He’s always been a tremendous athlete, he’s always been a dynamic passer, he’s always been a terrific teammate.
Now, for the first time in his life, Jalen Hurts is a Super Bowl champion.
The Kansas City Chiefs stacked the box, stuffed Saquon Barkley and dared the Philadelphia Eagles to beat them throwing the ball. Hurts answered the challenge, completing 77 percent of his passes for 221 yards, throwing touchdowns to DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown, rushing for a quarterback Super Bowl record 72 yards and scoring his 10th career postseason rushing touchdown.
Hurts, still just 26, was named Super Bowl MVP after the Eagles bludgeoned the Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX at the Superdome in New Orleans, a performance that confirmed his place as one of the elite young quarterbacks in the game’s recent history.
The only younger quarterbacks to win Super Bowls in the last 30 years are Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes. Only Brady and Mahomes were also MVPs.
This is historic stuff.
“It’s been a long journey, it’s a journey of ups and downs and highs and lows,” Hurts said. “I’ve always stayed true to myself and have this vision of being the best that I can be, and that evolved, over time, into this desire to win. You don’t do great things without having good guys around you. The effort, sticking to the script, and always trusting the process is what got us here.”
Hurts has been magnificent since the bye week, and in the only game the Eagles have lost since Week 5 – at Washington – he played only 12 snaps.
Sunday’s triumph capped a spectacular run that saw the Eagles go 12-1 to finish the regular season, then sweep the Packers, Rams, Commanders and Chiefs by a combined 145-77 in the postseason.
During those 17 games, Hurts had 19 touchdown passes, 17 touchdown runs and four turnovers.
And despite an early interception Sunday, Hurts did everything he had to for the Eagles to win their second Super Bowl in eight years.
“He played incredible,” Brown said. “He did amazing. I know I’m throwing adjectives at you, but he played really well. He was poised the whole game, he was in control, he made checks and he threw dimes. He just gave us opportunities, and when we were covered a little bit, he took off running and used his legs.”
Hurts’ 77.3 percent completion percentage is fourth-highest in Super Bowl history, and he’s only the fourth quarterback to surpass 70 percent twice. His 119.7 passer rating is 13th-highest in Super Bowl history, and he’s the seventh QB to surpass 100 twice.
We could go on and on with remarkable stats, but what Hurts does transcends numbers and statistics.
He has a rare knack for making the right play at the right time, whether it’s throwing down the field, taking off and running or avoiding pressure and dumping the ball off.
It's won him a ton of regular-season games and a bunch of postseason games. On Sunday, it elevated him and his team to the top of the football world.
“The one thing that I’ve always respected about Jalen is that he’s a winner,” Mahomes said. “And I know some people take that as like it’s not a good thing, but you have to find ways to win with your football team that you have around you, and that’s what I’ve learned in my entire career and that’s what he’s come into the NFL and done his entire career.
“If he needs to run the ball, he will run it. If he needs to throw the ball, he will throw it and if he needs to make a big play, he will make the big play. And so, that’s stuff that not everybody has, and that’s something that I have a lot of respect for Jalen and I said it after the first Super Bowl we played against them, I said he will be back, and he was, and he got the better of me today.
“I’m sure we’ll face again at some point in our careers in a big game like this.”
Hurts is the first quarterback to lose his first Super Bowl and win the next one since John Elway in 1997.
He joins Wilson as only the second quarterback with a Super Bowl passer rating of at least 100 twice before his 27th birthday.
And he becomes the fourth second-round pick to win a Super Bowl, joining Ken Stabler, Brett Favre and Drew Brees.
“It definitely took a team effort to get us to the point of winning the Super Bowl,” Hurts said. “The only thing I can think about is the amount of effort and work that has been put in over time.
“We had a focused group of players out there. Offense was able to score points and take advantage of opportunities, just enough to put points on the board. The defensive players played their asses off like they have been all year.
“I think we were able to execute and find multiple ways to win together and dominate in the pass game. We did what we needed to do and did what needed to be done.”
