Five Reasons Why The Eagles Won’t Repeat as Super Bowl Champions

Defending an NFL title is historically brutal. Since the Super Bowl era began back in 1966, only eight franchises have ever gone back-to-back, and it’s happened nine times total. That rarity alone stacks the deck against a repeat. 

1) The Super Bowl Hangover is Real

Recent champions often stumble the very next year.

• 2022 Rams: fell to 5–12, the worst record ever by a defending Super Bowl winner.
• 2021 Buccaneers: lost at home in the Divisional Round to the Rams.
• 2018 Eagles (after winning SB LII): finished 9–7 and bowed out in the Divisional Round at New Orleans.

The Birds are still loaded but even elite rosters rarely run it back without turbulence.  Complacency vs. urgency is a real battle. The question shifts from “Can we climb the mountain?” to “Can we sustain our excellence, urgency and intensity?” That mental tax shows up in the details – stupidity penalties, undisciplined emoting, situational slippage, and one-score outcomes that went your way last year but don’t this year. Those potential losses make a huge difference in the top seed versus a road playoff game in the Wildcard round.  

2) The Scarlet Bullseye

Win the Lombardi and you inherit a first-place schedule plus a bullseye. Fourteen teams and three teams twice have you circled on their calendar with hopes of shocking the world on any given Sunday.  Division rivals build their offseasons around you, coordinators spend months scheming to erase your bread-and-butter concepts, and every Sunday feels like January. The cumulative strain shows up in November and December.  The Birds’ schedule is a minefield of trap games and they are the only reigning Super Bowl champions to not have back to back home games the following season.  Just sayin’.

3) Turnover, Turnover, Turnover

The cap punishes success. Breakout starters get paid, depth thins, and assistants get poached. Even when the core stays, the edges of the roster (CB3, WR4, OL swing, special teams) determine whether you steal two tight games which are often the difference between the 1-seed and a road wild card game.  The Birds still have their core in place but there was indeed an undeniable mass exodus this off-season.

Expired & Departed Free Agents

• Avonte Maddox – signed with Detroit Lions
• Fred Johnson – signed with Jacksonville Jaguars
• Oren Burks – signed with Cincinnati Bengals
• Parris Campbell – signed with Dallas Cowboys
• Mekhi Becton – signed with Los Angeles Chargers
• Josh Sweat – signed with Arizona Cardinals
• Milton Williams – signed with New England Patriots
• Kenneth Gainwell – signed with Pittsburgh Steelers
• Isaiah Rodgers – signed with Minnesota Vikings
  
  Releases

• James Bradberry – released (post‑June 1 designation) won’t return
• Darius Slay – released; subsequently signed with Pittsburgh Steelers
• Nick Gates – released in February
  
  Retirement

• Brandon Graham – a pivotal veteran presence and two-time Super Bowl champion, retired on March 18, 2025 after a legendary 15‑year career
  
  Trade Departures

• C.J. Gardner‑Johnson was traded to the Houston Texans in exchange for Kenyon Green and a draft pick
• Kenny Pickett was traded to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for Dorian Thompson‑Robinson and draft pick

General manager Howie Roseman did a bang-up job replenishing the roster as best he could but I count at least 12 significant pieces to their championship puzzle who were major contributers to the championship run last season who are no longer part of the current roster.  If youre keeping score at home that’s a lot.

4) Injuries

Back-to-back healthy seasons are rare. A couple of soft-tissue setbacks at WR, a lingering ankle for an edge rusher, or musical chairs on the OL can render a top-5 offense/defense into a merely good to mediocre team. The 2022 Rams are the cautionary tale: stars hurt or retired, protection shuffled weekly, and the season unraveled. 

The 2017 Eagles Super Bowl champion team was an exception. They lost their starting quarterback in Carson Wentz, their hall of fame left tackle Jason Peters, their x-factor playmaker Darren Sproles, starting middle linebacker Jordan Hicks and special teams captain Chris Maragos and still went on to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl VII with back-up quarterback Nick Foles at the helm.

5)  The Curse of 370

The curse of 370 has everything to do with running back Saquon Barkley because winning last year’s Super Bowl had everything to do with Saquon Barkley.

There’s a long-held belief in NFL circles known as the “Curse of 370” – a statistical warning sign suggesting that running backs who exceed 370 carries in a single season almost always suffer a major decline the following year.  It’s not a superstition either.  It’s data-backed. The list of victims is legendary:

• Larry Johnson (2006): 416 carries, 1,789 yards – (2007) played in 8 games, 559 yards – never topped 900 yards again.
• Shaun Alexander (2005): 370 carries, 1880 yards – NFL MVP – (2006) 896 yards, fractured foot, career spiraled.
• DeMarco Murray (2014): 392 carries, 1.845 yards – (2015) 193 carries, 702 yards, fell off a cliff in Philly and only played two more seasons after that.
• Jamal Anderson (1998): 410 carries, 1,846 yards – (1999) tore his ACL the next season.

But Barkley didn’t just flirt with 370 carries, he obliterated the spirit of the curse with 482 total touches, the second largest workload in NFL history, combining a full rushing workload with a heavy involvement in the passing game.           

Barkley by the Numbers – 2024

• Regular Season:
  • 349 carries
  • 54 receptions
  • 403 touches
• Playoffs:
  • 59 carries
  • 20 receptions
  • 79 touches
•  Total:    482 touches
• 2,504 rush yds, 353 rec yds
  
  

In an era defined by load management and running-back committees, those numbers feel almost mythical. But they’re real, they’re absolutely real. And they’re staggering and potentially dangerous.  Barkley does have a slight history of injury issues but if anyone can buck the trend and exorcize the curse it’s him.  Unfortunately history tells us otherwise.  We shall see.

How Tough it is to Repeat

• Eight franchises, nine total repeats: Packers (I–II), Dolphins (VII–VIII), Steelers (twice: IX–X, XIII–XIV), 49ers (XXIII–XXIV), Cowboys (XXVII–XXVIII), Broncos (XXXII–XXXIII), Patriots (XXXVIII–XXXIX), Chiefs (LVII–LVIII).

Let’s be clear.  The Birds have a ridiculously talented roster, the best in show with a quarterback who doesn’t flinch and only gets better when the lights are brighest and the stage is biggest.  So the bottom line is this.  The Eagles can absolutely win it all again but history is not on their side – schedule dynamics, roster turnover, health variance, and the psychology of being hunted make a repeat the NFL’s toughest task.  Just ask the other 43 Super Bowl winners who were watching the big game on TV the following year.