The Philadelphia Eagles are starting over under Chip Kelly. Although the mere fact that he isn’t Andy Reid may be enough for Eagles fans, he has to do much more to keep Philadelphia on his side. To that end, Kelly endured himself further to his new fan base by taking part in a Philadelphia tradition.
The annual “Wing Bowl” was held on Feb. 1 and Kelly made a personal appearance, according to CBS Philly. As a result, Wing Bowl host and WIP radio personality Angelo Cataldi called it “the greatest moment in Wing Bowl history.” This would even surpass 2005, which was the only time the Eagles played in the Super Bowl right after the Wing Bowl.
For 21 years, Philadelphia has staged the Wing Bowl on the Friday before the Super Bowl. It was meant to fire up the Eagles faithful and help them feel better about the team missing the Super Bowl every year. The wing-eating contest has only gotten bigger over the years, as it is now held in front of over 20,000 people at the Wells Fargo Center.
Except for 2005, the Wing Bowl has been the biggest event for Eagles fans at Super Bowl weekend every year. As such, it was the ideal place for Kelly to show up and win over more new followers. He already mentioned the Wing Bowl as the “second most important bowl” in Philadelphia at his first press conference two weeks earlier, so this didn’t come completely out of nowhere.
Reid was widely considered to be stiff and boring, which didn’t go over so well with Eagles fans when he didn’t win. The Eagles knew they had to hire a direct opposite of Reid to pacify fans, and Kelly is already going out of his way to prove he is different.
Of course, the biggest way to be different from Reid is to win a Super Bowl, or at least make more than one of them. Although Kelly made a lot of wing-lovers cheer at the Wing Bowl, the Eagles would like him to be too busy preparing for another bowl at this time of year in the future.
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