When a player puts forth a valiant performance in a Super Bowl loss, you hope he’s not remembered by the one play that — literally — went the wrong way.
For Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts in Super Bowl LVII, that was obviously his fumble with 9:39 left in the first half, which Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton returned 36 yards for a touchdown. That tied the game at 14-14, and had that not happened, we may be talking about Hurts as the winning quarterback, and Super Bowl Most Valuable Player.
#Chiefs Nick Bolton forces a fumble, recovers the fumble and scores a touchdown pic.twitter.com/QMapRrLece
— Aaron Ladd (@aaronladd0) February 13, 2023
Hurts should not be remembered solely by this. Because in this game, and at the end of his first season as the Eagles’ absolute, undoubted starter, Hurts did everything else about as well as it could be done. He completed 27 of 38 passes for 304 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 103.4. Hurts also ran 15 times for 70 yards… and three touchdowns.
Per ESPN’s Stats & Info, in this Super Bowl, Hurts put together his second NFL performance in which he threw for at least 300 yards, ran for at least 50 yards, and had three rushing touchdowns.
No other quarterback has done that even once. The other time Hurts did it was against the Chicago Bears in Week 15 of the 2022 season. Then, Hurts completed 22 of 37 passes for 315 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 64.6 — but he made up for that in a 25-20 Eagles win by running 17 times for 61 yards and three touchdowns.
So, even with his ability to tie the passing game and the run game together as very few other quarterbacks in pro football history have been able to do, Hurts showed graphic improvement on the biggest stage when it was time to get the ball downfield.
One observer who was singularly impressed by Hurts’ performance was the guy who did walk off with the Lombardi Trophy, and the Super Bowl MVP award.
Patrick Mahomes on Jalen Hurts performance.
“If there was any doubters left — there shouldn’t be now.” #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly #Chiefs #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/KXonLZ1ihr
— Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerrCBS) February 13, 2023
After the game, Hurts told his teammates that the 38-35 loss was on him, due to that fumble.
“I always hold myself to a very high standard in everything I do,” Hurts concluded. “Obviously, I try to control the things I can. I touch the ball on every play. I want to protect it. It hurt us. You never know what play it will be.
“I don’t do this to be loved. I don’t do this to be hated. I don’t do this to seek anybody else’s approval. I do it for the guys in the locker room. I do it for all the time we invested in this. I do it for the thrill and love of something that we put work into. It is a tough feeling to come up short. But I know the only direction is to rise and that will be the mentality going forward. We’ll sit back and reflect on it and learn from it.
“I’ve already challenged everyone to think about those things. Look yourself in the mirror and be able to learn from everything. You either win or you learn.”
Hurts didn’t win, but he did learn, and anybody watching Hurts in this game learned quite a bit about what kind of special quarterback he can be.
