Look, I’m a huge football fan. I look forward to every Sunday during the NFL season where I can sit on the couch for eight hours, wasting away the day watching guys chase after the pigskin. With that being said, there’s always something special about Super Bowl sunday. It’s the culmination of a grueling season, and generally the two best teams are battling it out for the title. Sprinkle in some funny commercials and you’ve got yourself some must-see TV.

But this year feels different. I am having a tough time getting excited during this two week break, because the more I think about it, the more I believe that this Super Bowl could be terrible; before you start ripping me, hear me out.

First of all, the New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. This means that a team that 95 percent of football fans cannot stand is in the Super Bowl. While I respect what the Patriots have accomplished over the last two decades, it is time to get some new faces in the big game.

On that note, I really wonder if Patriots fans can even be that pumped that their team is back for another year. Let’s face the facts; they just won it last year, and have five championships over the past fifteen years. A little bit of that genuine excitement must be wearing off by now, right? You would have to be genuinely kidding yourself to tell me this Super Bowl has some kind of special buzz around New England. And I mean, there are really no good storylines attached to this year’s Patriots team either. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have already cemented themselves as the two best to ever do it. It is not like they need just one more title to overtake legends sitting at the top, so who cares if they win another one? And does anyone really want to hear about how Brady has just shown again why he is the best to ever play? That has “boring” written all over it in my opinion, as there is just no significance to a New England win here.

Hey, we all expect the Patriots to win this game. They are the reigning champs and have shown no signs of slowing down over the course of this season. But, if the Patriots do win, how much pride can you take in beating a team who is without its best player in Carson Wentz? This is a player who can single-handedly change a game, and was arguably on his way to the Most Valuable Player award until his brutal injury. For all the Pats fans out there, I understand you would be happy if your team wins the Super Bowl, but this one would have to be clearly at the bottom of your list of championships, no? Maybe it is just me, but I am always disappointed when a game, let alone a championship, does not come down to the best players on each side dueling it out for bragging rights.

Now, let us flip over to the Philly side of things. Eagles fans are desperate for a championship after years of disappointment. I do not think there’s a group of fans in professional sports who care about their team as much, and are as wild as Philly fans. These people deserve a championship after all their years of dedication and suffering. But, with that in mind, do Eagles fans really want Nick Foles to be the guy who finally brings home a ring to Philadelphia? Do not get me wrong, Foles seems like a pretty good guy and is a decent NFL quarterback, but Carson Wentz is Philly’s golden boy. Wentz presumably will lead the Eagles for the next fifteen years, barring additional injuries of course. This really seems like a missed opportunity for a passing of the guard from the greatest of all time, Brady, to the up-and-coming star, Wentz. Not only that, but it is also a missed opportunity for the NFL, who is searching for their new cover boy with Brady surely soon to be on the way out. This guy cannot play forever, even if he believes he can. If you ask me, Brady seems like a narcissist with a few screws loose, but that’s beside the point. Again, I obviously realize that Philly fans would be ecstatic with a championship, but with Carson Wentz sidelined, you are missing out on some serious entertainment value.

So, what is the best-case scenario for this Super Bowl? What makes this interesting? I have thought long and hard about this, and I think the only way this goes down as a game to remember is if the Eagles pull it out with a gut-wrenching, come-from-behind victory, reminiscent of the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. I mean, I think any kind of Patriots win is a loss for the vast majority of viewers, but an Eagles blowout really is not that thrilling either. Sure, it is always great to see the Pats lose, but if the Eagles run away with it from start to finish, most football fans will not be especially intrigued.

Now, is there a possibility that the Eagles do storm back from an early deficit and end the Patriots’ run of excellence in dramatic fashion? Of course, but there is also a strong chance they do not. If you ask me, it is a damn shame that we have to go into one of the most well-known and highly celebrated sports events hoping for one very specific outcome to spark our interests. Look, I really hope I am wrong and this game turns out to be an instant classic; I do not have my hopes up. The Super Bowl has been — and will always remain — an event I circle on my calendar each and every year. Unfortunately, for myself and all other football fans out there, this one looks like it is going to be a dud.