Super Bowl banner unveiled as curtain goes up on Eagles season
Historic moment at the Linc
From The Reporter/MediaNews Group: https://tinyurl.com/2hj7y944
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and retired defensive end Brandon Graham, an honorary captain, each carried a Lombardi Trophy as they presented the official unveiling of the Super Bowl LIX championship banner at a raucous Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night before kickoff of the NFL opener against the Dallas Cowboys.
Last season marked the franchise’s second Super Bowl title and fifth NFL championship when the Eagles routed the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in New Orleans.
The Eagles won Super Bowl LII in the 2017-18 season, beating the New England Patriots 41-33 after quarterback Nick Foles took over late in the year for an injured Carson Wentz. Graham had a key strip sack on Tom Brady to help secure the victory.
Halfback Steve Van Buren and veteran quarterback Tommy Thompson led the Eagles to back-to-back titles in 1948 and 1949 under coach Greasy Neal. They shut out the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 at Shibe Park in North Philadelphia during a blizzard in December of 1948.
It was the first NFL championship game to be televised. It was also a revenge game for the Eagles, who had lost in the title game to the Cardinals in 1947 at Comiskey Park.
Rookie linebacker/center Chuck Bednarik helped lead the Birds over the Los Angeles Rams 14-7 in 1949 at the L.A. Coliseum, which was a quarter full because of a polio outbreak.
Quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, flanker Tommy McDonald and Bednarik, a native of the Lehigh Valley who spent his later years in Quakertown, led the Eagles over Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers 17-13 at Franklin Field in 1960.
The Eagles lost in the Super Bowl in the 1980, 2004 and 2022 seasons.
The Super Bowl trophy was named after Lombardi in 1971 following his death of colon cancer the previous year at age 57. The Baltimore Colts were the first team awarded the Lombardi Trophy after they beat Tom Landry’s Cowboys in Super Bowl V.