Sorry, Eagles. The Patriots have never lost a Super Bowl to any team with a bird mascot

The Patriots have been to 10 Super Bowls, more than any other team in NFL history by far. They’ve won five, which is quite a feather in their cap.

But the Patriots are especially good at one thing: Beating teams with bird mascots in the Super Bowl. This doesn’t bird — I mean, bode — well for the Eagles.

The Patriots have wins over some mammal mascots: The Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI and the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. They’ve got a loss to the Bears, and they haven’t fared all that well against other theoretically human mascots, losing to the Packers and Giants.

But losses to teams with avian mascots are for the birds, it seems. The Patriots have also faced the Falcons, Seahawks, and Eagles in the Super Bowl and vanquished their flocking foes every times.

This one goes down in history as the biggest Super Bowl comeback of all time. The Falcons flew out to a 28-3 lead, and it appeared the Patriots had but a wing and a prayer of bouncing back from it. The Patriots scored 25 unanswered points to tie it up and send the game to overtime — a Super Bowl first. James White capped off the Falcons’ tailspin when he ran in the game-winning score.

The Falcons had a shot to put the game out of reach. They were clutching an eight-point lead with just under six minutes left to play. All they had to do was run the dang ball to stay in free range of a field goal and put the game away with Matt Bryant’s leg. Instead, fans are still brooding about the play-calling a year later.

The loss reminded all of us that you should never count your chickens before they hatch.

The Seahawks had a 24-14 lead over the Patriots going into the fourth quarter. But as is his tradition, Tom Brady led a furious comebeak comeback. The Patriots scored twice in the last period, taking a 28-24 lead. Then Russell Wilson and the Seattle offense migrated from one end of the field to the other to put the Seahawks in position to score.

Except, the Seahawks made the bird-brained call to not give the ball to Marshawn Lynch.

It was second-and-goal from the Patriots’ 1-yard line with 26 seconds left. Russell Wilson attempted a pass to Ricardo Lockette, but it was picked off by Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler. And just like that, the Seahawks’ hopes of back-to-back Super Bowl wins went the way of the dodo.

Super Bowl LII is a sequel to the 2004 postseason, when the Patriots clipped the Eagles’ wings with a 24-21 win. The Patriots had a 24-14 lead with 8:43 left in the game until Donovan McNabb narrowed the gap to three points with a 30-yard touchdown to Greg Lewis. But Rodney Harrison plucked a McNabb pass for a game-sealing interception, and New England got the win.

The Patriots can flutter right into the record books this year:

Or maybe the Eagles will soar over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. But I’ll believe it wren — I mean, when — I see it.