Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles are familiar with iconic hurdles. Now they must defy another if they are to become Super Bowl champions. This time, though, a mental one, says Jeff Reinebold.

The Eagles will have their shot at revenge in New Orleans on February 9 when they face the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch of Super Bowl LVII, where Andy Reid’s side edged a shootout to win 38-35 in Arizona.

They are tasked with denying the Chiefs a historic third straight Super Bowl, with Mahomes chasing his fourth ring before the age of 30.

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“Mahomes has got to be Mahomes, the Chiefs have to continue to find a way and play great complementary football,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Jeff Reinebold on Inside the Huddle.

“They can beat you in all three phases and it doesn’t matter which phase wins the game for them, they don’t care.

“On the other side, how will Philadelphia deal with it?” The success of scoring 55 points, going to play the Chiefs – a team they have to feel like they should have beaten last time. There’s a lot of psychological stuff they’ll have to deal with.

“You’re playing against a mystique in Patrick Mahomes. I think Mahomes is at that point that Tom Brady got to with guys and coaches on other teams, when he had the ball it was like ‘oh boy, they’ve got Tom Brady!’.

“It’s that trump card they can pull out at any time and I think he knows that, I truly believe he knows that’s where his place is.”

At the age of 29, Mahomes is primed to become just the third quarterback in NFL history to start in five Super Bowls behind only Tom Brady, who did it at the age of 34, and John Elway at the age of 38.

With Sunday’s victory over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game, Mahomes broke a tie with Joe Montana for the second most playoff wins by a quarterback in history with a record of 17-3. Only Brady has more with 35 having won the Super Bowl seven times from 10 postseason appearances in his career.

“It’s obviously really cool,” Mahomes said of comparisons to Brady’s career. “Your goal is to win in the postseason, but I’ve been blessed to be on a lot of great football teams with a lot of great coaches and a great organisation and I just try to maximize every moment. You never know what’s going to be your last one.

“I know I’m a long way from Tom, so I’ll try to do whatever I can for that.”

Mahomes has taken the Chiefs to the Super Bowl in five of the last six campaigns to bring an end to the New England Patriots dominance under Bill Belichick and spearhead a new modern-day dynasty.

Kansas City have also won seven straight AFC West division titles and visited seven consecutive AFC Championship Games, winning five, since Mahomes took over as starter in 2018. In that time the Chiefs have won 107 games, the most across a seven-year period in NFL history.

“The Patriots never went to five in six, the Steelers never went to five in six, the 49ers didn’t, neither did the Cowboys,” said Sky Sports NFL presenter Neil Reynolds.

“I get the frustration, I get the fatigue. Everybody loved the Chiefs when they were underdogs and we needed somebody to knock off the Patriots. Now there are obvious plays that go in their favour. The Xavier Worthy completion is one to contend, the Josh Allen quarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches – I don’t get how they don’t overturn that, and that leads to a Chiefs touchdown.

“But show me any great team in any sport and you’ll find people complaining about the calls they get. I just think they’re brilliant, it’s why they are here again.

“I know everybody is fed up of it, but you have to recognise we are living in historic times and witnessing greatness.”

The Chiefs have now won nine consecutive playoff games as they seek to make it 10 in New Orleans.

No other team in recent years has looked close to navigating postseason football with the same authority and understanding, their staggering success blunting the peak years of Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen in their agonising pursuit of Super Bowl glory.

Travis Kelce just posted career-low numbers in the regular season, only to spark into life with a 100-yard game against the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round. He would then make just two catches in the win over the Bills as Xavier Worthy led the way with six catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.

Between injuries and inefficiency, the Chiefs offense stuttered throughout the campaign. But they found a way.

“What makes me love the Chiefs is when I see Kelce catch two balls in a game where he could have lost his mind when he’s not involved, but he threw some key blocks and found the unselfishness to throw key blocks to get Mahomes into the end zone,” said Reinebold.

“It’s cliché to say ‘I’ll do whatever it takes’ but these guys do whatever it takes.

“It’s the incredible thing about the Chiefs. It gets harder to get guys to do that when you’ve won Championships, everybody wants it to be about them.

“The Patriots kind of redefined what a dynasty was, but these guys have said ‘hold my beer, we’ll show you what a dynasty is!'”

Their unwavering dominance has warranted disgruntlement, such can be the way of modern sport, particularly in a league designed for parity. The Patriots became villains, and now so too, it appears, have the Chiefs.

“I mean, it comes with it,” said defensive tackle Chris Jones. “It comes with being successful, right? You get less attractive. You know, no pun intended, but you get less attractive.

“The more success you have, the more people want to see you fail. You know, I spoke on it last week is about getting to that mountaintop. And every year is a climb. So a lot of adversity amongst the way of the climb in there. We just got to continue at it.”

Kansas City must now contend with a 2,000-yard rusher in Barkley – who is just 30 yards shy of Terrell Davis’ all-time single-season record – and the Eagles’ No 1-ranked defense.

“This is a great football team we’re playing,” Mahomes said. “They’re great on offense. They’re great on defense and special teams.

“We played them in a close Super Bowl a couple of years ago, but they’ve added players and have got even better. It’ll take our best football to win.”

The Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday February 9, live on Sky Sports NFL and Main Event from 10pm ahead of kickoff at 11.30pm; 17-time Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar headlines the half-time show.