Peter Mullan, LC
As things revved up for the kick off of the LIX Super Bowl, we Eagles fans were rather nerve-racked: facing Mahomes and the Chiefs again was no walk in the park. Or so we thought. In just a few hours all that changed; what happened? How did we blow out the reigning champions? Granted, I am no sports analyst, just a staunch Eagles supporter. I grew up just outside of Philly, in rural northeastern Maryland, and now live in Mexico City, working as a Catholic chaplain and professor at the Anahuac University here. So I’ll leave the Xs and Os and squiggly yellow marks to the professionals; I simply want to soak in the lessons from this tremendous 2024-25 Eagles team and organization. For me, soaking in means writing down; and for those not-so-diehard Eagles fans, or even non- football followers, hopefully we can all learn something from this phenomenon that erupted so spectacularly on the Super Bowl stage.
Before we can fully appreciate this team’s greatness and lessons, let’s rewind to the end of last season, January 2024. This February 9th made it look literally like a walk in the park, but we’ve come a long way from how the team looked since losing its last Super Bowl run. Sure, we started off the September 2023 season with a great winning record and even beat tough teams like the Chiefs themselves. But as one TV commentator put it, we just never ended up firing on all pistons that season (disclaimer: yes, I include myself as part of the team; what can I say, it’s a Philly thing). All the elements were there, but we never really gelled that entire season. That became all too apparent by late November 2023, so that the final wild card game in Tampa Bay was an extremely bitter pill to swallow, an awfully frustrating way to end the season. And while we did well in the draft, and signed Saquon
Barkley in the offseason, things felt sickeningly familiar when we lost bad to Tampa (again) in week 4 of this season. Just to put things in perspective for this incredible victory.
After that loss in TB, we had our bye week. I will openly confess – yes, as a Catholic priest too – that I was one of those who wanted head coach Sirianni to resign (that’s the Catholic way of putting it; Philly fans put it differently). Similar to last season, it looked like something in the locker room was just not clicking; since both coordinators had changed and things continued to malfunction, it seemed time to go a step higher and fire the head coach. We seemed to be on repeat mode, and you DON’T want to get Eagles fans upset for long.
What happened over that two-week off-period from September 30 to October 13? How did we go on to win the next 10 straight games, however admittedly narrow those wins were? I am sure every team would love to have the magic recipe they came up with over that bye week, in order to make that type of turn-around. Even the one loss to Washington in December was important: with our star QB injured, could the team adjust and continue to win? So what changed over that bye week? Like anything as complex as American football, there is no single answer to that question; okay, there probably is, so again I’ll refer you to the pros for that one. What follows are simply my perceptions, along with what minimal information I gathered from the games themselves.
The Eagles’ Super Bowl performance was the end-result of a process of transformation, hard work and team-building that started – in some mysterious way, for us outsiders – over that bye week. Not that it was smooth sailing from October 13 to February 9; any Eagles fan can tell you what a roller coaster ride it’s been. But the first and essential element that came together over the season and shone so brilliantly in the SB was our team spirit. Sirianni put into words what the entire world witnessed: “This is the ultimate team sport,” and every Eagle player gave it all for the team. “Selfless” was a trait that was repeated to describe so many of these star players (as too was “dog,” to quote linebacker Zack Baun).
NOT to be big NFL or Eagles fans, feel free to skip this part, to the paragraph “WELCOME BACK” below, for more general lessons; but there is no greatness on a team without great individuals, so I hope you bear with me. First off, Jason Kelce, our retired center on the offensive line: I can’t say how hard it was to see your frustration last season as you played your heart out one last season, only to watch the team fall apart. Brother, your dedication to the team kept the team fire alive; you deserved that second SB ring. Next, Jalen Hurts, finally vindicated for years of self-less dedication, becoming the leader who sets the example of giving your all. We all love to see you smile, Jalen (finally), as we also love your tremendous grit and inner fire that clearly burns deep. Then there is our NFL season MVP (in my eyes), Saquon: you were the element that gave that extra focus, dedication and just plain old fun to the team. Whereas running backs can be
something of prima donnas, you proved that you can set records, win Super Bowls, and still just be another guy on the bench. You and Jalen looked like two brothers playing backyard football by the end of the season; thank you for being the element that helped get us together.
Speaking of brothers, AJ, you and Jalen have a powerful connection. What a SB moment, when all Jalen had to do was give you the finger pistol signal, and we had an “easy” behind the shoulder reception for another first down. Thanks AJ for showing us inner excellence by becoming just another weapon in an impressive offensive arsenal. “Just.” DaVonta and Dallas, we are honored to have your level of talent and poise on our team, as you make this offense such a nightmare to defend. Now of course, I can’t go and list off all 50 players on the roster. That dominant defensive line has gotten its deserved credit for having rattled Mahomes so much; all of you played at such a top level and were so focused that you had him reeling. Which then gave Dejean and Baun the chance to shine like they deserved on a world stage. Veteran defensive players like Slay, Sweat and CJ allowed the new kids to step in alongside you and play defense like few other teams in history. And to go back to the
offense, the protecting line allowed Hurts enough time to do his magic, and even managed to create a few gaps for Saquon. All those tush pushes – which must be a real pain in YOUR tushes – paid off. What can we say about the grit of a Pickett playing QB with cracked ribs in December, or Dickerson with a bleeding knee at the championship game?
