Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has been waiting for this opportunity with the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
Two years ago, Hurts and the Eagles came up short, 38–35, in the 2023 Super Bowl. It also started the Chiefs’ back-to-back Super Bowl wins with an overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers, 25–22, the following year.
Hurts and the Eagles can avenge a tough loss and deny the Chiefs history in a bid to three-peat when the two meet on Sunday in New Orleans.
Hurts threw for 304 yards and a touchdown, and he rushed for 70 yards and three touchdowns in the last Super Bowl meeting. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes countered him with three touchdown passes, and Mahomes led a game-winning drive where Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal to defeat the Eagles.
Philadelphia saw a 24–14 second quarter lead slip away in the process. In addition, the Eagles never trailed until the fourth quarter when Mahomes threw his second and third touchdown passes.
“I’ve learned so much,” Hurts said. “It’s the same as any other game and, you know, I think the moments are the moments. But ultimately, you know, every game has its lessons—good, bad, or indifferent.
“So, just being able to become wiser, grow, and mature and take all these lessons in for the next season and the next games.”
Philadelphia learned more lessons the hard way in the 2023 season when a 10–1 start to the season turned into a 1–5 slide to end the regular season. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers then routed the Eagles 32–9 in the Wild Card round.
“You’ve got to be able to finish,” Hurts said, “and that’s going to take great focus, a great week of prep this week, putting it all together.”
Philadelphia refocused to get to this point. It started in the offseason when the team added running back Saquon Barkley to the mix. He rushed for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns, and he caught 33 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns.
The Eagles started relatively slow at 2–2, which had doubters speculating on a lackluster season in Philly. Instead, the Eagles went 12–1 the rest of the way and knocked out three formidable teams at home in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl.
Jalen Hurts Learned From Nick Saban
Losing a championship game and coming back and winning one wouldn’t be new for Hurts.That happened for him in college at Alabama where he played in two national title games for the Crimson Tide in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The second one where the Tide won just didn’t go as planned for him, where Tua Tagovailoa came in for him due to a poor performance. Nonetheless, Hurts carries the lessons he gleaned from former Alabama head coach Nick Saban to this day.
Hurts said that Saban emphasized the newness of each season and the “opportunity to restart everything ... from the ground up.”
“Being able to stand here where I stand today, I think it’s because of that mentality—being determined, having that endurance to keep going and being diligent with the work,” Hurts said. “The No. 1 thing that I’ve always wanted to do was quantify my work and make the most of those opportunities. And it’s kind of spoke for itself.”
