Just moments after the Eagles announced that they had extended running back Saquon Barkley’s contract for another two years and $41.2 million, which consists of a guarantee of $36 million, and a ceiling of another $15 million that is incentive based — Philadelphia began to once again glow at the promise of another Super Bowl Championship.
The deal that makes Barkley the highest paid running back in the NFL along with already widely being considered as the league’s best rusher — combined with the success that the Nick Sirianni era — has brought some additional historic comparisons.
It was not long after the end of World War II when the Eagles were preparing to move to the top of the NFL standings under then-Head Coach Earl “Greasy” Neale and the league’s best running back in the legendary Steve Van Buren. The Eagles would select Van Buren out of LSU with the fifth overall pick during the 1944 NFL Draft held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia.
In 2018 — Saquon Barkley would be drafted No. 2 overall.
After finishing 6-5 in 1946 , the Eagles were poised to make a run at the championship the following year. The 1947 Philadelphia Eagles would finish with a record of 8-4, would defeat the Steelers in the playoffs 21-0, and then would travel to Chicago to face the Cardinals in the NFL Championship game. Much like the Eagles in Super Bowl 57 , Philadelphia mounted a furious comeback in the 1947 NFL Championship Game after trailing 28-14, but would ultimately lose 28-21.
Neale’s Eagles would never lose another championship game.
One year later, in 1948, behind the league’s leading rusher in Van Buren — the Eagles would be back in the NFL Championship in Philadelphia in a game that Van Buren almost missed due to a snowstorm. And much like the 2024–2025 Eagles who advanced to Super Bowl 59 against the team who had defeated them there previously, Philadelphia would face the team who had previously beat them for a championship and would defeat the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 right here at Shibe Park. The 1948 season would also see Van Buren capture the NFL rushing title with 945 yards and also lead the league in kickoff returns and scoring as well.
But there is another extremely important parallel between the Eagles of the 1940s and the team that just brought us nearly a month of euphoria in the City of Brotherly Love. The late 1940s was, for almost 70 years, the most impressive string of dominance by any Eagles team. The current Eagles under owner Jeffrey Lurie and General Manager Howie Roseman have all but eclipsed that success with two Super Bowl victories and three NFC Championships in the last seven years.
And as if Eagles fans needed history to help them to feel elated about the future — well here you go. In 1949 — Steve Van Buren led the NFL in rushing once again with 1,146 yards and also led the Eagles to a second consecutive NFL World Championship — marking the best run in team history. Until, of course this team came along with all of the potential to win the Super Bowl again next season behind the incredible rushing of a top running back named Saquon Barkley.
Michael Thomas Leibrandt is member of the York Road Historical Society and lives and works in Abington Township.
