The Ringer’s NFL writers have made their Super Bowl picks. Who will be right come Sunday night?
Kevin Clark
Winner: Eagles
Score: 24-22
MVP: Haason Reddick
I think Patrick Mahomes is the best player in football, so obviously he’s the best player in this game. But I don’t think even he can erase the gap in these rosters—particularly if he’s hobbled. The Chiefs are the second-best team in football this year, but the Eagles have elite offensive and defensive lines, and that will be what makes the difference Sunday.
Sheil Kapadia
Winner: Eagles
Score: 27-25
MVP: Jalen Hurts
I have flip-flopped roughly 3,000 times over the past two weeks. There’s a scenario in which Patrick Mahomes just carves the Eagles defense up, and the Chiefs string together long drive after long drive. But the Eagles pass rush has been so good this season. They don’t need to force a bunch of three-and-outs. They just need to come up with a few negative plays in high-leverage situations. Offensively, they don’t need to rethink this. The offensive line has been the backbone of the Eagles all season and should have an advantage over the Chiefs defensive line. The Eagles string together a long drive in the fourth quarter and kick the game-winning field goal as time expires.
Nora Princiotti
Winner: Eagles
Score: 28-27?
MVP: Jalen Hurts
The last time the Eagles were in the Super Bowl, I remember looking at the matchup and thinking that, even though it was ridiculous to even consider picking Nick Foles against Tom Brady, Philadelphia was better at just about every position besides quarterback. This feels similar. It’s a rare Super Bowl where it makes sense to pick against the better quarterback, but this is one of those times (and the gap isn’t nearly as wide now as it was in 2017).
Rodger Sherman
Winner: Eagles
Score: 34-31
MVP: Jalen Hurts
I basically spent all week switching my pick back and forth depending on whether I had just interviewed people on the Chiefs or the Eagles. But I think Philly makes one more stop than KC does.
Steven Ruiz
Winner: Chiefs
Score: 34-27
MVP: Patrick Mahomes
I’m picking the team that has Patrick Mahomes. Maybe that’s a bit too reductive, but I just think he is playing at a level we’ve never seen an NFL quarterback reach. The Eagles are a great team. They’d be a deserving champion in any year. Their pass rush is about to break records and could put Mahomes under pressure for much of the game. I just don’t think it matters. This isn’t the 2021 version of Mahomes that got rattled by the Buccaneers. This isn’t the 2022 version that threw away the game against Cincinnati in the playoffs. He has too many buttons he can push, and I think he’ll make enough plays to lead Kansas City to a victory in a high-scoring game. I’ll take the Chiefs 34-27 with Mahomes taking home MVP.
Danny Heifetz
Winner: Chiefs
Score: 34-30
MVP: Patrick Mahomes
An underrated aspect of this game is the massive disparity in experience on these coaching staffs. Andy Reid has been an NFL head coach for 24 years. Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni has been a head coach for two years. We’re talking about a guy coaching since before the iPod vs. a guy who has been coaching since the iPhone 13. The guys running the Chiefs units—Reid and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo—have both been coaching for a combined 81 years. The guys running the Eagles units—offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon—are a combined 76 years old. Give me the coaching staff old enough to bounce me on their lap and tell me about the war.
Ben Solak
Winner: Chiefs
Score: 34-31
MVP: Patrick Mahomes
I have said it on almost every pod I’ve joined, and now here for written posterity and the potential Twitter-brag screenshot: I think we’re in for a legendary game. I think I’m going to tell my kids about this. Not because I’m old and I want to tell my kids about when I was cool and did stuff, but because they’re going to hear about this game and want to know more about it. I think we’re going to get points, big plays, turnovers, a tight fourth quarter, and game-winning moments. I cannot wait.
With that said: I’m picking the Chiefs. It’s a 52-48 thing, it really is. I have a little more faith in Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ passing game if they get the ball down six with two minutes left than I do the Eagles’ passing game, and that’s just about the edge. Give me Patrick Mahomes for MVP in a barn burner.
Danny Kelly
Winner: Chiefs
Score: 33-31
MVP: Patrick Mahomes
I’ve consumed every piece of content the media has created in the run up to the Super Bowl. I have weighed every single possible angle with the help of both analytics and tape. I’ve read thousands of words and listened to dozens of hours of podcasts on the subject. And after all that I have decided that the Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes. With two weeks of rest, he’s going to be able to move around a little more in this one and get back to creating genius, unstoppable out-of-structure plays—and that’s going to be too much for Philly to contain.
Austin Gayle
Winner: Chiefs
Score: 28-21
MVP: Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes is the best player on the planet. He has managed to elevate his game to an entirely new level in 2022, and is still just now approaching the peak of his career. Quarterbacks on rookie contracts like Jalen Hurts aren’t cheat codes in roster construction; Mahomes with his 10-year, $500 million contract is the only cheat code in the NFL right now. Hurts has also elevated his game, and Eagles GM Howie Roseman has put together one of the best rosters and coaching staffs the league has to offer. But Philly doesn’t have Mahomes, and that’s all that is going to matter on Sunday.
