Ben Schueren is a junior news journalism major and writes "Out of Left Field" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Ben at bpschueren@bsu.edu.
Well, here we are again. The 2018 Super Bowl has been set, but some things remain the same.
The Evil Empire of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have found themselves in the Super Bowl for the eighth time in the last 17 years.
To put that into perspective, the Steelers, Cowboys and Broncos have all made the Super Bowl eight times. That’s the second most number of appearances behind New England’s ten.
While I dislike the Patriots as much as the rest of America does, it’s just as important to sit back and admire the mastery that is going on in New England right now.
The Patriots are looking to tie the Steelers’ record of six Super Bowls, and would have done that within the last 20 years.
Since Belichick was hired in 2000, the Patriots have spent only two more seasons watching the Super Bowl from home than they have playing in the game.
And New England has had all eight appearances with the same head coach and quarterback.
Complete dominance.
Sorry America, but it’s time to admit that Tom Brady is the best quarterback in NFL history, and Bill Belichick is the best coach.
While it was great to see the Jacksonville Jaguars go up 14-3 and 20-10 against the New England Patriots, let’s not lie to ourselves. Everyone watching that game knew that Tom Brady was going to start a comeback and win the game.
After coming back from down 28-3 late in the third quarter of last year’s Super Bowl (sorry Falcons fans), nothing was impossible with the G.O.A.T.
Regardless of the “cheating scandals,” what the Patriots are doing as an NFL franchise right now is the most dominant run by a team in the league’s history, and it’s very unlikely it’s going to be matched again.
In the NFC, an interesting storyline was ahead of their Conference Championship Game. Two notorious Super Bowl losers, the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles, were vying to have the chance to play for their first Super Bowl title.
On top of that, two backups in Case Keenum and Nick Foles were starting at quarterback. Keenum and Foles also were teammates on a 7-9 St. Louis Rams team in 2015.
The game was hyped up to be a classic, as Minnesota had the best defense in the NFL and Philadelphia was ranked fourth.
However, Nick Foles turned back the clock to 2013, where he threw 27 touchdowns to two interceptions, and threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns against the best defense in the NFL.
Despite the Vikings scoring first, the Eagles ran away with the game in the second quarter and won 38-7.
The Eagles have been one of the more unlikely stories of the NFL this season. After going 7-9 in 2016, second-year quarterback Carson Wentz skipped the Sophomore slump and broke out to be an MVP candidate.
However, Wentz saw his season end in week 14, as he tore his ACL.
But despite the loss of Wentz, the Eagles have not missed a beat with Foles. And, the Super Bowl has been notorious for producing unlikely heroes, especially at the quarterback position.
Redskins backup-quarterback Doug Williams threw for 340 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-10 rout of John Elway’s Broncos in 1988. The Giants’ Jeff Hostetler took down one of the best offenses in NFL history when they beat the Bills 20-19 in 1991.
But neither of those guys had to face Tom Brady.
Brady will lead his band of stormtroopers and the rest of the Evil Empire past Foles’ Eagles 28-14.
But, cheer up though football fans. Tom Brady is 40 and can’t play forever.