ESPN’s Joe Buck is picking the Eagles to win the Super Bowl. Here’s why.

NEW ORLEANS — A lot of Philly fans have strong opinions about Joe Buck, but the ESPN announcer might win a few over with his prediction on who will win the Super Bowl.

Buck won’t be in the booth Sunday to call the game between the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs — he’ll be home watching with his family, where he’ll join all Philly fans in rooting for the Birds.

Buck’s final score prediction: Eagles 28, Chiefs 25.

Picking the Chiefs to lose a close game is a dicey proposition. Heading into the Super Bowl, the Chiefs have won 17 straight games decided by a single score, a streak that includes last year’s overtime win in Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers.

“I guess only an idiot, and I qualify, would pick against the Chiefs in a close game,” Buck told The Inquirer. “I feel like this is where [Eagles defensive coordinator] Vic Fangio gets it done for the city of Philadelphia.”

“It’s the same Patrick Mahomes, a few years older. It’s the same Travis Kelce, a few years older,” Buck added. “But to me this game is won by Philadelphia up front with their defense.”

Buck said Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the Eagles and Chiefs reminds him of 2020, when Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated Kansas City. While Brady was named the Super Bowl MVP, Buck thinks the game was won by Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers defense.

That year, the Chiefs offensive line was coping with injuries. This time around, struggles at left tackle forced Kansas City to move in veteran left guard Joe Thuney late in the season. The shift helped solidify the Chiefs’ line but left the inside venerable to game-wrecking defender Jalen Carter.

“Their offensive line was just reshuffled, and I think that’s going to ultimately undo the Chiefs, and it’ll happen in this game because of Philly’s defense,” Buck predicted.

» READ MORE: Merrill Reese has called every Eagles Super Bowl. His seat this time isn’t ideal.

Buck has gotten to know Fangio over the years during production meetings before games. Regardless of the city Fangio was working in, he would always pepper Buck, who used to call the World Series when he was with Fox, with questions about the Phillies.

Fangio’s Phillies fandom dates back to his days growing up in Dunmore, Lackawanna County, a suburb of Scranton. At the start of the season, he told The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane he was and remains a “Phillies diehard,” going so far as to sneak a transistor radio into bed as a kid to listen to By Saam, Bill Campbell, and Richie Ashburn call games.

“He always wanted to know what my thoughts were on ‘his Phillies,’” Buck said. “It was always a good icebreaker in our production meetings. So I’d talk about whatever was going on with the Phillies and loosen him up” for Troy Aikman to discuss the game plan with him.

Buck isn’t the only ESPNer to pick the Eagles. Longtime SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt, who is as aware of the betting lines as any broadcaster, is also taking the Eagles in a close game, 30-24. So is longtime ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio, who has the Birds winning 34-30.

Buck’s wife, ESPN features reporter Michelle Beisner-Buck, is among the names on the network’s lengthy list who think the Chiefs will prevail. But at home, in the football pool the Bucks do with their twin sons, Wyatt and Blake, it’s a different story

“In the pool that matters, she picked Philadelphia,” Buck said.

» READ MORE: Live Eagles-Chiefs updates from the Super Bowl