New Orleans (AFP) – Jalen Hurts took inspiration from doubters and naysayers after his Super Bowl loss two years ago and used it to fuel his Super Bowl 59 Most Valuable Player effort Sunday. The 26-year-old quarterback threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in a historic performance to power the Philadelphia Eagles over the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in New Orleans. Hurts completed 17-of-22 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns with an interception while rushing 11 times for 72 yards and a touchdown to capture the MVP award after enduring years of critics saying he would never be a champion following a 2023 Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs.
“I never said it bothered me. I accepted it for what it was. I found a thrill in it,” Hurts said after the victory. “I can’t control what these people think. If it takes all the hate and all the scrutiny and all the different opinions for me to be a world champion, then keep it coming.” But the quarterback said that he had also been able to put the 2022 loss in its place. “I think in the end, things come around in time. Last time around, it wasn’t our time. It wasn’t my time and sometimes you have to accept that you have to wait your time,” he said. “Going through all the emotions and processing the feelings and experience did a great thing and enhanced my desire to win,” he added.
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Hurts kept the image of him walking off the field after Super Bowl 57 with Chiefs-colored confetti falling down around him as his screen saver image on his cell phone. “That’s something nobody is supposed to know about,” Hurts said, but admitted that a new image with him holding the championship trophy with green and white Eagles confetti falling would be better. “Damn right it is,” he said. Hurts became the first player to ever lead his team in passing and rushing yards in multiple Super Bowls, having done so in 2023 and 2025. Hurts became the second player with two touchdown passes, a rushing touchdown and more than 50 rushing yards in a Super Bowl after legend Joe Montana. And he broke his own Super Bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 72.
Hurts suffered a concussion against Washington on December 22 and missed the team’s final two regular-season games but returned for the playoffs and was masterful in directing four post-season triumphs. “It has been a long year of competition and we change things, but we get our reps in — we work,” Hurts said. “When I came back from the concussion, the number one thing I said going into the post-season was let’s look back at this and say it was all worth it. It’s worth it. Everything was worth it.”
Hurts smiled when he was asked if his emphasis on passing long to his receivers was part of a gameplan to surprise the Chiefs after such a dominant ground game in the NFC Championship game win over Washington. “It was just something that kind of came, you know what I mean?” he said. “I was able to execute and the main thing I’ll point to is being able to find ways to win in multiple ways, being able to dominate on the ground, be efficient in the pass game and do what needs to be done,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
