The NFC was represented by the number-one playoff seed
Philadelphia Eagles, while the AFC was represented by the number-one playoff seed
New England Patriots, marking the fourth time in the previous five years that the Super Bowl had featured the top team from each conference.
Philadelphia Eagles in 2014 in the Philadelphia suburbs one day prior to the Super Bowl The Eagles finished the regular season with a record of 13–3, the same as New England, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh, but by virtue of having a better record against common opponents than Minnesota, Philadelphia earned the NFC's top seed in the
2017–18 NFL playoffs. It was a substantial improvement for the team under second-year head coach
Doug Pederson; the Eagles finished the previous season with a 7–9 record. In the 2017 season, the team scored 457 points (third in the NFL), while giving up just 295 (fourth) points. The offense was led by
Pro Bowl quarterback
Carson Wentz. In just his second season, he recorded a passer rating of 101.9, throwing for 3,296 yards and 33 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions. His top target was Pro Bowl tight end
Zach Ertz, who caught 74 passes for 824 yards and eight touchdowns. Other contributors were two receivers acquired from off-season free agency:
Alshon Jeffery, who caught 57 passes for 789 yards and nine scores; and
Torrey Smith, who had 36 receptions for 430 yards. Meanwhile, third-year receiver
Nelson Agholor had the best season of his career, hauling in 62 passes for 768 yards and eight touchdowns, a higher total in each category than in his previous two seasons combined. The Eagles rushing attack also benefited from two recently acquired players,
LeGarrette Blount and
Jay Ajayi. Blount, an off-season signing who won a Super Bowl with the Patriots, gained 776 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Ajayi, picked up by a mid-season trade with the Miami Dolphins, rushed for 873 yards and caught 24 passes for 154 yards combined with the two teams. Philadelphia also had a superb offensive line, led by two Pro Bowl selections: Tackle
Lane Johnson and Guard
Brandon Brooks, along with
all pro center
Jason Kelce. The Eagles defense allowed the fourth-fewest yards in the league (4,904). Defensive tackle
Fletcher Cox made the Pro Bowl for the third time in his career, recording 5 sacks and two fumble recoveries, and he had plenty of help around him, such as former Patriots defensive end
Chris Long, who had five sacks and forced four fumbles, and defensive end
Brandon Graham, who led the team with 9 sacks. Middle linebacker
Nigel Bradham led the team in combined tackles with 88. The Eagles secondary featured Pro Bowl safety
Malcolm Jenkins, who had 76 combined tackles and two interceptions, along with cornerback
Patrick Robinson, who led the team with four interceptions. Philadelphia had stormed to the top of the NFC by winning 10 of their first 12 games, but suffered a major setback on December 10, when Wentz went down with a season-ending
ACL tear and was replaced by journeyman backup quarterback
Nick Foles, who was playing for his third team in as many years and his second stint with the Eagles. After Wentz's injury, many analysts wrote off the remainder of the Eagles' season as they believed they would not recover from his loss. Surprising analysts, Foles was able to lead the team to victory in that game, as well as the next two. The Eagles rested Foles and were led by third-string quarterback
Nate Sudfeld for their meaningless game against the Cowboys in Week 17, a game they lost, but in the Eagles' two playoff games, Foles threw for a combined total of 598 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, replicating the excellent performance of Wentz to carry the Eagles to the NFC title.
