As Eagles fans filled the 69,000 seats of the Lincoln Financial Field, they were joined by a sea of canine masks.  

Lane Johnson, the Eagle’s offensive tackle, started this trend a week ago. Johnson was fed up with his team being underestimated and doubted during the playoff season after the Eagles lost star quarterback Carson Wentz to an injury. Despite the Eagles dominating their regular season with a 13-3 record, the team was labelled as the “underdogs” during playoff games. Johnson felt his team was being wrongly associated with this label going into playoff games against the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings.

Joined by teammates Chris Long and Zack Ertz, Johnson decided to fully embrace the title by wearing one of the dog masks in the Eagles’ locker room. Soon after, the city of Philadelphia embraced their new title as well. Fans stormed Amazon, costume shops, and their homes in search for dog attire while others made attire of their own.  

Believe it or not, this newfound tradition has stuck. The latex German Shepherd dog masks are completely sold out on Amazon and any more orders placed will not be delivered until mid-February, way after the big game. CreepyParty, the manufacturer of the notorious mask, reported that over 2,500 masks were ordered as of midweek.

The Philadelphia Eagles will take on the New England Patriots at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota for Super Bowl LII on Sunday, February 4th. This game will be a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 where the Patriots beat the Eagles. This year, any team playing the Patriots would be considered the “underdogs”, but only Philadelphia would embrace that reality by sporting canine masks in two weeks.