If the Philadelphia Eagles want to win the Super Bowl this year, not only do they have to beat the Kansas City Chiefs, but they’re going to have to figure out a way to beat Kirk Cousins.
That might sound crazy, especially since Cousins isn’t even playing in the Super Bowl, but he has had a direct impact on the game thanks to the “Curse of Kirk Cousins.”
If you’ve never heard about this curse, it’s pretty simple: Since Cousins entered the NFL in 2012, no team has ever won the Super Bowl in the same season where they lost to Cousins. If Cousins was the starter for a game and he beat you, the curse then kept you from winning the Super Bowl that year.
So why is this a big deal right now? Because Cousins beat the Eagles this year.
The Falcons QB only started a total of 14 games in 2024 and one of those game came against the Eagles. Back in Week 2, Cousins threw for 241 yards and two touchdowns to lead Atlanta to a 22-21 upset win over the Eagles, who were favored by 5.5 points.
Cousins also beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year, and of course, the curse already got them with the Bucs going down in the wild-card round against Washington in a game where Tampa Bay was favored.
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As for the Eagles, the fact that they’ve gotten this far is impressive because only one other team has even made it to the Super Bowl in the same year where they lost to Cousins and that came last season with the 49ers.
With this year’s Super Bowl being played in New Orleans, maybe the Eagles can end the Cousins voodoo. This will mark the third time that the Eagles have had to deal with the “Curse of Cousins” and they’re 0-2 against it so far.
With that in mind, let’s check out how the curse has impacted teams over the course of Cousins’ career (Note: From 2012 through 2015, Cousins didn’t beat a single team that even made the playoffs, so we’re starting in 2016).
- 2016: Cousins beat the Packers and they ended up getting to the NFC title game before getting destroyed 44-21 by the Falcons (Cousins also beat the Giants that year and they lost in the wild-card round).
- 2017: Cousins beat the Rams, who won the NFC West that year, but they got knocked out in the wild-card round.
- 2018: Cousins beat the Eagles, who finished in second in the NFC East, and although they did end up winning a playoff game that year, they eventually got knocked out in the divisional round.
- 2019: Cousins beat the Eagles again, and although they won the NFC East that year, that didn’t translate to any playoff success. The curse of Cousins got them with Philly losing in the wild-card round to the Seahawks.
- 2020: Cousins beat two playoffs teams during the regular season: The Bears and Packers. The crazy thing is that the Packers actually finished the season as the top seed in the NFC, and although they did get to the NFC title game, the curse did eventually get them when they lost to Tom Brady’s Buccaneers. As for the Bears, they lost in the wild-card round.
- 2021: Cousins once again beat two playoff teams during the regular season: The Steelers and the Packers. To be honest, Cousins might only be cursing the Packers, because that seems to be the team that gets impacted the most by this curse. For the second straight year, the Packers were the No. 1 seed in the NFC and for the second straight year, they didn’t make it to the Super Bowl. As a matter of fact, they didn’t even make it to the NFC title game because they ended up losing to the 49ers, 13-10, in the divisional round. As for the Steelers, they were the AFC’s seventh seed and they were knocked out in the wild-card round.
- 2022: Cousins actually beat three playoff teams and one of them (Buffalo) was viewed as the serious Super Bowl contender (The other two were the Dolphins and Giants). However, nothing can overcome the curse of Cousins and none of the three teams even made it out of the divisional round.
- 2023: Last season, Cousins only beat two playoffs teams — the Packers and 49ers — and things didn’t work out so well for either team. Those two teams actually played each other in the divisional round, a game the Packers ended up losing. As for the 49ers, they had a 10-point lead in Super Bowl LVIII against the Chiefs last year, but the curse got them and they ended up losing.
That’s 14 teams that have gone up against the “Curse of Cousins” and all 14 teams failed to win the Super Bowl. Cousins did actually face Kansas City this year, but the Chiefs don’t have to worry about the curse because they beat the Falcons 22-17 in a wild game that went down to the wire.
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