NEW ORLEANS — When the Chiefs beat the Eagles to win the Super Bowl two years ago, then-quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy stood in the locker room with a smile glued to his face. Vic Fangio, his defensive coordinator in 2018 when Nagy was the Bears’ head coach, had quietly signed on as an Eagles consultant just days before the game, trying to crack the Chiefs’ offensive attack.
“I won’t say what I want to say to Vic,” Nagy said with a laugh.
Sunday’s rematch in Super Bowl LIX has historic repercussions. The Chiefs are trying to become the first team in the Super Bowl era to claim three consecutive titles. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes could become the first four-time Super Bowl champion under the age of 30. The Eagles boast quarterback Jalen Hurts, explosive running back Saquon Barkley and the hopes of certain NFL fans sick of the sport’s latest dynasty who believe the Chiefs have benefited from officiating during their playoff run.
Add in-person visits by the President and Taylor Swift on at Caesars Superdome, and Sunday’s game has all the ingredients to be the high-drama apex of a budding rivalry.
Behind the scenes, though, former Bears coaches will be pulling the levers.
Fangio became the Eagles’ defensive coordinator this year and is in search of, at age 66, his first Super Bowl win. Nagy, now the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator — though head coach Andy Reid calls plays — is looking for his third ring as one of Mahomes’ mentors.
Nagy, who sent Fangio those text messages two years ago, knows he’ll get his friend’s best shot.
“I’m sure he’s been waiting for this one,” Nagy said. “He’s done an amazing job. It doesn’t surprise me. That year in 2018 that we had together [with the Bears] is a year I’ll never forget. He taught me a lot … What he’s doing here is special. I know the guys play hard for him in what he wants to do.”
Fangio’s career has come full circle since he left the Bears after 2018 for a brief head coaching stint with the Broncos. With the Eagles, he works two hours from his childhood home in Dunmore, Penn., where his 97-year-old mother still lives. In New Orleans, he returns to the same stadium where he coached the “Dome Patrol,” considered the best linebacker corps of all time, from 1986-94. The only other Super Bowl that Fangio coached in — Super Bowl XLVII, when he ran the 49ers’ defense — was also in the Superdome.
Don’t expect Fangio to reflect too deeply on the moment. Defensive line Clint Hurtt joked, using colorful language, that he could already see Fangio telling him he was full of baloney for feeling differently.
“He’s not an emotional guy by any means,” Hurtt said. “This would mean the world to him.”
Nagy and Fangio, who faced off in 2023 when Fangio was with the Dolphins, remain friendly. Schematically, Fangio claims there’s no advantage that stemmed from their working relationship.
“He wasn’t really much involved with us defensively in Chicago,” Fangio said, “and I wasn’t involved with the offense.”
Mahomes is 8-0 in his career against Fangio’s defense. Asked what a win would mean, Fangio joked that he’d just be criticized for going 1-8.
“If you can hang around long enough,” Fangio said, “the tide will turn at some point.”