Super Bowl preview: What to know for the K.C.-Philly sequel

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Will the greatest football player of his generation lead his team to an historic third consecutive championship? Or will Patrick Mahomes be foiled by the NFL's best defence and its most dominant offensive player?

Those are the central questions as Kansas City and Philadelphia square off in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years. Here's some more stuff to know for the big game on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET in New Orleans:

It's pretty much a coin toss.

Kansas City is favoured by one point, implying they have around a 52 per cent chance of winning. Which seems about right, given that these are probably the two best — and hottest — teams in the NFL.

K.C. went 15-2 in the regular season, but that includes a meaningless loss to Denver in the regular-season finale as the back-to-back Super Bowl champs rested their starters. The only team to beat them at full strength was Buffalo, and Kansas City avenged that mid-November defeat by taking out the Bills in the AFC championship game after getting past Houston in the previous round. K.C. is 8-0 in meaningful games since its regular-season loss at Buffalo.

Philadelphia went 14-3 in the regular season, a game behind Detroit for the NFC's best record. But the Lions imploded in a playoff loss to underdog Washington, who the Eagles then trounced 55-23 in the NFC title game. Before that, Philly eliminated a pair of good teams in Green Bay and the Los Angeles Rams. Since their Week 5 bye, the Eagles are 15-1, with their only defeat coming by a field goal at Washington.

Kansas City can make history.

No team has ever won three