The talent and the desire were definitely there in the players on an individual level; without the coaches though the focus and team togetherness could not have reached such an outstanding level. So I join many of my co-fans in recognizing Sirianni’s ultimate leadership, Kellen Moore’s fun play design, Vic Fangio’s defensive vision and discipline, and a host of other coaches bringing each side of the game to its highest potential. And who put such an incredible roster of players and coaches together? Howie, Philadelphia owes you bigtime for winning us our first two Super Bowls! WELCOME BACK, all you non-football fanatics! This is all well and good for Philly fans, but what could a non-football buff get out of all this? Here are a few takeaways that I personally hope to incorporate into my personal and work-life.
Seeing all of the end-of-the- game, in-the-thick-of-the-excitement interviews on Sunday, what first struck me is what Jim Collins calls Level 5 Leadership, in his Good to Great. This highest level of leadership consists in a rare mix of great talent with extreme
personal humility. Sirianni, Hurts, Saquon and so many other leaders on the team showed this humility mixed with pure talent, on a level we rarely see in pro football. Personally, the hardest experience I’ve had to face was helping as a chaplain at the earthquake relief effort here in Mexico City in September 2017. Among the thousands of volunteers the leaders who “naturally” rose to the top were the ones who weren’t there for their egos, rewards or social media posts; they were there giving their all to make a hellish scenario as humane as possible. I pray we all can keep it as real and humble as this Eagles franchise has this entire year.
While we are on Good to Great, getting the right people on board is another big lesson; again, kudos to GM Roseman. Baun is an excellent example of that recently, as is Jurgens from years ago. Just filling positions is not the way you build a team, or a company; finding true talent is. In a culture where appearance is king, may we continue to search deeper and discover who’s got that fire inside them that makes champions of us all.
Once your people are on board and under proper level 5 leadership, you have to set a clear goal for them. Was setting their sights on the Lombardi trophy what changed things way back in early October? Given the locker room ethics of this team, we may never know. Setting your eyes on the goal, both individually and collectively, is perhaps the strongest force in all of creation; confer JFK’s setting the goal of putting a man on the moon. I personally got goosebumps listening to Jalen talk about that fire burning within him, driving him to strive ever higher. And man did he get a lot of flak when he didn’t perform up to (whose?) standard. “I had a purpose before they had an opinion.” As a college professor, let me tell you Jalen, I’m going to be quoting you on that one to my students for semesters to come. We saw the drive and the fire Jalen and his entire team displayed this season. I wonder how my particular business/group could learn from that. Briefly: I belong to a Catholic order of priests called the Legionaries of Christ, within a greater entity called Regnum Christi. We have been through a rough set of storms the past 15 years, and have somewhat lost our common goal. I completely get it: In sports it is much simpler to measure success than in Catholic movements dedicated to evangelization. I just hope that we too can set our sights more clearly on some common goals, so as to better hone some fabulous talent and energy towards building God’s kingdom.
The final lesson – I have to end this at some point, more out of kindness towards the reader than from lack of Eagles pride – is awareness of the journey. Coach Sirianni talks a lot of embracing adversity; Hurts sees this SB victory as another leg in his journey. When all of those / us naysayers wanted people removed from the team, they just kept on working at being better. In a world of snapshots and three-second sound bites, we can easily lose sight of the endgame in life and allow the short-term define how we measure progress. As the book
Designing Your Life highlights, it’s all about being conscious of the process. Will the Eagles be back-to-back SB champs? Doesn’t matter right now: They are living this moment, this leg of the journey to the full. When we are aware of life and our plans as processes, the glitches and the losses become moments, not premature definitions. May we all gain a little more perspective from Hurts’s Eagles, so that we can lift our sights above the immediate setbacks, and fix them on the end goal.
To wrap this up, I’ll take my lead from Nick, Jalen, Saquon and others, as I give thanks to God. Okay, I agree, they did do a bit more work than me in bringing the Lombardi trophy back to Philly. Their awareness of God’s blessing captures beautifully all the lessons mentioned: humility, the right people on board, eyes on the goal and awareness of the journey process. For me is no better way to end this winning season than by quoting Olympic sprinter Eric Lidell’s speech from the film Chariots of Fire. Just sub in “game” for “race” and I think you’ll see the connection, along with perhaps the most powerful lesson possible: “You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race: I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It’s hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape – especially if you’ve got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe your dinner’s burnt. Maybe – maybe you haven’t got a job. So who am I to say, «Believe, have faith,» in the face of life’s realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, «Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me.» If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.”
Fly, Eagles, fly!
