Jalen Hurts' journey to Super Bowl MVP was forged by adversity

NEW ORLEANS – Never forget where you came from.

Jalen Hurts won’t forget. He was benched in college in the middle of a national championship game. Lost a Super Bowl. Shoot, not too long ago, while his Philadelphia Eagles were only in the midst of winning 16 of their past 17 games, ridiculed for not connecting better with star receiver A.J. Brown. Always something.

Yet on the morning after Super Bowl 59, after the Eagles quarterback capped his phenomenal season with a clutch performance for the ages, there was nothing else to knock. As Hurts posed with the Lombardi Trophy and the Pete Rozelle Trophy, a sterling silver football awarded to the Super Bowl MVP for the definitive photo op, he looked to be so at peace.

“When you hoist those trophies, it’s more so about the journey and less about the results,” Hurts said during the last news conference of the Super Bowl 59 hype program. “Obviously, we’re going to be judged for results, but that’s for everyone else to talk about. But the journey is what builds us, it makes us who we are.”

As I sat there in the New Orleans Convention Center listening to Hurts drop philosophy while accompanied by Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, I was struck by how much he resembled the man who met with the media during the middle of the week at the team’s hotel. Or the man seen last year. Or at his last Super Bowl, two years ago. So consistent. Low-key. Mellow. Thoughtful. Hurts is just 26. But he sounds like he could be going on 50, an old soul wrapped in wisdom.

Someone asked if he felt validated, which might have also been another way of suggesting that his critics are silenced with Hurts becoming the newest member of an elite club of Super Bowl MVPs.

“What’s the quote?” Hurts replied. “I had a purpose before anybody had an opinion. That thing is still true. My purpose is being who God called me to be. It’s never been about anybody else. It’s just been about the journey and embracing everything and trying to grow and be the best that I can be.

“I wouldn’t be here without that journey. And that’s something I embrace along the way and I think it’s just something to continue to build on…I’m just thankful for the highs and lows, because I know God is greater and has his hands on me, through the highs and the lows.”

Amen.

On Sunday night, Hurts changed the narrative about his career arc. Maybe the blowout triumph – backed by the NFL’s top-ranked defense – that prevented the Kansas City Chiefs from becoming the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls wasn’t so much about avenging the loss to Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl 57, but that happened, too.

In the last Super Bowl, Hurts lost a fumble that Nick Bolton returned 36 yards for a touchdown. It was a pivotal moment in a 38-35 setback. This time, the multi-dimensional Hurts was nearly flawless as the first player in Super Bowl history to complete at least 75% of his passes (17-of-22, 221 yards) with 2 TDs while rushing for least 70 yards with a score.

Sure, we’ve seen quarterbacks dominate in Super Bowls or otherwise with bigger passing numbers. Yet with Hurts, who had just one 300-yard passing game all season (Week 3, at New Orleans) it’s a different type of flow.

“When it’s all said and done for me, I won’t measure my success off of any numbers, or statistics, or passing yards, or touchdowns, or anything like that,” he said. “I measure it off rings and championships.”

Mahomes knows. There’s a bottom-line appreciation for Hurts – who broke his own Super Bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback with a game-high 72 yards on 11 carries, including the game’s longest scamper, 17 yards – that many don’t get.

“The one thing I’ve always respected about Jalen is that he’s a winner,” Mahomes said afterward. “I know it sounds…some people take that as if it’s not a good thing, but you have to find ways to win with your football team around you. That’s what I’ve learned my entire career, and that’s what he’s come into the NFL and done his entire career. If he needs to make a big play, he’ll make a big play. That’s stuff that not everybody has.

“I have a lot of respect for Jalen. I said it after the first Super Bowl we played against them. I said he would be back and he was, and he got the better of me today. I’m sure we’ll face off against (each other again) at some point in our careers in a big game like this.”

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You can believe that Hurts, who left the Super Bowl site for a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando before returning to Philadelphia, will keep it in perspective.

“My entire career, I’ve been challenged by different things, and it’s put me in a place where I try to improve, improve, improve, so I could be the best that I can be,” he said. “Then there’s the other side of it, where you experience a shortcoming and a failure, and you now see the importance of winning. I think both of those components are essential to being great and achieving success.”

Especially when the winding path leads to the place where Hurts is standing now at the top of the NFL mountaintop.

Follow Jarrett Bell on X @JarrettBell.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jalen Hurts' Super Bowl MVP journey was forged by adversity