While we’re still more than a month away from the start of the NBA season, Charles Barkley took his time to talk a little bit about the NFL, which kicked off their season this past week.
He was a guest on the San Francisco 49ers’ superstar tight end George Kittle’s podcast, where he mostly talked about his favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles.
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“I’m a big Birds [Eagles] fan, so last year I had the [Buffalo] Bills beating my Eagles in the Super Bowl, I came real close [to predicting correctly]. And people got mad at me last year because I said, ‘Not only are the Eagles going to beat the [Kansas City] Chiefs in the Super Bowl, they’re going to blow them out,'” he stated.
And Chuck was correct as the Eagles won 40-22 and the game was never really close from the start.
Barkley’s Super Bowl pick
This year, he understands it’s going to be a little tougher for his favorite team, but he still has the Eagles going to the Super Bowl.
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“If you gave me a choice right now, I would take the Bills against my Eagles [in the Super Bowl]. Saquon [Barkley] has been a godsend coming to Philly. Jalen [Hurts], he just got to get it to AJ [Brown] and Devonta [Smith]… But you know, the hardest thing is to repeat. I think my Eagles will be fine, but the AFC. The Bills are going to be great, Baltimore [Ravens] is going to be great. The [Cincinnati] Bengals man, if they can fix their defense,” Barkley explained.
In the NFL, it’s even harder to become a back-to-back champion than in the NBA because the Playoffs in football are single-elimination games. One bad night, one bad call, or an unlucky bounce of football can destroy all the work you’ve done during the 17-game season.
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In reality, it’s even worse than that because NFL teams start their preparations during the OTAs that happen during the spring, so while 17 games is not a long regular season calendar-wise, teams have done a lot of preparation months before.
The Chiefs missed out on history last season
It’s a completely different ball game in the NBA where the regular season lasts 82 games and you have to win four games in a series to advance further in the Playoffs.
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So, in the NFL, just to win the championship once, you have to have a lot of things go your way, let alone two years in a row.
The last team that won back-to-back was the Chiefs, who won in 2023 and 2024 and, as Barkley mentioned, played against his Eagles at the beginning of 2025.
They had a historic chance to become the first franchise ever to win three Super Bowls in a row. So, Chuck’s Eagles, while winning a second title in their franchise history, stopped some history from happening in the process.
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There was a team that won three titles in a row, but it didn’t happen in the modern era. The Green Bay Packers three-peated from 1966 to 1968, but there is a caveat here.
The first one was the NFL title, the last of the pre-Super Bowl era, before they won Super Bowls I and II.
The Chiefs were just the eighth team in NFL history to win back-to-back titles, so it’s fair to say Philly will have a tough time becoming another team on that list.
Even though they are a very good football team, as Barkley accurately explained.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 10, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.