Eagles’ dominance sets bar for Cowboys

By David Mullen

When Super Bowl LIX ended on February 9, only one question remained. How are the New Orleans Caesars Superdome maintenance workers going to clean up all of the post-game confetti? 

That’s how thoroughly the Philadelphia Eagles destroyed a Kansas City Chiefs’ squad looking to make history by winning an unprecedented third consecutive NFL title. The Eagles, representing the NFC East where the Dallas Cowboys reside, made it clear that they were the best team in professional football. 

In front of 65,719 fans at the game and an all-time American TV record of 127.7 million viewers, Philadelphia, combining an efficient offense with a stifling defense, went on to a 40-22 victory. The game wasn’t that close. Midway in the fourth quarter, Philly led by a staggering 34 points.

One reason to account for the record TV viewership is that many in the U.S. had a betting interest in the game. The American Gaming Association estimated that Americans wagered $1.39 billion legally on Super Bowl LIX. It’s unrealistic to even guess how many occasional and obsessed football fans were involved in unmonitored gambling from office squares and total score pools run by nearly every neighborhood tavern.

The Chiefs entered Super Bowl LIX as a one-point favorite. The Eagles won the game by 18 points. According to gaming sources, an even 50 percent of Americans bet on a Kansas City win. Half of America woke up with a case of heartburn on Monday, and the Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho Flavored tortilla chips with jalapeño guacamole dip was not the only cause. They were also a little lighter in their wallet.

One reason that people kept watching the game was that more than 80 percent of bettors took the game over 48.5 points, which was eclipsed with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. An “oh-by-the-way” touchdown pass from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins made the score 40-14 and brought the game total to 54 points. So dominant was the Eagles’ defense that the normally fluid Mahomes was sacked six times and pressured many times more. Philadelphia held KC to 49 yards rushing as a team. Rarely does a team that doesn’t establish a running game win a Super Bowl. Only the pass-happy 2000 St. Louis Rams and 2022 Los Angeles Rams had fewer rushing yards and still won the Super Bowl.   

When the game was over and the confetti was still falling from the catwalks of the Superdome, Philadelphia quarterback and Super Bowl LIX MVP Jalen Hurts — as is tradition — was asked where he was going to after the game. Hurts said, “I’m going to Disney World.”

Days earlier, when Dallas owner and GM Jerry Jones was asked about how he was betting on the Cowboys future, he went from his traditional “all-in” response to a newly revised “win-now” attitude. Having to challenge the Eagles and the NFC Champion runner-up Washington Commanders in the same division, I wouldn’t bet on the Cowboys chances of a “win-now” 2025 season. Jones may want to join Hurts in Orlando, so that he can change his reaction to a more realistic, “my head is in Wonderland.” 

The current Cowboys team bears no resemblance to the Super Bowl Champion Eagles. In Hurts, Philadelphia has a mobile quarterback able to keep opposing defenses off guard. Coming off another season ending injury — this time a hamstring tear that required surgery — Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott does not possess the mobility of successful NFL quarterbacks like Hurts, Mahomes, league MVP Josh Allen of Buffalo or Washington’s Jayden Daniels.

Although his Super Bowl game statistics were modest, Philly running back Saquon Barkley was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year. Barkley set the all-time rushing record (regular season and playoffs combined) of 2,504 yards and yards from scrimmage record of 2,857 yards. Barkley was signed by the Eagles as a free agent in 2024.

GM Jones neglected the running game in the off-season, thinking that a washed-up Ezekiel Elliott or an unproven Rico Dowdle could lead the team to New Orleans. Philadelphia inked Barkley to a four-year contract that pays him one-fifth of what Jones pays Prescott annually.  

No rookie head coach has ever taken a team to the Super Bowl. Marv Levy went 4-12 in his first year before building a team that would reach a record four consecutive Super Bowls. Bill Walsh went 2-14 in 1979 before he led the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl Championships in the 1980s. Jimmy Johnson was 1-15 before building the Cowboys into champions in the 1990s. 

Cowboys rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer has the daunting task of molding the Cowboys into contenders, let alone a Super Bowl LX appearance on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. 

Unless Jones took note of how the Eagles built a team to become Super Bowl Champions, the team will remain wallowed in mediocrity. Dallas is now in possession of the longest NFC Championship game drought, last appearing on January 14, 1996.  

Just before the Super Bowl, Jones told The Atlantic that, based on the team he built, it was a “shocker” that the 7-10 Cowboys were not playing in Super Bowl LIX. Certainly, no other sane football fan shares that view but it’s a small world, after all. 

Jones may think he has a plan to “win-now,” but it is more likely that the Eagles or upstart Commanders will be heading to Disney World next season and that the 2025 Cowboys are headed to Neverland. Jones could learn from watching the Eagles fly.