Back in February, the 2017 NFL season concluded at Super Bowl 52. 

In Minnesota, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots played out a classic world championship game, one that will be remembered for a very long time.

SUPER BOWL 52

New England walked into US Bank Stadium expecting to win back-to-back Super Bowls but were met by a Philadelphia team desperate to secure their first rings. 

And the Eagles did exactly that - upsetting Tom Brady and co. by winning 41-33. 

Although their victory was seen as quite a shock, anyone who had actually been watching Philadelphia throughout 2017 knew exactly what they were capable of. 

ROAD TO THE SUPER BOWL 

After winning the NFC East, finishing with a record of 13-3, the Eagles had to maneuver past the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings.   

The Pats themselves finished 13-3 and had to beat the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars to reach the world championship.  

Incredibly, throughout both their runs to the Super Bowl, the Eagles and the Patriots put up some very similar stats and did more than just finish with the same 13-3 regular season record. 

In fact, there's very little difference between the two teams at all. 

TOO CLOSE TO CALL IN THE REGULAR SEASON

One Reddit user, danielbauer1375, has been doing a little bit of digging into the statistics surrounding both teams in 2017 - and found that they finished with almost identical records. 

The most ridiculous stat surrounds point differential at the end of the regular season - as the Patriots and Eagles finished with the exact same number.

Both had a differential of +162 - although New England did outscore Philadelphia by just one point, putting up 458 to the Eagles' 457. 

The teams get even more similar too. As already mentioned, they both finished with 13-3 records. 

But if we break that down, they also finished with identical conference and divisional records too - going 10-2 in their respective conferences and 5-1 in their divisions. 

Even during the post-season, they came very close to matching each other as well.

POST-SEASON STATS

In their two NFC playoff games, plus the Super Bowl, Philadelphia scored a total of 94 points against the Falcons, Vikings and Patriots. 

New England fell just short of that number, putting up 92 points in games against the Titans, Jaguars and Eagles. 

That's pretty crazy, but it goes to show just how closely matched the two conference champions were. 

And their similar stats led to one hell of a Super Bowl too - but that night, it was the Eagles who just shaded the game when it mattered most.