What they’re saying: The Eagles are the ‘best team in the world,’ leaving Chiefs fans to ‘fear what awaits’

The analysts — well, most of them — and power rankings agree. The Birds are the top team in the NFL.

Eagles running back D'Andre Swift (right) tells the crowd in Kansas City to quiet down after his first-quarter touchdown as wide receivers Olamide Zaccheaus (center) and DeVonta Smith join the celebration.Read moreDavid Maialetti / Staff Photographer

by Matt Ryan

Published Nov. 21, 2023, 3:50 p.m. ET

Monday’s Super Bowl rematch was quite different from the real thing that took place last February. Both the Eagles and Chiefs offenses struggled for stretches, and the Eagles defense was able to adjust in the second half this time.

Even though it was sloppy, the Eagles came away with the win and improved to an NFL best 9-1 this season. Here’s what the media are saying about the Birds following the big win.

The Eagles broke the Chiefs

In the Kansas City Star, columnist Sam McDowell wrote about how the Eagles defense basically dared the Chiefs to beat them with the passing game in the second half. Kansas City ran all over the Eagles in the first half, but after mid-game adjustments from Sean Desai and the Eagles defense, the Chiefs struggled in the running game and were held scoreless over the last two quarters.

The Eagles determined Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco was too much of a first-half problem. So the team with Mahomes in shotgun watched an opposing defense do all it could to stop, um, the running game. I mean this with truly no disrespect to Pacheco, who was outstanding Monday, but there was a time quite recently when turning your attention from Mahomes to Pacheco would have been like turning off a Martin Scorsese film because cable TV is replaying the movie Air Bud.

Hasn’t this been the dream for the Chiefs’ offense? To have the chance to take some shots downfield?

Yet in the latest version of how-to-shut-out-the-Chiefs-after-halftime, the Eagles bet the Chiefs couldn’t connect downfield. And then they left Kansas City with a bag.

“They came up, and they forced us to throw the football,” Mahomes said. “We didn’t answer the bell.”

Listen, the Eagles are terrific. Best record in the NFL. But if that quote does not accurately paint the low point for the 2023 offense — and let’s be clear this is strictly about the offense — we should fear what awaits.

Sam McDowell

Peyton Manning, Pat McAfee and the Eagles’ ugly win

Monday’s game was anything but pretty for the Eagles. Philadelphia trailed by double digits at halftime, had five three-and-outs, and zero third down conversions in the first half. Somehow, the Eagles came back to win.

“I felt like in the Super Bowl, the Eagles played better than the Chiefs, probably, and the Chiefs won. I feel like tonight, the Chiefs played better and the Eagles won,” Peyton Manning said in the closing minutes of Monday night’s Manningcast. “Maybe that’s how it works.”

Meanwhile on Tuesday, ESPN’s Pat McAfee said during an appearance on First Take that fans might want to get used to the Birds winning ugly.

“I think they can continue to win ugly because, to Shannon [Sharpe’s] point, as the weather continues to get worse, you’ve got to be able to run the ball, you’ve got to be able to stop the run.” McAfee said. “You’ve got to be able to, whenever it’s close or in the fourth quarter whenever you’re down, you’ve got to be able to make big plays in big-time moments. They have superstars in all the positions you need superstars to be in.”

The ‘best team in the world’ or ‘completely outplayed’?

Despite their 9-1 record, no one in Philadelphia — or beyond — would say the Birds have played their best football yet, but they just find ways to win against talented teams.

“I just keep waiting for the Eagles to be exposed. I keep waiting,” NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt said on Good Morning Football on Tuesday. “We’re heading to Week 12 now, and we’ve heard everything from ‘a storm is coming’ to ‘this team is not as good as last year.’ They’re 9-1. They just gave [Patrick] Mahomes his first-ever home loss in November, and I keep hearing about this schedule, it’s going to catch up with them. It was going to be Miami, and then it was going to be Dallas, now it’s Kansas City. Now we’re going to say Buffalo’s going to beat them. People don’t beat them.”

And now that they’re the co-favorites to win the Super Bowl, expectations for the Eagles locally are at an all-time high.

“The Eagles are the best team in the world, and we got to see it play out last night,” former Eagles fullback turned 94.1 WIP host Jon Ritchie said. “The Chiefs got to watch the Eagles pass them by. This was a changing of the guard.”

But not everyone is on board — even after watching the Birds go into Kansas City and pull off the comeback win. The Eagles’ early struggles and the Chiefs’ late gaffes seemed to stick with some.

“I walk away from that game thinking the Chiefs are a better football team than the Eagles. … The Chiefs completely outplayed, in so many different areas, the Eagles,” former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky said on The Pat McAfee Show.

Orlovsky harped on the Chiefs’ red zone turnovers and drops as the reasons for the loss, and he said all the problems they’ve had this season are fixable.

Fortunately for the doubters — and there are fewer each week — the Eagles will have another tough test on Sunday when they host the Bills.

NFL power rankings update

Every major outlet has the Eagles No. 1 in the Week 12 power rankings after also having them No. 1 last week.

ESPN: No. 1 (Last week’s rank No. 1)
NFL.com: No. 1 (Last week’s rank No. 1)
NBC Sports: No. 1 (Last week’s rank No. 1)
CBS Sports: No. 1 (Last week’s rank No. 1)
The Athletic: No. 1 (Last week’s rank No. 1)
USA Today: No. 1 (Last week’s rank No. 1)
The Ringer: No. 1 (Last week’s rank No. 1)