New England Patriots in 2017 The Patriots entered the 2017 NFL season as defending Super Bowl champions. For the 16th time in their 18 seasons under head coach
Bill Belichick, they recorded a double-digit win season, finishing the regular season with a record of 13–3 and, by virtue of having a head-to-head victory over Pittsburgh, earned the AFC's number one overall seed. The previous season's top wide receiver
Julian Edelman went down in the preseason with a season-ending injury. Early season defensive struggles left the team with a 2–2 record after four weeks, and the worst overall defense in the league at that point. The defense came together as a unit, and tightened up over the rest of the season however, with the Patriots going 11–1 after week 4. Their sole loss in the latter part of the season came in Week 14 to the Miami Dolphins, a
division rival, though they were without star tight end
Rob Gronkowski due to a one-game suspension for an unnecessary roughness call the prior week. The Patriots' defense was improved by several late-season free-agent signings, including
Eric Lee, a defensive end, previously from the Buffalo Bills, whom the Patriots signed in Week 12, and
James Harrison, a perennial All-Pro for the
Pittsburgh Steelers, whom the Patriots picked up off waivers after Christmas. In just six games for New England, Lee recorded 3 sacks, a safety, and an interception. In his only regular season game with the Patriots, Harrison recorded two sacks. During the regular season, New England's offense led the league in yards gained (6,307) and ranked second in points scored (458). The 40-year-old Brady finished his 18th season with a league-leading 4,577 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and just eight interceptions, earning him his 13th selection to the Pro Bowl and his third league MVP award. One change that helped make up for the loss of Edelman was the acquisition of receiver
Brandin Cooks, who caught 65 passes for 1,082 yards and seven touchdowns. Brady was also aided by the healthy return of Gronkowski, who had played just eight games in the previous season, finishing this year with 69 catches for 1,084 yards and eight scores. Receiver
Danny Amendola added 61 receptions for 659 yards, as well as another 240 yards returning punts. With the loss of their previous season's rushing leader LeGarrette Blount to free agency,
Dion Lewis stepped up to take the lead, rushing for 896 yards and six touchdowns despite starting only eight games. He also caught 32 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns and added 570 yards and another touchdown returning kickoffs.
Rex Burkhead chipped in 518 all-purpose yards, 30 receptions, and eight touchdowns. In passing situations, the team relied heavily on running back
James White, who caught 56 passes for 429 yards and rushed for 171 on the ground. These backs were aided by the blocking of fullback
James Develin, who earned his first Pro Bowl selection. On special teams, kicker
Stephen Gostkowski ranked second in the NFL with 156 points and fourth in field goals made with 37, while veteran special team ace
Matthew Slater earned his seventh consecutive Pro Bowl selection. The Patriots' defense ranked only 29th in yards allowed (5,856), but ranked fifth in fewest points, giving up only 296. Defensive end
Trey Flowers led the team with 6 sacks while also forcing two fumbles. Linebacker
Kyle Van Noy had 73 tackles and 5 sacks. The Patriots also had a superb secondary, led by cornerbacks
Malcolm Butler (two interceptions, three forced fumbles) and
Stephon Gilmore (two interceptions, 47 solo tackles), as well as safeties
Devin McCourty (97 combined tackles, one interception, one fumble recovery),
Patrick Chung (84 tackles, one interception, two fumble recoveries) and
Duron Harmon (four interceptions).
Playoffs In the playoffs, the Patriots earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage due to their status as the AFC's first overall seed. In the divisional round, they defeated the
Tennessee Titans 35–14, as Brady passed for 337 yards and three touchdowns. In that game, the defense amassed eight quarterback sacks of
Marcus Mariota and held the Titans' running game to 65 yards rushing. They defeated the
Jacksonville Jaguars 24–20 in the
AFC Championship Game, rallying from behind to win the game after the Jaguars jumped out to an early 14–3 lead and whose league-best defense stymied Brady and the rest of the offense for most of the first half. Down 20–10 in the fourth quarter, the Patriots' comeback was sealed by two Brady-led drives, both resulting in touchdown passes to
Danny Amendola, as well as a key defensive stop by
Stephon Gilmore, whose acrobatic block of a
Blake Bortles pass ended Jacksonville's last chance to score. Rob Gronkowski was injured in the game with a
concussion, leaving his status for the Super Bowl in doubt. Amendola was the breakout star for the Patriots during their two playoff wins, leading the team with 196 receiving yards, and serving as Brady's primary target. Philadelphia also earned a first-round bye and home-field advantage as the NFC's first overall seed. They started off the divisional round by narrowly defeating the
Atlanta Falcons 15–10, stopping the Falcons on four consecutive plays after the Falcons had a first-down-and-goal situation on the Eagles' 9-yard line during their final drive. They then soundly defeated the
Minnesota Vikings 38–7 in the
NFC Championship Game. Despite the Vikings scoring on their opening drive, the Eagles' defense held them to three punts, two turnovers on downs, two interceptions, and one lost fumble in their remaining drives of the game. Meanwhile, Foles had a great game, in which he completed 26 of 33 passes for 353 yards and three touchdowns.
