar to when Peyton Manning missed the entire 2011 season with a neck injury. Overnight, the team went from Super Bowl front runner to eventual first pick in the draft. But even if you are lucky with injuries, there are thirty one other teams you are competing against.

I feel that the NFC East may be looking at their first repeat division champion since the early 2000s. Their only true competition is likely against the Washington Commanders - I just don’t think the Cowboys or the Giants will be able to make up the ground against the Eagles.

But when we expand it out from the NFC East, their chief competition to reach the Super Bowl again will come from the NFC North. No one will be caught by surprise against the Lions this year after going 15-2 in 2024, just barely beating out the Vikings. And the Vikings will hopefully have a major upgrade at quarterback this season, after moving from Sam Darnold in 2024 to J.J. McCarthy in 2025.

Ultimately, there are just too many things that need to fall in place for the Eagles to repeat as champions. It’s incredibly tough, that’s why it’s so rare in the NFL. Much of the rosters turn over every year, injuries happen frequently, and only a few games mean that each one is make-or-break.