July 22, 2025
Geoff Burke/Imagn Images
It'll be hard for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but not impossible.
It's hard for a team to make it to the Super Bowl. It's even harder for a team to climb all the way back just after they've already been, and near astronomical to win it back-to-back (or even win it just once).
The Philadelphia Eagles are going to try to go for two, though.
The players from the Super Bowl-winning 2024 team received their championship rings on Friday, and many of those same names who will make up the 2025 roster, along with some new ones, reported to the NovaCare Complex in South Philadelphia on Tuesday for training camp, fully turning the page over to a title defense.
The star-studded offense remains intact, the defense has some holes to fill, though with the advantage of youth, and much of the leadership that steered the team forward on a near-unstoppable tear from early October onward last season will be back at the helm.
The Eagles have a shot at this, but recent history says the road to a repeat will be tough, on top of being one that is rarely ever traveled successfully.
Here's a look back at the Super Bowl champions from the past 15 years and how they followed up:
| Season | Champion | Follow Up |
| 2010 | Packers | 15-1, lost Divisional Round |
| 2011 | Giants | 9-7, missed playoffs |
| 2012 | Ravens | 8-8, missed playoffs |
| 2013 | Seahawks | 12-4, lost Super Bowl |
| 2014 | Patriots | 12-4, lost AFC Championship |
| 2015 | Broncos | 9-7, missed playoffs |
| 2016 | Patriots | 13-3, lost Super Bowl |
| 2017 | Eagles | 9-7, lost Divisional Round |
| 2018 | Patriots | 12-4, lost Wild Card Round |
| 2019 | Chiefs | 14-2, lost Super Bowl |
| 2020 | Buccaneers | 13-4, lost Divisional Round |
| 2021 | Rams | 5-12, missed playoffs |
| 2022 | Chiefs | 11-6, won Super Bowl |
| 2023 | Chiefs | 15-2, lost Super Bowl |
| 2024 | Eagles | ??? |
Repeat champions in bold
And here are the repeat champions throughout Super Bowl history:
| Team | Years |
| Packers | 1966, 1967 |
| Dolphins | 1972, 1973 |
| Steelers | 1974, 1975 |
| Steelers | 1978, 1979 |
| 49ers | 1988, 1989 |
| Cowboys | 1992, 1993 |
| Broncos | 1998, 1999 |
| Patriots | 2003, 2004 |
| Chiefs | 2022, 2023 |
There have been nine successful back-to-back bids, and the common trait that seems to be shared among all of them are pretty strong defenses.
Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain is on that list, and so are the '70s Dolphins and early 2000s Patriots defenses that suffocated teams back in their respective days.
The Eagles might carry that trait, too.
They've lost key defensive names in the offseason, like Darius Slay, Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat, and Milton Williams, but did so having young successors like Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean already in place and contributing. Linebacker is a bit of a sore spot with breakout star Zack Baun being the only regular healthy right now, but then up front, they still have Jalen Carter in the trenches, tearing O-lines apart and demanding double teams every snap.
The framework of another good defense, with the benefit of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's coaching and tailored personnel, is still there.
Then there's one more standout of note to the Eagles on that repeat champions list, though one that neither the team nor its fans would be in any particular rush to draw parallels to: the early '90s Cowboys.
Just think about it for a second.
Those early '90s Cowboys teams hit hard on defense, but then what did they have on offense? A star receiver, a stellar offensive line, a Hall of Fame running back to take off behind it, and as our own Geoff Mosher alluded to earlier, a great quarterback within a great system, though not considered among the NFL's elite somewhat because of it.
Sound familiar?
In fairness, a lot of parallels can also be drawn between the Eagles of today and the Legion of Boom Seahawks from 2013 and 2014.
They probably would've been here, too...had Seattle just ran it.
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