NEW ORLEANS – The month of February gives us numerous holidays and occurrences to celebrate and acknowledge every year. There's Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, and President's Day. Every four years, February even gives us an extra day.

Another annual event in the second month has entered the national consciousness, at least to that huge segment obsessed with the NFL: the Kansas Chiefs play in the Super Bowl.

It's not official and it doesn't occur every year, but it sure happens often. The two-time defending champion Chiefs will make their third consecutive appearance, and fifth in the last six years, when they face the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday in Super Bowl LIX in the Caesars Superdome. In the past two Super Bowls, Kansas City defeated the Eagles, 38-35, and the San Francisco 49ers last year in overtime, 25-22.

The Chiefs' frequent participation is where we begin our Super Bowl preview.

*Kansas City, which also beat San Francisco in Super Bowl LIV and lost the following year to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is the first team to reach the Super Bowl five times in a six-season span.

The first Super Bowl was played following the 1966 season. Prior to that, the league champion was the winner of the NFL Championship Game. The last team to play in that game five times in six seasons was…the Giants, who advanced to five title games from 1958-63. Unfortunately, they lost all five games.

*The Chiefs are one of just six teams in the NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL to make at least five championship appearances in a six-season span. The others are the New York Islanders (1979-85), Edmonton Oilers (1982-88), Los Angeles Lakers (1983-89), New York Yankees (1998-2003), and the Golden State Warriors (2019-24). The Islanders and Oilers won four championships, and the Lakers, Yankees and Warriors won three each.

*Kansas City is just the fourth team to play in at least three straight Super Bowls, joining the 1971-73 Miami Dolphins (2-1), 1990-93 Buffalo Bills (0-4), and the 2016-18 New England Patriots (2-1).

*Perhaps you've heard…a Chiefs victory will make Kansas City the first team to ever win the Super Bowl in three consecutive seasons. The league's last three-time winners were the 1965-67 Green Bay Packers, who won the 1965 championship game and Super Bowls I and II. The NFL's only other three-peat champions since the league's inception in 1920 were the 1929-31 Packers.

That was one of 16 instances of a franchise winning at least three consecutive titles across the four major men's sports leagues. The last teams to do it in the other sports were the Islanders from 1979-83, the Lakers from 1999-2002, and the Yankees from 1998-2000. Since 1970, the other teams to achieve the feat were the Chicago Bulls from 1990-93 and 1995-98 and the WNBA's Houston Comets from 1997-2000 (4).

*Andy Reid is the only coach in NFL history to lead two different franchises in career victories. Those franchises are the Eagles and the Chiefs. Including the postseason, Reid was 140-102-1 with Philadelphia from 1999-2012 and is 161-60 with the Chiefs since 2013. Against the Giants, he was 17-14 in the regular season and 2-1 in the playoffs with the Eagles and is 2-1 with the Chiefs. The Giants will host Kansas City in the 2025 season.

*Reid and Patrick Mahomes could become the third head coach-quarterback duo to win at last four Super Bowls, joining New England's Bill Belichick and Tom Brady (6) and Pittsburgh's Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw (4). Reid and Mahomes are tied with San Francisco's Bill Walsh and Joe Montana (3).

*Reid and Philadelphia's Nick Sirianni will be the fifth pair of head coaches to face each other in multiple Super Bowls. The head coach who won the first matchup is 4-0 in the rematch. The one most enjoyed by Giants fans is Tom Coughlin's two victories over Belichick in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. Reid twice defeated San Francisco's Kyle Shanahan in the Super Bowl. The others were Noll/Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson/Marv Levy.

*Mahomes vs. Jalen Hurts is the fourth starting quarterback rematch in Super Bowl history. Eli Manning (Brady), Troy Aikman (Jim Kelly), and Bradshaw (Roger Staubach) were all 2-0. Hurts can become the first quarterback to lose to an opponent in the Super Bowl and then defeat that team later in his career. Brady is the only quarterback with a 1-1 record vs. a single opponent in Super Bowl history. He defeated the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX in the 2004 season and lost to them 13 years later.

*Super Bowl LIX will be the first postseason game in NFL history featuring quarterbacks who have each thrown more than 200 passes without an interception entering the matchup. Mahomes has thrown 288 consecutive passes without a pick, breaking the mark of 212 in a row by Atlanta's Matt Ryan eight years ago as the longest in history entering a Super Bowl. None of Hurts' last 209 passes was intercepted. Hurts was last intercepted on Nov. 10 at Dallas, while Mahomes hasn't been picked off since Nov. 17 in Buffalo.

