A silver lining to the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss? Jalen Hurts’s star turn.
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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Nick Sirianni wanted normal at a time that was far from ordinary. He wanted his players to stick to their routines, to stay even-keeled and not to let the moment get too big, even though no moment could possibly be bigger.
In a quarterback duel for the ages, Sirianni stood field-level to witness an outsize, extraordinary performance from his own. Jalen Hurts, at only 24 years and 190 days old, shattered a slew of Super Bowl records and put on a showing that solidified his place among the game’s elite.
If only he had won.
“If there were any doubters left, there shouldn’t be now,” Chiefs quarterback and Super Bowl LVII MVP Patrick Mahomes said Sunday. “… The way he stepped on this stage and ran, threw the ball, whatever it took for his team to win, I mean, that was a special performance.”
For more than three quarters, the Eagles seemed to have an edge in Super Bowl LVII, thanks to Hurts. He finished 27 of 38 in passing (71.1 percent) for 304 yards and a 103.4 passer rating. He also had 15 carries for 70 rushing yards to snap Steve McNair’s record of 64 rushing yards by a quarterback in a Super Bowl, and his three rushing touchdowns broke Jim McMahon’s Super Bowl mark. Hurts ran for one-, four- and two-yard touchdowns and threw a beauty of a 45-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown.
Chiefs defensive end Carlos Dunlap said his team tried to make Hurts a one-dimensional player and failed. But Kansas City did capitalize on Hurts’s most glaring mistake in the game.
In the second quarter, the Eagles were lined up on their own 49, on third and five, when Hurts turned to run upfield and dropped the ball. Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton recovered it and ran back 36 yards for a touchdown.
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“I always hold myself to a very high standard in everything that I do,” Hurts said. “Obviously, I try and control the things that I can, not just the ball every play, so I just try and protect it. But it hurt us. You never know what play it will be, but it hurt us. You look back and reflect on some of the things that you could have done more, you could have tried and done something to change the outcome of the game. That’s the way it works.”
Perhaps the most impressive sign of Hurts’s fortitude and poise was what he did right after. He responded by guiding the Eagles on a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive, converting a pair of third downs with runs, gaining 28 yards with a quarterback draw on fourth and five and finishing with a four-yard touchdown run.
Normal, it wasn’t.
“Not bad for a system QB, if you ask me,” Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata said facetiously.
Over the course of the season, Hurts joined the MVP conversation by leading the Eagles to a 14-1 record in games he started. He recorded his second consecutive season with double-digit rushing touchdowns (another NFL record, by the way). He also attracted a slew of skeptics and critics, including his peers.
“It’s system and team,” Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons said on Von Miller’s podcast of the Eagles’ success.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, 49ers kicker Robbie Gould said in an interview with The 33rd Team, “If you make Jalen Hurts play quarterback, you’re going to have a pretty solid day on defense.”
But Sunday evening in Phoenix, Hurts’s opponent had a different view and pointed to the fourth quarter as evidence. The Chiefs jumped to a 35-27 lead after a pair of touchdowns, but Hurts pulled the Eagles back in it.
“Whenever we got all the momentum in that game, and we went up eight points in the fourth quarter, for him to respond and move his team down the football field and run in himself in a two-point conversion, it was a special performance by him,” Mahomes said. “I mean, you make sure you appreciate that when you look back on this game.”
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Hurts tied the game at 35 when he threw a 45-yard shot to DeVonta Smith to set up his two-yard touchdown run. He topped it with the two-point conversion.
Ultimately, the Eagles’ defense, which was earlier fooled by two fake motions that led to Chiefs scores, came away with a costly holding penalty that sealed Kansas City’s win. But even in a loss, Hurt’s performance couldn’t be denied.
“To me, Jalen played the best game I’ve seen him play in the two years that we’ve been together,” Sirianni said. “He was outstanding. I really thought he was in complete control. He did things with his legs in the run game. He did things with his arm in the pass game, made some unbelievable throws, unbelievable reads.”
As the Eagles let the loss sink in, they also await the possibility of significant change to their coaching staff and roster. But over the past two years, as owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman have rebuilt the franchise around Hurts, they’ve also made a number of investments in critical pieces of their success.
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Hurts is among those next in line. With his third year behind him, he’s eligible for a contract extension, and it should be sizable. After all, Philly stayed on top for much of the game because of Hurts, stayed in it late because of Hurts and was back in a Super Bowl just five years after winning it last largely because of Hurts, the quarterback who proved he’s anything but ordinary.
“I know he’s going to get better from this, and he played really good,” Sirianni said. “That’s why I keep saying I don’t think we know what Jalen’s ceiling is, because he is just going to continue to get better. … I told him I thought it was his best game that he’s played. It wasn’t just this game. It was this entire season that he’s shown to be a special leader, a special player. I’m sure glad he’s our quarterback.”