Super Bowl 2025: How Chiefs defense can slow down Eagles’ Saquon Barkley

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is on the doorstep of the best single season for a running back in NFL history, entering Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Barkley has 2,447 yards rushing this season, including the playoffs, which is just 30 yards away from breaking Hall of Famer Terrell Davis’ NFL single-season record of 2,476 in the 1998 season. Davis was the last player to win the NFL’s rushing title (2,008 yards in the 1998 regular season) and the Super Bowl in the same season, something Barkley could achieve on Sunday. 

Given how unstoppable Barkley has been all season long, how might Kansas City attempt to slow him down? Well for starters, any team playing Barkley needs to be sound in tackling because one whiff could result in Barkley taking it to the house. The good news for the back-to-back defending champion Chiefs is they had the second-fewest missed tackles in the regular season (117), just one behind the New England Patriots for the fewest in the NFL, per TruMedia. 

However, Barkley has elevated to historic heights in the playoffs, averaging 147.3 yards rushing in three games played this postseason, and he has run for more than 100 yards in 14 of the Eagles’ 19 games this season, including each of the last five. In just the last two games, Barkley has 323 yards rushing while averaging 7.9 yards per carry. He is the only player since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to hit both of those marks in two-game span in the postseason. 

On the flip side, Kansas City’s run defense has crumbled in the playoffs, which bucks a few trends under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The Chiefs have never allowed a 100-yard rusher in the postseason under Spags, and they have an active streak of 18 consecutive games without allowing an individual 100-yard rusher. Kansas City allowed just 101.8 rushing yards per game in the 2024 regular season, the eighth-fewest in the NFL in 2024, but the Chiefs are currently allowing 148.0 rushing yards per game in the playoffs.   

The Chiefs have been typically pretty good at limiting big plays in the run game, averaging 2.9 explosive runs allowed per game this season, which ranks as the third-fewest in the NFL, but then there’s Barkley on the other side. His seven offensive touchdowns of 60 or more yards are tied for the most total touchdowns of 60 or more yards in a single season in NFL history along with Devin Hester’s seven in 2007, per CBS Sports Research. Three of Barkley’s seven have come in the last two games, including his first touch of the NFC Championship game that went 60 yards to the house. 

Outside runs, like the toss play that kicked off the Eagles’ NFC Championship game beatdown of the Commanders, have been Barkley’s bread and butter in the playoffs. He’s rushed for 344 yards and five touchdowns on 37 carries (9.3 yards per carry) outside the tackles this postseason, and both of Barkley’s yardage and touchdown totals on such runs are the most by any player in a single postseason in the NFL’s Next Gen Stats’ existence since 2016. It also helps having two 2024 Second Team All-Pros paving the way on the outside for Barkley in left tackle Jordan Mailata (95.2 Pro Football Focus offensive grade, best among offensive tackles in 2024) and right tackle Lane Johnson (87.5 PFF offensive grade, the fifth-best among offensive tackles in 2024). 

In the regular season, Kansas City allowed the eighth-fewest rushing yards per game on runs outside the tackles (59.5) and the seventh-fewest rushing yards per play (4.4), per NGS. Like the Chiefs’ overall postseason rushing stats, they have declined tremendously in defending against runs outside the tackles in the postseason. They are allowing 104.5 yards rushing per game and 6.1 yards rushing per play on runs outside the tackles this postseason. 

Kansas City First Team All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones is the anchor of the Chiefs defense in the middle of the line of scrimmage. But if edge rushers like George Karlaftis, Mike Danna, Felix Anudike-Uzomah and Charles Omenihu can’t set the edge well in the run game, it’s lights out on the Chiefs’ hopes of a three-peat. Kansas City’s ability or inability to keep Barkley contained on runs outside the tackles will determine which team is hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy when the clock hits zero on the 2024 NFL season.