Super Bowl LII: Patriots and Eagles set to do battle in Minneapolis

Sixteen years ago, as the St. Louis Rams strolled into the Louisiana Superdome favored by 14 points to win their second Super Bowl in three years because of a record-breaking offense and resourceful defense, Kurt Warner had a gnawing feeling the upstart opponent he had shredded in November had something different in store for him.

He just didn't know what. Read more

He arrived, as many future Patriots standouts do, with little fanfare, a transaction few probably cared about even in New England.

It was Dec. 31, 2014, when the Patriots signed Dion Lewis, some pint-size running back who had been drafted by the Eagles and hadn't even played an NFL game in two-plus years. Read more

This time, the Eagles — the Patriots' Super Bowl opponent on Sunday — have an inside edge thanks to two signings made last spring, well before either team anticipated this matchup. Eagles running back LeGarrette Blount and defensive end Chris Long were part of the Patriots' Super Bowl victory over the Atlanta Falcons a year ago. Read more

David Baker, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, assures us that metallurgists have assured him that an enshrinee's bronze bust will last 40,000 years.

Some of us will have to take their word for it. Read more

Malcolm Butler had just won a Super Bowl and revived a sleeping dynasty. His interception on the goal line had given the New England Patriots another title and prevented the Seattle Seahawks from winning a second straight. Read more

Roger Jeziorski and Marlene Krist were members of Browerville High School's Class of 1962. They were married and the Jeziorskis raised their family on a farm in nearby Cushing Township. Read more

Cornerback Eric Rowe said you can see the change in the Patriots defense when it is in the red zone.

"Everyone tightens up. Everyone is alert," Rowe said. "Awareness is heightened. … When we're getting down there, you can tell in our body language that we need to tighten up now." Read more

At its heart, Sunday's telecast of Super Bowl LII will look a lot like NBC's "Sunday Night Football." The network will use the same announcers, the same producer and director, the same crew and many of the same camera angles.

The Twin Cities newspapers were not quite as insane in their coverage of dramatic Vikings games in the 1970s as is the case four decades later. Still, there were ample numbers of articles in the Minneapolis Tribune and the afternoon Star when the Purple advanced to four Super Bowls in the eight Januaries from 1970 to '77. Read more

Bobby Bell vividly remembers standing on the Los Angeles Coliseum field that day in 1967, looking up and seeing all those empty seats, and asking himself, "Who in the hell is going to pay $12 for a ticket?"

Bell, the former Gophers great, is a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He is one of the best to ever play in the NFL. But, as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, who lost to the Green Bay Packers in the first Super Bowl, he did not appreciate the history of what he saw that day: the beginning, the very first steps, of a cultural phenomenon. Read more

Two big story lines

How close do we expect this second Patriots-Eagles Super Bowl to be? Try a 5-4 edge to the Eagles in the nine position matchup breakdowns below. However, the most important one — quarterback — is lopsided toward Tom Brady and the 4 ½-point favorite Patriots. On paper, Sunday's game at U.S. Bank Stadium should be strength against strength as the New England offense and Philadelphia defense put forth the best talent on their respective sides of the football. Read more