The AFC Championship Game is set, and this should be a win/win for Eagles fans.

Why?

For starters, Bill Belichick isn’t involved. The New England Patriots are nowhere to be found. It’s a breath of fresh air after years of boring, albeit admirable, dominance. In their place we’ve got Andy Reid and his Kansas City Chiefs looking for a repeat Super Bowl trip, this time against the upstart Buffalo Bills, coached by Philly guy and former assistant Sean McDermott.

Despite what Angelo Cataldi will probably tell you this week, Eagles fans should enjoy watching either one of these guys play for a title.

In the case of McDermott, we’re talking about a guy who was born in Nebraska, but moved to our region and attended North Penn high school before transferring to La Salle CHS. He was an all-region defensive back in 1992 and a champion wrestler, too. He went to college at William and Mary, then joined the Eagles’ coaching ranks in the late 90s, where he studied underneath mentor Jim Johnson. Sean’s brother, Tim, is also a local guy and currently serves at the Philadelphia Union’s Chief Business Officer.

As for Andy, we can just repeat what we wrote last year. He gave 14 years to Philadelphia and got us to four NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl. No, Big Red didn’t win the big one here, but that was the longest stretch of successful football in Eagles franchise history. Before Andy won his ring in 2020, he gave us Doug Pederson, who won the Super Bowl two seasons prior. And Nick Foles, who quarterbacked the Birds in that game, was talked out of an early retirement by Reid, so Andy’s fingerprints are all over the Eagles’ Super Bowl 52 triumph, whether we like it or not. If there was any animosity reserved for Big Red, it should have gone out the window when both he and Doug won their rings. We got our ring, Andy got his ring, and now we can all die happy.

Plus, it’s easy to cheer for both of these teams. Buffalo has been utter garbage for two decades and is finally turning a corner. They won their first playoff game since 1995! That’s insane. And their fans are great. They are fun loving, drunken assholes, kind of like us. The Bills are new and interesting and different, and it’s a nice change of pace to see them in the AFC Championship Game. They aren’t in our conference and aren’t a rival, so Eagles fans shouldn’t mind seeing a different team, coached by a local guy, win it all.

The Chiefs also are not a rival. They are fun to watch, with a dynamic offense, and you’ve got SPAGS running the defense. Their fans are also pretty cool, a blue collar group that doesn’t seem to come with the gross entitlement that you find in New England or Pittsburgh.

I can get down with either team winning the Super Bowl. They’re gonna have to beat Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers to do it, but if Sean McDermott or Andy Reid comes out on top, that is a suitable outcome for this Eagles fan.