Are the Eagles' chaplains asking God for a Super Bowl win?

Few are as well-positioned to ask God for an Eagles Super Bowl win as the Birds' three chaplains.

But Pastor Ted Winsley Sr. says he hasn't and he won't.  The nondenominational minister's heavenly request is simply that the Eagles play "without fear."

The Rev. Herb Lusk, a Baptist and a former Eagles running back, is praying that "God's will be done," whatever that may be.

Only the Rev. Thomas Barcellona, a Catholic priest, isn't shy about asking the Almighty to run celestial interference on Sunday.

"At the end of the [team] Mass," he said, "we always pray that the players stay healthy, there's a good game — and victory comes upon us."

The three men, volunteers all, have been the Eagles' spiritual guides through a year of injuries, disappointments, and startling triumphs, and they're continuing to counsel the team as it heads into what could be an historic win or a stinging loss. A prior commitment is keeping Barcellona, who tends to the Catholic players and prepares them for pre-game sacraments, from traveling to Minneapolis; he will be replaced by two Camden Diocese priests. Winsley, who ministers to the Protestants, and Lusk, the lead chaplain, who tends to the coaches, are already in the frozen North to shepherd a flock increasingly known for speaking openly and often about their faith.

At the start of his chaplaincy in the early 2000s, Winsley recalled, "I saw that many of them had everything, but didn't have anything. Many of the guys that came to Bible study were seekers. They may have come in because they wanted God to help them with their God — football. They'd think, 'I'll be in here and get lucky on the field.' Instead, they developed a relationship with God, and their lives changed."

Wide receiver Marcus Johnson was baptized in October in a hotel pool during an away-game trip to Charlotte, N.C. "For me, it's everything," he said this week. "It's just committing to taking the next step, saying that I genuinely want to do better. I'm ready to commit my life to God and our savior, Jesus Christ. From there, I've just taken it one day at a time."

In the early part of the 2016 season, Winsley and Eagles tight end Trey Burton baptized five players in the cold tub at the team's practice facility in Philadelphia.

Each chaplain has his own home congregation to lead. For Winsley, 46, it's the Family Church in Voorhees, which he co-pastors with his wife, Dawn.  Before stepping into the pulpit, he was a human resources supervisor for a shirt manufacturer and a national sales manager for FUBU (For Us by Us), a  clothing line founded by Daymond John of ABC's Shark Tank. But before that, he had his own pro football dreams.

Born and reared in Delaware, Winsley played for Dover High School. As a sophomore running back, he was tackled during a play and spun into a fence, leaving him with a concussion and fractured vertebrae. After the injury, he realized pro ball wasn't for him.

He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in agriculture business from Delaware State University, and eventually moved to New Jersey to be near his wife's family. In the mid-1990s, he joined Living Faith Christian Center in Pennsauken, then led by the Rev. Lamont McLean, an Eagles chaplain. McLean enlisted Winsley, by then an assistant pastor at the church, to help out with his sideline ministry. "I carried the books and set up the mic," he recalled.

Eventually, McLean concluded he was too old to relate to the players and ceded his chaplaincy. He died in 2007.

Since then, Winsley has gone on to found his own church, a 400-member congregation that will be moving into a new facility in several weeks.

The spiritual care and feeding of the Eagles continues unabated. Winsley not only leads weekly Bible studies, but often is called on to help players deal with off-the-field pressures, from financial worries to "marital issues dealing with trust." In a sport that spits out players after three years on average, divorce rates are high and million-dollar paydays breed money troubles, Winsley said.

Barcellona, 60, pastor of Our Lady of Help Parish in Galloway and Egg Harbor City, N.J., also took over for an outgoing Eagles chaplain. His predecessor, the Most Rev. James F. Checchio, was appointed to the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he served as rector; he is now the Bishop of Metuchen, N.J.

In 2004, Barcellona became a team chaplain, and on Feb. 6, 2005, traveled to the Super Bowl to witness the Eagles' loss to  the New England Patriots.

He has run a retreat house in Blackwood, and supervised the Camden Diocese's office of youth ministry. His only gridiron experience was as a lineman and receiver playing sandlot ball when he was growing up in North Jersey.

Barcellona leads the pre-home-game Masses at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott, where the team stays the night before taking the field.

"We always talk about playing to the best of their ability," he said. "We saw everything that happened this past season. Despite the injuries and adversities, they're in the Super Bowl."

Lusk, 64, senior pastor of Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia, became an Eagles chaplain about 14 years ago, at the request of then-coach Andy Reid. He focuses his ministry on the coaches, leads a Bible study for them, preaches at team chapel services in Philadelphia, and finds other pastors to lead services in away-game cities.

Lusk played for the Birds in the late 1970s. At a game against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands in 1977, he reportedly became the first NFL player to take a knee — in prayer — in the end zone.

"At the time, I just wanted to give thanks for my talent. I couldn't wait to get in the end zone," Lusk said. "But I had no idea that it would free up so many other athletes to express their faith."

He left the game after three years to pursue the ministry, earning a master of divinity degree from Reformed Episcopal Seminary, then in Philadelphia. In 1982, he became pastor of Greater Exodus, and proceeded to expand the membership from 17 to 2,000.

As for Sunday's Super Bowl, an Eagles victory may depend not on who's picking sides on high, but who's got hunger and heart.

And "guess who's the hungriest?" he said.

Not the Patriots, with five Super Bowl wins. The Eagles, with none, are starving.

"This is classic David and Goliath," Lusk said.

"I used to score my touchdown and pray. But who wins football games? It's the boys up front in the trenches on offense and defense. We match up well. Our defense is going to take it to them. I believe the Eagles are going to win this game."