JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Whether you like it or not, the Kansas City Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are chasing their third consecutive title. They would be the first in the Super Bowl era to achieve that if they win. Standing between them and history on Sunday are the Philadelphia Eagles. Our sports correspondent Becky Sullivan is there in New Orleans, talking to coaches and players this week. Becky - dream assignment. Hey there.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: (Laughter) Hey there.
SUMMERS: All right, let's get some history out of the way first. How much is the three-peat on the minds of the Kansas City team?
SULLIVAN: OK, so obviously, you'd think this would have been on their minds all year long, but actually, they've been very consistent about saying - whether you believe them or not - that it has not been a topic of conversation in the locker room this year. You'd ask, and they'd say, like, oh, it's just one game at a time, ma'am. Never even heard the word three-peat here. But now the time has come. They are just 60 minutes of football away from that achievement, and they are finally owning it. Here's Kansas City defensive lineman Chris Jones talking about it last night.
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CHRIS JONES: This is crazy - three times back to back. This is crazy. I can't make it up. I'm so blessed, and I'm very fortunate.
SULLIVAN: And, you know, if they win, this is, like, Michael Jordan, 1990s, Chicago Bulls-type stuff - history that we will all look back on as one of the greatest runs of any sport ever, if they can get it done. And so I think it's fun to see the Chiefs finally admit to how close they are.
SUMMERS: I mean, if they can get it done - that is the big question. So what are the Eagles' chances of stopping the Chiefs from that three-peat?
SULLIVAN: You know, I think Philadelphia, pound for pound, is probably a more talented team than the Chiefs, maybe the best overall roster in the NFL - great on offensive line, defensive line, great secondary, great wide receivers. They have the best running back in the league in Saquon Barkley. And, of course, they have the motivation to do it because they were just in the Super Bowl two years ago, losing to the Chiefs. And that kind of loss takes a toll on these guys because it's really hard to reach the Super Bowl once, let alone twice. And that game two years ago, it was really close. It came down to the wire - 38 to 35 Kansas City victory. Philadelphia defensive end Brandon Graham was there, and he said it was just a brutal way to end it.
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BRANDON GRAHAM: We did the best we could, but man, the worst was the confetti right after the game. As soon as it struck zero, the confetti was on the field before you even got off.
SUMMERS: OK, Becky, you have still not told me yet - what are their chances?
SULLIVAN: True. OK. So, honestly, I think it's 50-50 because the Eagles are so talented. That running back, Saquon Barkley, he can break loose for a 60-yard touchdown at any moment. Their quarterback, Jalen Hurts, had been shaky at times this season, but he looked at his very best in the Eagles' last game. And so when their offense is firing on all cylinders, it looks impossible to stop.
The wild card that the Eagles have to face is Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs' quarterback. He is great all the time, of course, sets a very high bar. But what is wild about him is that all the statistics show is that he's better when the pressure is the highest. He's more accurate. He's more efficient. He adds more win percentage with every play. In must-have moments - third downs, fourth downs, end-of-game scenarios, game-winning, game-time drives - it's incredibly hard to stop him in those moments, and that's what I think it's going to come down to.
SUMMERS: All right, I want to get into an unpopular topic for Chiefs fans, and that's the refs. There's been all this talk over the past couple of weeks about officiating in the NFL and whether the Chiefs have been the beneficiaries. Has that come up there?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I should say that most of this talk is on social media, like, a conspiracy theory, essentially. But NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke to reporters yesterday, and this topic did come up. And he said flatly, it's ridiculous to suggest that it's, like, rigged or something, and he added that the NFL does evaluate referees in all kinds of ways, not just going through the tape to see if they got the calls right. Take a listen.
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ROGER GOODELL: Our officials are evaluated in several ways. It's not just the performance on the field, but it's things that go on in their own lives. And we have very tight controls over that. We monitor that very closely in a number of ways.
SULLIVAN: So next year, they'll take a look at expanding the role of replay officials who can step in on missed calls, and maybe more technology will help down the line.
SUMMERS: That's NPR's Becky Sullivan in New Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl. Thanks, Becky, and have fun.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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