Recap of the Super Bowl LII

It was a complete surprise how the Super Bowl LII ended. The New England Patriots have lost an amazing game against the Philly Eagles with a score of 33-41. The New England Patriots had won 5 Super Bowls (2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, and 2017) while Eagles have won one and only Super Bowl, the Super Bowl LII. With the Eagles winning the first-ever Super Bowl against an all 5 time Super Bowl winner, it surprised both the Patriots and the Eagle fans.

So what is the Super Bowl? The Super Bowl is an annual competition between the different states in the United States of America. The NFL (National Football League) teams consist of 32 different state teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburg Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, and the Philadelphia Eagles. It was initially a merged agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues champion teams would play in the AFL-NFL World Championship Game until 1970, when the merger officially began. After the merger, each league was redesigned as a conference, and the games have since been played between the conference teams to determine the NFL’s league champion. That is how the Super Bowl came to be.

The Patriots were founded on November 16th, 1959. The current head coach is Bill Belichick with his defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. The stadium for the Patriots is in Foxborough Massachusetts called Gillette Stadium. They have gone  to the Super Bowl games 10 times, but have only won 5/10 of the games. The Patriots struggled most of their years in the AFL tournaments and never really had their own home field. Nickerson Field, Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park, and Alumni Stadium all served as their home field during the time of the American Football League. When the NFL and AFL merged in 1970, the Patriots were placed in the American Football Conference (AFC) East Division, where they still play today. In 1971, the Patriots moved into a new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which served as their home field for the next 30 years. After the move, their name changed twice to Boston Patriots and Bay State Patriots but both were rejected. The official name then later came to be the New England Patriots. In 1978, the Patriots had won their first AFC East championship game. They then were eligible for the Super Bowl XX, which they lost to the Chicago Bears 46-10. The team would not make the playoffs for eight more years. The ownership changed three times in the ensuing 14 years, being purchased by Victor Kiam in 1988 to James Orthwein in 1992, which then sold the team to the current owner Robert Kraft in 1994. Though Orthwein’s ownership was short, he has done major changes to the team from hiring the former coach from New York Giants coach Bill Parcells in 1993, to changing the uniform color from the traditional red, white, and blue to blue and silver. The Patriots’ got their current coach Bill Belichick in 2000, and a new home field, Gillette Stadiumm in 2002. With Belichick, the Patriots had won 3 Super Bowls in 2001, 2003, 2004, and finished the 2007 season with a clean record of 16-0 making it the 4th team in the league history to go undefeated in the regular seasons. In Super Bowl XLII, the Patriots had lost to the New York Giants 16-0, making the Patriots W/L of 18-1, becoming the only one of the three teams to go 18-1, with San Francisco 49ers in 1984 and the Chicago Bears in 1985. The Patriots returned to the Super Bowl in 2012 and lost to the Giants 21-17. They won the Super Bowl XLIX, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in 2015. They won the Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons making the Patriots having 5 Super Bowl victories, tied with the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. Finally, the Super Bowl LII, the Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 41-33 ending their win streak and giving the Eagles their first win.

The history of the Philadelphia Eagles began in 1933. The Eagles had only appeared in the Super Bowl 3 times, losing the first two appearances and winning the third, Super Bowl LII. The Frankford Yellow Jackets, who had won the NFL championship in 1926, went bankrupt and ceased Philadelphia NFL Franchise operations midway through the season. After more than a year of finding a suitable replacement,  the NFL granted the University of Philadelphia Lud Way and Bert Bell. The Philadelphia Eagles had a golden age from 1940-1949 when the team moved from Philadephia Municipal Stadium to Shibe Park. The team was purchased by Art Rooney, who had just sold the Pittsburg Steelers to Alexis Thompson, which then moved the entire Eagles team to Pittsburg. During World War 2 when the manpower was in shortage, the two teams, Eagles and Steelers, joined together to form a team popularly known as “Steagles”. The merge was never intended to be a permanent arrangement as it was later separated at the end of the 1943 season. From 1950-1959, the Eagles have participated in the NFL championship in 1950 against the Cleveland Browns, who had previously won the AAFC championship. The game ended with a 35-10 win by the Browns. The Eagles never recovered and finished with a record of 6-6. From 1960-1969, it was the toughest times for the Philadephia Eagles. Many people hated Kuharich as a coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, as he wasted top-tier talents such as Timmy Brown, Ollie Matson, and Ben Hawkins and eventually drove the Eagle’s Franchise down to dirt. In 1971, the Eagles moved from Franklin Field to a brand-new Veterans Stadium. In 1980-1989, the Eagles started to win games. In 1991, the Eagles became the first NFL team to rank first in both passing and rushing yardage. With a strong division, the team lost despite of having a record of 10-6. In 1980, the Eagles defeated the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game granting them their first spot in the Super Bowl. Doug Pederson has been announced the head on January 18, 2016. The Eagles defeated the Vikings 38-7 to win the NFC Championship. They then went on to win their first ever Super Bowl championship against the Patriots in the Super Bowl LII.

All in all, the Eagles beat the Patriots in a fair game of 33-41 with the Eagles leading. Some people say the Eagles have proven the Falcons should have beaten the Patriots in last year’s Super Bowl game by winning this year’s Super Bowl LII and also by being the underdog in the final game. Some people also said the Patriots “let” the Eagles win this year’s Super Bowl game. If you want to know more about this, check out this article. In the end, the Eagles won their first Super Bowl ever in the Super Bowl league and the whole United States of America, besides New England, are proud of their accomplishments. If you want to know why everyone hates the New England Patriots, check this article out.