For most of the 20th century, the Philadelphia Eagles have been the NFC’s primary fixture. Since 2001, with this year’s berth in the account, Philadelphia will have played in seven NFC title games. The only other NFC organization that can match such a rap sheet is the Green Bay Packers.
However, the Packers achieved their deep postseason run success this millennium with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Brett Favre (1) and Aaron Rodgers (5). The Eagles, meanwhile, have cycled through Donovan McNabb, Carson Wentz/Nick Foles, and now Jalen Hurts as signal-callers. Largely thanks to the efforts of executive Howie Roseman, the Eagles have cycled through several distinct team eras over roughly the last two decades and still found a way to call late January home more often than not.
That is very commendable, to say the least.
This Sunday’s NFC title game against the San Francisco 49ers might be one of Philadelphia’s stiffer tests since it started to corral the NFC. In a Championship Sunday matchup many expect to be an absolute slugfest, here are three reasons explaining how the Eagles can return to the Super Bowl for the first time since winning the whole dance in 2017.