Eagles are Super Bowl favorites, but should they be?

The Eagles are currently favored to win Super Bowl LX by most sports books by a relatively wide margin over the other contending teams.

According to FanDuel, for example, the Birds have +500 odds, ahead of the Rams at +600 and then a big drop to the Bills at +850 and a bigger drop to the Colts, Chiefs, Lions, Seahawks, Ravens, Packers and Broncos — each at +1000 or worse.

It's true that the Eagles have the best record in the NFC at 8-2 and currently hold the No. 1 seed in the conference's playoff picture, but anyone who watches them play week in and week out knows they're a flawed football team.

Their offense is a mess and they're winning nearly every game ugly. They can't be the best team in the NFL, can they?

Why they deserve to be Super Bowl favorites

They're beating elite teams

The Eagles aren't feasting on a cupcake schedule. They have eight wins amid one of the toughest schedules in the sport. A look at their wins:

Five of their wins have come against teams we mentioned above as being top 10 Super Bowl favorites. And one of their losses, a big blown lead to the Broncos in a game they probably should have won, came against a sixth team with realistic title aspirations. They're battle tested against the best out there.

The defense is one of the best units in the sport

The season-long stats might not back this one up but the defense is peaking right now, and it's positively dominant. Against the Packers and Lions in back-to-back weeks Philly's D — boosted by health and the trade deadline acquisition of Jaelan Phillips — allowed just 16 total combined points from two of the better offenses in the sport.

Even after surrendering 25 or more points three times in the first six weeks of the season, and despite being out-gained yardage-wise in eight of their 10 contests so far, the Eagles defense ranks 7th in EPA per play. No defense has a lower completion percentage against or fewer touchdown passes allowed. They also have the third most QB knockdowns despite lacking in an abundance of sacks. They're healthy too.

They're the defending champs

It makes sense that the Eagles are betting favorites. They won the Super Bowl less than nine months ago and are sitting in first place. They have a roster that boasts superstars on both sides of the football and a front office that continues to draft as good or better than any other organization and wins nearly every trade it makes. And the other contenders are equally, if not more flawed (most of them have lost to the Eagles anyway).

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It's respect and the Eagles have earned it over the last half decade, as they've been real contenders every season since Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni teamed up — they've made the postseason every year since 2021, have won one Super Bowl and have been to two.

Why they're overrated

The offense is awful

We mentioned it but it bares repeating, the Eagles have been out-gained by their opponents in eight of their 10 games this season. They are wildly inconsistent, rarely putting together four quarters of successful football and have seen basically every metric drop from last season. The three-and out numbers are infuriating, and often the play-calling is too.

A look at some 2025 offensive numbers:

They are barely winning games

Of Philadelphia's eight wins, seven have been by a single possession (their mashing of the Giants in Week 8 was their only dominant win). It's a trend that we've seen come back to haunt teams in the past, like the 2024 Chiefs who seemed to walk a tightrope to wins every week before being dismantled in the Super Bowl.

Every week in Philadelphia, fans are feeling terrible about their team as the wins continue to pile up. Fans are waiting for the team to get it together and win comfortably and it just doesn't seem to happen. With the high-powered Cowboys offense in Dallas next on the schedule before playoff hopefuls in the Bears and Chargers ahead, the road isn't exactly easy the next few games.

They might be without their best player

Lane Johnson has a Lisfranc sprain in his foot. He is expected to miss at least four weeks, if not six, if not the rest of the season. He's been incredibly good protecting Hurts' on the right side, shutting down edge rushers by himself week in and week out. The Eagles offensive line has been battling injuries all year, from Cam Jurgens to Landon Dickerson, and as a result the run game has really suffered.

Johnson potentially being out for games that really matter could be a huge problem. The Eagles are 110-57-1 when they have their All-Pro on the field. They're 15-23 without him. Anyone thinking about betting on the Eagles should know that stat.

What do you think?

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