It’s been quite the journey for Jalen Hurts over the last eight years.
He burst onto the scene when he became the starting quarterback for Alabama in 2016, breaking the single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback. Unfortunately, Alabama lost in the playoffs that season, then Hurts was benched at halftime in the national championship game the following year.
He transferred to Oklahoma after losing the starting role, but bounced back and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2019.
The Eagles drafted Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. He didn’t do much his rookie season outside of designed quarterback runs. He became the starter the following season with mixed results. While he completed 61.3 percent of his passes, Hurts only threw 16 touchdowns with nine interceptions, leading the Eagles to an 8-7 record.
But he continued to develop and led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in his third NFL season. While the Chiefs were victorious that night, Hurts was amazing, going 27-of-38 for 304 yards and a touchdown while rushing 15 times for 70 yards and three touchdowns.
As he had shown throughout his career, Hurts bounced back and continued to improve. He had a career-high 68.7 percent completion rate this season while throwing only five interceptions.
In Super Bowl LIX on Sunday — a rematch against the Chiefs — Hurts was magnificent. Outside of an interception in the first half, Hurts was almost flawless. He completed 17-of-22 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 11 times for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Steve Spagnuolo and the Chiefs defense were geared to stop Saquon Barkley, and mission accomplished. But Hurts connected when the top of the defense was exposed, moved the chains when needed and scrambled when everything was bottled up. Hurts confounded the Chiefs defense all night long.
As a result, Hurts was named the Super Bowl LIX MVP. He becomes the 16th quarterback to win the award since 2000. The odds for a quarterback to win were -250 before the start of the game.
Patrick Mahomes was the favorite to win the award at +120 prior to kickoff. Hurts was third at +350. At halftime, Hurts was -350 to win MVP.
An argument could’ve been made for a defensive player to win the award since the Eagles defense completely stymied Mahomes for most of the game. Cooper DeJean was at +550 to win after his Pick-6 in the first half. Having a defensive player win Super Bowl MVP wouldn’t have been unprecedented, as it has happened four times since 2000.
Alas, the play of Hurts was just too good.
