There were points where it all felt too good to be true, and spots where maybe it could've been, including on Sunday night down in New Orleans.
But in early October, the train got fully going, it never stopped, and then incredibly, in Super Bowl LIX, it just ran right over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Eagles are Super Bowl Champions.
They're bringing home the franchise's second-ever Lombardi Trophy, and didn't just come back to thwart the Chiefs dynasty to do it, they totally decimated it in a 40-22 final.
Green and white confetti poured down from the Superdome ceiling, with the result easily in hand by the fourth quarter. Fans spilled out into the streets to celebrate back at home once it was a guarantee, and in a few days' time, there's going to be another parade up Broad Street and down the Parkway to the Art Museum steps, swarmed by an emphatic crowd of millions.
It feels too good to be true, but it's all real.
Philadelphia just saw the impossible happen, again.
And this Eagles team, which constantly proved how special they really were, will now forever be immortal.
So take it all in, and cherish every last second.
Hold on to Saquon Barkley's impact. From the moment he signed in March, after the New York Giants bafflingly let him walk while on camera, the Eagles' entire outlook changed.
They had a good offense that, on paper, was about to take a leap into elite. And Barkley made that leap, literally…and backwards, with more than 2,000 yards rushing and a ton of highlight-reel scoring runs to go along with it, plus the lasting images of him taking off into the open field toward a sea of green and "M-V-P!" chants out in L.A., through the snow against the Rams right back here in Philly for the playoffs, on the Eagles' first offensive play of the NFC Championship Game a week later as they dropped a historic 55 points on Washington, and yeah, that backwards hurdle way back in November against Jacksonville – the moment that set new phone lock screens everywhere and signaled on the spot that this year was going to be something different.
Barkley's season was record-setting, generational even, and he captured the hearts of the Delaware Valley in a way only a few other athletes have before him. Now he and the Eagles have the trophy to put a perfect bow on all of it.
"This is what you dream about," Barkley said after he ran through the snow and the Rams in the Eagles' Divisional Round win a few weeks back. "This why I came to Philly. I wanted to be a part of games like this."
And he kept rising to the occasion with each passing one, even though the load was split elsewhere for that last game.
Remember where this team was just over a year ago, and the enormous heat that was on Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts because of it.
The back half of the 2023 season had spiraled out of control, and went into total collapse with a Wild Card pummeling from Tampa. Hurts struggled to pick up the blitz and never looked as good as he did in 2022 when he broke out into MVP-caliber form. He had just signed the long-term, big-money extension, but his ability as a starting QB quickly fell into doubt again, and Sirianni, after the Eagles lost six of their last seven, fans and media all over were calling for his job, which lasted for a long time.
But they both endured it, even through a frustrating 2-2 start to this season that only made the pressure that much greater. They made it to the other side, now clearly at the best they've ever been.
It wasn't always smooth, and definitely not always pretty, but from Week 6 onward, Hurts found his ways to get the Eagles by, picked up his passing in the NFC Championship Game at just the right time, and then came out with the MVP effort on the biggest stage of them all to leave a tough Kansas City defense stunned.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie hands the Lombardi Trophy to Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts as Nick Sirianni and the rest of the team look on during the celebration.
And Sirianni, for whatever level of unpopular he was on the outside, his players stood by him, and the results speak for themselves: The Eagles won 16 of their last 17 games, including Sunday night to clinch the Super Bowl title, in his team's second visit to it in three years and just his fourth overall as a head coach. He won't be going anywhere anytime soon now.
"Adversity does something to you, right?" Sirianni said earlier in the week. "If you embrace adversity, it can shape you to who you are."
"We're thankful for that," he continued, calling back to 2023's implosion and the early struggles that lingered from it into 2024. "As bad as it sucked at the time, I know I'm grateful for that – I speak for myself. I'm grateful for that because it shaped us into who we are now and is a big reason why we're back here sitting at this moment again. Embracing adversity is huge, for your development as a person, as a player, as a coach."
And now as a champion, too, with the best Gatorade shower of his life.
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Then prize all of the other moments, efforts, heroes, and even setbacks in between that built up to Sunday night, and to the cathartic celebration on the field in New Orleans, in the streets of Philly, and to wherever anyone might be wearing Midnight or Kelly Green, with the biggest smile on their face or with tears of joy in their eyes.
Because it took Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson, Jordan Mailata, and Jeff Stoutland on the sideline continuing to uphold the strong offensive line in football, Cam Jurgens taking over at center for Jason Kelce without missing a beat, and Mekhi Becton reigniting his career at right guard after it fell into turmoil with the Jets.
It took A.J. Brown keeping his focus when he wasn't getting targets, "Inner Excellence," and when their time did finally arrive, both Brown and DeVonta Smith making the timely and sometimes even insane catches, with each of them grabbing a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
It took Dallas Goedert working those quicker passes underneath, some mean stiff arms from him, too, Kenny Gainwell and Jahan Dotson finding their openings with fewer looks, and Jake Elliott, after an inconsistent year kicking, coming up perfect when it mattered the most.
It took Zack Baun breaking out into an All-Pro at linebacker and making a crucial pick off Patrick Mahomes, Nakobe Dean's own ascension before his injury, and Oren Burks holding up as the next man up when the call came to him.
It took C.J. Gardner-Johnson coming back, and all of his energy along with that, Reed Blankenship barreling down and destroying routes from up top, Cooper DeJean spiking titans into the ground and housing pick-sixes on the greats, and Quinyon Mitchell coming in and putting top receivers on an island right from the start.
It took Jalen Carter being a game-wrecker in the trenches at all times, Nolan Smith progressing faster and faster off the edge, Jordan Davis stuffing the run, Milton Williams bursting through and stripping the ball away, and in maybe their last games as Eagles, Josh Sweat getting to Mahomes twice, Brandon Graham making his way back from a torn triceps to terrorize a QB one last time, and Darius Slay finding a way to turn the clock back on 34 to 24.
It took Howie Roseman to assemble another winning roster, Kellen Moore getting the offense humming through its rushing attack again and then through the air when they needed it most, and Vic Fangio bringing a defensive scheme and uses that seemed to be the exact right fit for every player he had to work with.
And it took Eagles fans everywhere, too. The thousands who ensured that Lincoln Financial Field was absolutely electric for every home game, all the ones who traveled from Brazil in Week 1 to New Orleans at the very end to give the Super Bowl a clear Philly crowd, the ones leaving no pole left unclimbed right now, and everyone who will be packing the city for the parade in a few days then be telling stories about this team forever.
Because these Eagles, they have a seat at forever now.
They won the Super Bowl. They left no doubt about who was better. And Philadelphia just saw the impossible happen, again.
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