Pre-game notes This was the fifth meeting between teams from Boston and Philadelphia for a major professional sports championship. This previously occurred in two World Series (
1914,
1915), the
1974 Stanley Cup Final, and
Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. This game was a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX. Only one player, Patriots starting quarterback
Tom Brady, remained on either roster from that contest.
Bill Belichick, the Patriots' head coach in that contest, also remained in that position. Two Eagles, running back
LeGarrette Blount and defensive lineman
Chris Long, had been Patriots in
Super Bowl LI, the previous year's Super Bowl. The Eagles were 1–4 against the Brady/Belichick era Patriots prior to this game (excluding preseason), including Super Bowl XXXIX. Philadelphia's lone win was a 35–28 victory at Gillette Stadium, week 13 in December, during their relatively weak
2015 season. The Eagles were behind 14–0, then proceeded to rally for 35 points and hold the Patriots to only two more touchdowns, allowing the visitors to finally get their revenge for eleven years prior. The Patriots were the
designated home team for Super Bowl LII, because the AFC team is the designated home team in even-numbered years and the NFC team in odd-numbered years. As the designated home team, the Patriots chose to wear their road white jerseys with navy blue pants, becoming the sixth team to wear their white jerseys as the home team and the third team to wear white in back-to-back Super Bowls, following the
Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowls
XII and
XIII and again in Super Bowls
XXVII and
XXVIII. The Eagles therefore wore their standard home uniform of
midnight green jerseys with white pants; the same two uniforms were worn when they faced off in Super Bowl XXXIX, but with the Eagles as the "home" team. Twelve of the previous 13 Super Bowls had been won by teams wearing white jerseys. The last team to win a Super Bowl while wearing their home uniforms was the
Green Bay Packers in
Super Bowl XLV (who, coincidentally, had also worn green jerseys). Gambling establishments had the Patriots as 5 ½ point favorites and projected 47 ½ points scored.
Operations before boarding the
Metro Blue Line to
U.S. Bank Stadium To coordinate the game and 10 days of events, the National Football League temporarily operated an events office within the
Minnesota Vikings office building next to U.S. Bank Stadium. More than 150,000 visitors were expected to attend events associated with the Super Bowl over ten days. Among them were some 5,000-plus media members; media day events and press conferences were held at The
Mall of America in
Bloomington, Minnesota. No sales tax was collected on admission tickets to the game and related events, including parking. To increase security around U.S. Bank Stadium,
the stadium's light rail station was shut down for 48 hours before the game, and a nearby homeless shelter was temporarily moved beyond the security perimeter. The
Blue Line of the light rail system was only open to ticketholders and passengers with a Gameday Pass, while the
Green Line only ran to
Stadium Village station on the University of Minnesota campus before continuing on with restricted access.
Metro Transit ran shuttle buses between light rail stations, as well as regular bus service was moved for several weeks due to street closures. Thirty activist groups organized a rally and protest against police brutality, corporate greed, and racist practices. Seventeen people blocked the
Green Line train for 90 minutes before the game, and 200 protesters blocked an entrance to the stadium's security perimeter. Under a 1998 agreement, the Patriots and Eagles owners split the tickets, and the league controlled the game presentation and entertainment in the stadium. The Patriots practiced at the
Minnesota Vikings facilities in
Eden Prairie while the Eagles used the
University of Minnesota. The Eagles got the Vikings' locker room and sideline. The Vikings had advanced to the NFC Championship Game before losing to the Eagles; until that point, the possibility of the Vikings advancing to the Super Bowl and thus becoming the first team to play the game in its home stadium was plausible. Had that happened, the Vikings would have used their own locker rooms and training facilities, while the AFC champion would have used the University of Minnesota. ==Broadcasting==