The 2024 NFL MVP vote created plenty of confusion and controversy, given the outcome of the All-Pro voting at the quarterback position. The 2024 Super Bowl MVP vote has raised some questions, too.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts won it. And he had a very good game in the biggest possible spot. But it's fair to wonder whether a member of the team's defense should have gotten the recognition, given that the Philly defense was far more responsible for the outcome than its offense.
The problem is that the votes are made during the game. Without the benefit of re-watching it, studying the film, and/or considering the impact of the various candidates beyond the stat sheet, most voters will be inclined given the deadline for voting to pick the default option of the winning team's quarterback.
The winning quarterback's performance is always easy to assess. His numbers reflect his production. And he's always the center of the TV cameras' attention. On Sunday, Hurts played well enough to make him the safe and smart pick, given that the pick had to be made during the game if not immediately after it ended.
So how does the Super Bowl MVP voting work? Per the NFL, 20 total votes are available. Here's the breakdown of the voters for Super Bowl LIX:
Three votes came from reporters covering the AFC representative: Blair Kerkhoff, Adam Teicher, Nate Taylor.
Three votes came from reporters covering the NFC representative: Jeff McLane, Zach Berman, Dave Zangaro.
Three votes came from at-large media members: Judy Battista, Jarrett Bell, Jeffri Chadiha. (Battista and Chadiha work for NFL Media; under current AP rules, they wouldn’t be eligible to vote for any of the regular-season awards.)
Two votes came from Pro Football Writers Association presidents: D. Orlando Ledbetter, Charean Williams.
Two votes came from the PFWA pool reporters for Super Bowl week: Nicki Jhabvala, Luke Johnson.
Two votes came from Super Bowl broadcast partner analysts: Ryan Fitzpatrick (Sky Sports) and Kurt Warner (Westwood One).
One vote came from the host market: Jeff Duncan.
Four votes came from fan voting on NFL.com, with 2.5 votes for leading fan vote getter, one vote for second-leading vote getter, 0.5 votes for third-leading vote getter.
In contrast to the AP, which for the first time released all awards votes (without telling the voters in advance), the league has declined to release the votes for Super Bowl MVP. The voters are free to do so, if they choose.
Our suggestion would be to delay the Super Bowl MVP voting by a day or so. That would give the voters more time to really think about it, and to dive beyond the obvious factors that will influence a spur-of-the-moment process.
This year, for example, if a voter believed that a defensive player should have been the Super Bowl MVP, the defensive stats didn't point clearly to any one player. Defensive end Josh Sweat, who had 2.5 sacks, was the most obvious choice. If he'd had three sacks, maybe that would have been enough. Or if the voters had a chance to watch the broadcast and realize that Sweat's steamrolling of left tackle Joe Thuney into quarterback Patrick Mahomes caused the interception by linebacker Zack Baun that set up the score that gave the Eagles a 24-0 halftime lead, perhaps that would have made the difference.
Charean Williams sat two seats down from me in the press box for the game. She began talking late in the first half about voting for a defensive player. She settled on Sweat, and she disclosed her vote on Twitter.
She gets credit for being transparent. She also gets credit for seeing in real time beyond the stat sheet.
The league would get credit for embracing transparency, as long as the voters know that transparency is part of the gig. The league would get even more credit by giving the voters a little more time to sift through the details of the game before making a selection that, for a player like Sweat who is heading to free agency, could be extremely consequential.
