“The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions! Eagles fans everywhere, this is for you! Let the celebrations begin!”

Every Eagles fan remembers this call from legendary Eagles radio announcer Merrill Reese when the Eagles defeated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl 52 in 2018. “The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions!” These were the words Eagles fans always dreamed of hearing. Some Eagles fans never lived to see the day. The words had extra resonance because Eagles fans endured so much heart break. The Eagles lost a previous super bowl in the 1980 season, had a legendary defense led by Reggie White along with Randall Cunningham at quarterback in the late 1980s and early 1990s but had only one playoff victory and one division title to show for that. The Eagles won another playoff game in the 1995 season but quickly became bottom dwellers.

That changed when Andy Reid was hired, and Donovan McNabb became the quarterback. They arrived in 1999 and turned things around by 2000 as the Eagles went 11-5. The Eagles then went 48-16 over the next four years en route to making the NFC championship game each year, having the best record in the NFC three times and losing a close Super Bowl to the New England Patriots in 2005, a team later found to have been cheating. The Eagles remained contenders for the rest of the decade, which included another NFC championship game loss in the 2009 season.

The Reid-McNabb Eagles’ losses in the 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2009 seasons were crushing to take for different reasons. Every Eagles fans knows “Fourth and 26” or “Joe Jurevicius” and other iconic moments (good or bad) from that era. Not to mention disappointments in 2006 and 2010, the latter being the year Michael Vick had a MVP caliber season. The Eagles bounced from being a bad team to good but not great starting in 2011 until 2017 including the Chip Kelly fiasco. In 2017 the Eagles had the best record the entire season, but a championship was not expected because quarterback Carson Wentz was injured late in the season. Nick Foles, a career journeyman who the Eagles previously had traded away, would have to lead them to the promised land. No one expected that to happen! Of course, Foles had a great playoff run where he performed better the bigger the stage got including outdueling Tom Brady in the Super Bowl.

The Eagles had a great team, a Super Bowl winning coach (Doug Pederson), a great owner (Jeffrey Lurie) and great general manager (Howie Roseman), and Carson Wentz who was considered an elite quarterback then. Many Eagles fans, including me, expected this group to contend and probably win another Super Bowl–or two or three. Instead, the team would win only one more playoff game (2018 season, with Foles). Pederson, Wentz would be gone a few years later.  The team would be reconstructed and new coach Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts, drafted to be Wentz’s backup, would lead the way. Few Eagles fans could have in 2021 expected what was to come in the ensuing years.

Hurts blossomed into an elite quarterback, Sirianni proved his mettle, and Roseman quickly built another contender largely from scratch for the second time. The Eagles went from missing the playoffs in 2020 to the #1 seed in 2022.  They faced quarterback Patrick Mahomes, this generation’s Brady, Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles led by 10 at halftime and led most of the game only to lose narrowly at the end. Another heartbreak. The Eagles came back strong in the 2023 season before collapsing late in the year and exiting in the first round. The coach, quarterback and others were questioned. The Eagles silenced the critics by winning another Super Bowl against the same Chiefs—in dominating fashion.

The heartaches, ups and downs of the 90s, 00s, and the first part of the 10s made 2017 sweeter. The quick tailspin and equally quick resurrection made 2024 sweeter.

The NFL is king in the United States as is often observed but arguably no area has a bigger connection to their football team than the Philadelphia region does with the Eagles. Eagles fans live and die with the team and are there whether the team wins 4 games or 14.

If you told me in 1995 or 2005 or any point prior to 2017 that the Eagles would win one Super Bowl in my lifetime I would take it. To win two in a span of eight years? Unbelievable. The Eagles are poised to win more with their strong foundation, although we said the same thing after 2017 and that quickly unraveled. This time should be different. We are lucky to have an owner in Jeffrey Lurie, a brilliant GM in Howie Roseman, a great quarterback and leader on and off the field in Jalen Hurts and Coach Sirianni.

Fly Eagles Fly!