*Mahomes can win his fourth Super Bowl MVP award, which would place him second in history behind Brady's five. The only other multiple winners are Montana (3) and Bart Starr, Bradshaw, and Manning, each with two apiece.

*Mahomes can become just the third athlete in NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL to win a championship round MVP in three straight seasons. The others were Michael Jordan (1991-93 and 1996-98) and Shaquille O'Neal (2000-02).

*The Chiefs and Eagles combined for 73 points in Super Bowl LVII, the third-most in the game's history. San Francisco (49) and the San Diego Chargers (26) scored 75 points in Super Bowl XXIX, and the Eagles (41) and Patriots (33) totaled 74 points in Super Bowl LII. The Kansas City-Philadelphia matchup was the only Super Bowl in history in which both teams scored 35+ points.

*Kansas City has 15 starters and Philadelphia has 12 remaining from Super Bowl LVII two years ago. The Eagles have four players remaining on their roster from their Super Bowl LII victory against New England in February 2018: tackle Lane Johnson, defensive end Brandon Graham, kicker Jake Elliott and long snapper Rick Lovato.

*Hurts was 24 years old when he made his first Super Bowl appearance in the loss to Kansas City in 2023. He is one of nine quarterbacks to lose their first Super Bowl start at age 25 or younger. Hurts is the first of those nine to start a second Super Bowl.

*Hurts is looking to join Hall of Famers Joe Namath and Montana as the only quarterbacks to win both a national championship in college and a Super Bowl. Namath won a title at Alabama in 1964 and Super Bowl III with the Jets. Montana's 1977 Notre Dame team was a championship squad, and his 49ers won Super Bowls XVI, XIX, XXIII and XXIV. Hurts won a national championship at Alabama in 2017, when his offensive coordinator was Brian Daboll.

*Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith can become the fifth player in history to win the Heisman Trophy, a collegiate national championship, and a Super Bowl. The others are Tony Dorsett (1976 Heisman/University of Pittsburgh/Dallas in Super Bowl XII), Marcus Allen (1981/USC/the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII), Charles Woodson (1997/Michigan/Green Bay in Super Bowl XLV), and Reggie Bush (2005/USC/New Orleans in Super Bowl XLIV). Smith won the Heisman in 2020 and two national championships at Alabama.

*Philadelphia's Nick Sirianni is the third head coach in NFL history to make two Super Bowl appearances in their first four seasons in that position. He joins Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs (1982-83) and Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin (2008 and 2010). Both Gibbs and Tomlin were 1-1. Sirianni is 0-1.

*Running back Saquon Barkley has 2,760 combined regular season and postseason scrimmage yards. He needs just three yards to break Terrell Davis' record of 2,762 combined rushing and receiving yards, set in 1998 with Denver. Barkley and Davis are the only players in NFL history to rush for 2,000+ yards in the regular season and win a playoff game. The '98 Broncos defeated Atlanta in Super Bowl XXXIII.

*Barkley (28) and Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean (22) both have birthdays on Super Bowl Sunday. Players who play in the Super Bowl on their birthday are 10-4.

*Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce has an NFL postseason record 174 receptions, including 31 in the Super Bowl. That is the second-highest total in Super Bowl history behind Hall of Famer Jerry Rice's 33. Though it seems likely he will break the record Sunday, Kelce had only two catches for 19 yards – both career playoff lows – in the AFC Championship Game vs Buffalo.

*Kelce can join Rice, Lynn Swann and Rob Gronkowski as the only players to catch a touchdown pass in three or more Super Bowls.

*The Chiefs/Eagles regular-season series is tied, 5-5. Philadelphia won the most recent meeting, 21-17, on Nov. 20, 2023, in Kansas City. In their 11 meetings, including Super Bowl LVII, the Eagles have scored 275 points, the Chiefs 273.

*This is the 11^th Super Bowl to be played in New Orleans, tying the city with Miami as the game's most frequent host. It's the eighth Super Bowl in the Caesars Superdome, the most games in a single venue.

Each team has played one previous Super Bowl in New Orleans. Kansas City defeated Minnesota in Super Bowl IV in Tulane Stadium, 23-7. The Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV in the Superdome, 27-10.