The Philadelphia Eagles are two-time Super Bowl champions. As we continue to celebrate, there’s one difference between the first and second Super Bowl that’s worth recognizing.
As I see it, the Eagles’ 2017 championship was for the city. This one is for the players.
Merrill Reese and Mike Quick‘s Gut Reactions
Just take it from radio play-by-play commentator and Philadelphia sports icon Merrill Reese. His reactions immediately following zeroes on the clock are telling:
The 2017 team: “Eagles fans everywhere, this is for you. Let the celebration begin.”
The 2024 team: “What a game. What a season. What a team.”
Reese mentioned the fans a few seconds later in his call. But it was less of a “they did it for you” kind of message. He told them to savor this one.
Color analyst and former Eagle Mike Quick was also on both calls. What did he have to say?
The 2017 team: “There’s gonna be a parade on Broad Street. Hey man, if this is a dream, don’t wake me up.”
The 2024 team: “I love this for the Eagles fan. They get an opportunity to really celebrate a great football team.”
The fact that Super Bowl LII came down to the last second and Super Bowl LIX was basically over before halftime may have played into it. Even after they had time to let it sink in, the focus was still on the fans in 2017, though.
Why?
Why the 2017 Super Bowl Was for the Fans
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the 2017 championship meant so much to the fans.
The Eagles have a notoriously loud and passionate fan base. That is despite having to endure endless heartbreak.
The Eagles hadn’t won a championship since 1960. It was a low-hanging fruit, but that didn’t stop the “no rings” insults.
It’s not like the other members of the Big 4 teams in the city were doing much better. The Flyers haven’t won a championship since 1975. The 76ers since 1983. The Phillies won in 2008, but the team was enduring an era of pre-Bryce Harper misery—they ranked 13th in National League attendance for a reason.
The Eagles were not favored to win a single game in the playoffs. Since 1975, they were the first No. 1 seed to be an underdog in their first playoff game. Everyone doubted Nick Foles, and he proceeded to have one of the greatest games in history—in the Super Bowl. Not bad for a backup quarterback.
That was the cherry on top for a city dying for a championship.
Why the 2024 Super Bowl Is for the Players
The 2017 championship fed a hungry fan base. So, a Super Bowl victory shortly after was going to be less about the fans from the get-go.
But you really have to appreciate what these players went through, specifically on this football team.
Jalen Hurts played the game of his life against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022. He lost the Super Bowl anyway.
Some great quarterbacks never recover from that—we’re still waiting on Joe Burrow, for example. Failing to seize the opportunity can haunt you for the rest of your life.
But Hurts returned. Against the same team. And he put the dagger in them himself—a touchdown pass to A.J. Brown was the game-winner, while his deep ball to DeVonta Smith put the game to bed. A man doubted his whole life is now on top of the world.
Speaking of those two receivers, they were also on the 2022 team. Losing was probably hard on them, too, but they got back against all odds. Now they are champions.
This can be applied to a lot of the roster. Even the non-returnees. Saquon Barkley spent his prime years on an uncompetitive New York Giants team, got lambasted and called “washed” for leaving them, then had the best running back season in history.
Let’s not pretend like the 2017 team didn’t have stories like this. They had plenty of individual adversity. But it wasn’t quite the same.
Fans are the reason sports are such a prominent industry.
But this one was less about us and more about them.
PHOTO: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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