Eagles vs. Patriots: The Super Bowl That Nobody Wanted

Super Bowl LII is now set and it will have a very familiar feel. The New England Patriots will play the Philadelphia Eagles. Stop me if you heard this before. Not only will this be the eighth time the Patriots have been to the "Big Game" in the Brady-Belichick era, it will be the second time in 13 years that the Patriots get the Eagles as an opponent.

In 2005 (the 2004 season), the Patriots defeated the Eagles 24-21 in Jacksonville at Super Bowl XXXIX to capture the franchises third Super Bowl title in four years. The game was best remembered for the Donavan McNabb's nearly eight minute fourth quarter touchdown drive when he team was down 10, effectively killing the Eagles chances of coming back and winning.

Oh what have we done to deserve this?

The Eagles pounded the Vikings 38-7 in an uncompetitive NFC Championship game that saw Nick Foles have the game of his life. Foles threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Eagles to their first Super Bowl appearance in 13 seasons. It was a performance we haven't seen from Foles since taking over for injured Carson Wentz. It certainly was Foles' best outing since his breakout campaign in 2013 when he threw for 27 touchdowns and two picks that year.

Meanwhile, the Patriots stamped their ticket to another Super Bowl by squeaking past the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-20. What has to be painful for the Jaguars is the fact they had the Patriots and left them off the hook. Jacksonville had a 14-3 lead with under seven minutes to play before halftime. Then the officials started bailing out the Patriots on two questionable penalties. One penalty was on Barry Church for an unnecessary roughness penalty when he slammed into the head of Rob Gronkowski. The other was a ridiculous 32-yard penalty for pass interference by A.J. Bouye, when it was clear that Brandin Cooks was pushing off.

The penalty gave the Patriots the football at the Jaguars 13-yard line. New England would score quickly to make it 14-10.

While the Patriots got breaks, the Jaguars couldn't. Twice Mercedes Lewis and Marcus Lee were mugged by Patriots defenders, but no flags were thrown for interference or holding.

Still, the Patriots deserve credit. They came back and the Jaguars folded like a cheap camera. Jacksonville managed only 62 yards of offense in the fourth quarter alone, while the Patriots scored two touchdowns, including an acrobatic catch by Danny Amendola in the back of the end zone to give New England the lead.  Bottom line, the Patriots and Tom Brady executed, the Jaguars didn't.

Now we get to sit through another Super Bowl between two of the most vilified franchises in the NFL. In one corner, the Patriots, a team that everyone loves to hate because of their unbridled and unchallenged success as the unstoppable NFL dynasty. In the other corner, the Eagles, whose fans are enough to turn any metropolis into a Third World Country.

The digust was apparent last night as hundreds, if not thousands, tweeted out that they would not watch the Super Bowl. Some even said they rather see an astroid hit the earth. Don't believe it? Read it here. 

There is no question that there is Patriots-fatigue among NFL fans. After a while, seeing the same movie over and over again with the same conclusion is enough to drive people away.

The NFL rating continue to take a hit. While Sunday's AFC and NFC Championships were the highest rated shows since last year's Super Bowl (mainly because the NFL still competes against itself), the overall ratings were down from a year ago. The Patirots-Jaguars game drew a 27.3 rating on CBS, which is "essentially flat" from last year's NFC title game between the Packers and Falcons in the same 3 p.m. time slot according to Awful Announcing. 

The game was down 14-percent in viewership from the 2016 AFC title game between the Patriots and Broncos, and was the lowest early window-conference title game since 2013.

The NFC title game between the Eagles and Viking was no better. It drew a 24.7 rating, which was down 11 percent from last season's primetime conference title game between the Patriots and Steelers.

But don't tell that to CBS Boston who only highlighted that the Pat-Jags game was the highest rated game since last year's Super Bowl, failing to mention the other facts. Fake News CBS Boston, Fake News.

The decline in ratings is nothing new. The playoffs overall have been a failure for the NFL with ratings declining anywhere between 9 to 20 percent in some instances. A lot of factors are attributed. Lack of quality games, star power, horrible officiating, the NFL anthem protest, and the unstoppable Patriots are all factors.

How many people will watch? If the trend continues, Super Bowl 52 will see a drop in ratings too.

As a point for reference, Super Bowl XXXIX which featured the Eagles and Patriots drew an average of 86 million viewers, which, at the time, was down from the 90 million viewers that watched Super Bowl XXXVIII the year before. Last season's Super Bowl drew on average 111.3 million people, which was down from the 111.8 million for Super Bowl 50, and 114.4 million for Super Bowl XLIX.

Speaking of the Patriots, they have made football uncompetitive. Nobody can stand up to them. Even when Brady had to deal with Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger in their prime, the Patriots always dominated those teams. Now with Peyton Manning retired, Roethlisberger and the Steelers a great underachiever, there is nobody that can stop the Patriot machine.

The Eagles? Forget it. Sure the Eagles will give their best effort. They won 13 games this year -- they are no joke. They can be a handle, but there is no chance that the Patriots are going to lose to the Eagles. Maybe it will be close? Maybe the Patriots will pull another rabbit out of their hat? Maybe New England will romp to a Super Bowl title?

It doesn't matter.

Because the Patriots won Super Bowl 52. It just isn't official, yet.