Eagles' Super Bowl win over the Chiefs eerily familiar to the Commanders

If you watched the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl as a Washington Commanders fan, you may have noticed some familiar themes.

Sep 16, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio before a game against the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Anybody watching the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday night saw the same thing. And it was something Washington Commanders fans have seen before.

While Super Bowl MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts had a great night, it was Eagles' defensive coordinator Vic Fangio who was really the most valuable. A reality Commanders fans have watched unfold in real time just this season, even while great performances by guys like running back Saquon Barkley are going on at the same time.

Philadelphia is loaded with talent, no doubt, but the way Fangio's defense stifled Chiefs' quarterback Patrick Mahomes is not at all dissimilar to the way he disarmed Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels earlier in the season.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Taking a similar approach to the way he defeated the Commanders in Week 11, Fangio didn't blitz Mahomes once, yet the Eagles' defense still found a way to sack him six times.

“I think in order to make a team blitz, you have to be able to beat what they’re showing and that’s what we didn’t do," Mahomes said after the game when asked about the amount of pressure surrendered despite the lack of blitzing. "When you’re in these big games, you have to play better from the beginning...Force defenses to blitz by attacking their zone coverage the right way, and so, that’s something that I can continue to get better at in my career.”

In Week 11, it wasn't so much the lack of blitzing - though that game did produce a near-season-low blitz rate from the Philadelphia defense at the time - but the lack of stacked boxes against a Washington offense that prided itself on establishing a physical running attack.

The Commanders couldn't take advantage of it, and like Mahomes said, were also unable to find openings in the Eagles' coverage, much of which was designed to take away star receiver Terry McLaurin.

In their second contest against each other, Fangio dialed up many more blitzes, looking to see how well his defense could hang given fewer back end and intermediate defenders available. The result wasn't near as positive for his squad as Daniels threw for 258 yards and five touchdowns leading Washington to a 36-33 Week 16 victory.

Then came the rubber match between the two where Fangio combined tactics and brought a little bit of what worked from the previous two matchups. The result was a strong win for Philadelphia and a season-ending disappointment for the Commanders.

Connecting some dots it sure appears that Fangio figured out how he wanted to defend Mahomes in those three matches against Daniels, and came out looking to take away as many throwing windows as possible.

Without a truly elite receiver in the mix to help combat the Eagles' defensive approach the Chiefs' offensive line struggled against a defensive front whose only mission was to get to the quarterback.

The game should go down as a lesson, that if you can't attack Fangio's defense on multiple fronts, he's going to find your weakness and exploit it to the fullest extent possible. An MVP performance if ever we've seen one - and we have, multiple times.

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