Eagles predicted by ESPN to make Super Bowl and lose to a familiar foe

The Philadelphia Eagles are heading into the 2026 season with a lot of questions about the team's ability to contend for a Super Bowl.

While the defense is still elite and might be better than ever this season, the offense is a huge question mark. A.J. Brown and Jeff Stoutland are gone, Sean Mannion has taken over, and there is some real reason to worry about the offensive line and Jalen Hurts.

However, ESPN's Bill Barnwell isn't too worried, as he's predicting the Eagles will make the Super Bowl. But there's a catch. He's also predicting they'll lose in the Super Bowl to a familiar opponent, losing this third matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Eagles predicted to lose Super Bowl to Chiefs

"That leaves us with a Super Bowl rubber match. And as you can probably guess, if I believed enough in the Chiefs to pick them to win the AFC, I'll ride with them to gain a measure of revenge and beat the Eagles in Super Bowl LXI," Barnwell writes.

An Eagles vs. Chiefs Super Bowl rematch would be quite the spectacle, as it'd be the matchup in the Super Bowl every other year three times in a row.

The Chiefs won in 2022, the Eagles won in 2024, and now Barnwell is predicting the Chiefs will win in 2026.

Both teams have extremely high ceilings and could make the Super Bowl without a leap in logic. Even though the Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, and Baltimore Ravens might have the positive buzz, the Eagles and Chiefs are still elite.

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Barnwell's pick has the Chiefs winning 27-24 in Super Bowl LXI. While it's great to see the Eagles being predicted to make the Super Bowl, they'd lose to the Chiefs for the second time in the last five seasons.

The Chiefs have improved their offense with Kenneth Walker, but their offensive line is still a little bit of a question mark. The Eagles losing Brown might be enough of a difference to lose the big game if they make it there.

While Philadelphia making the Super Bowl would be great, it would be agonizing to lose another Super Bowl, especially to the Chiefs of all teams, during the Jalen Hurts era.

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