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Back in Super Bowl after losing debut, Eagles' Jalen Hurts can make history in New Orleans

Jalen Hurts press conference after Eagles beat Commanders in NFC championship game
Jalen Hurts press conference after Eagles beat Commanders in NFC championship game 11:20

Jalen Hurts bucked decades of history just by getting back to the Super Bowl after losing his first trip there as a starting quarterback.

Now he will try to become the fourth quarterback to win the NFL's ultimate prize as a starting quarterback after losing his first Super Bowl start.

Hurts came close two years ago when Philadelphia lost 38-35 to Kansas City in Glendale, Arizona. With a win next week in New Orleans, Hurts would become the first quarterback since John Elway 27 years ago to win a Super Bowl as a starter after losing in his first trip.

Out of the 36 starting quarterbacks who lost their Super Bowl debuts, the only ones to end up on the victory stage as a starter are Kansas City's Len Dawson, who lost Super Bowl 1 and then won it three years later, and Miami's Bob Griese, who followed a loss in Super Bowl 6 with a win the following year.

Just getting back to this stage is unusual for Hurts, who ended a string of 19 straight QBs who failed to return to the Super Bowl after losing their first trip as a starter. The last to get back was Buffalo's Jim Kelly, who lost four straight trips in the 1990-93 seasons.

Hurts again will face Patrick Mahomes, who will tie Elway for the second-most Super Bowl starts at quarterback with his fifth next week, trailing only Tom Brady's 10. With a win, Mahomes would join Brady (six), Terry Bradshaw (four) and Joe Montana (four) as the only QBs with four rings.

Mahomes will make his fifth Super Bowl start as a small group of QBs has had a grip on the AFC's Super Bowl berths. In the last 22 seasons, only six AFC QBs have started a Super Bowl, with Brady leading the way with eight, Peyton Manning having four and Ben Roethlisberger three. Joe Flacco and Joe Burrow each have one since the start of the 2003 season.

It has been an entirely different case in the NFC, with 19 quarterbacks combining for 22 starts, including one for Brady with Tampa Bay. Hurts joins Russell Wilson and Eli Manning as the only quarterbacks to start two Super Bowls for an NFC team since the start of the 2003 season.

Run to daylight

The Philadelphia Eagles ran their way to the Super Bowl.

The Eagles tied an NFL playoff record with seven touchdown runs in the NFC title game win over Washington, matching the mark Chicago set against Washington in the 1940 NFL title game.

Hurts scored on three of the TD runs with Saquon Barkley adding three more — including his record seventh touchdown run of at least 60 yards this season. The only other teammates to run for three touchdowns each in a regular-season or playoff game since at least 1940 came when Priest Holmes (four) and Derrick Blaylock (three) did it for Kansas City in a 56-10 win over Atlanta on Oct. 24, 2004.

The Eagles also set a record for most yards rushing in a season with 3,731 in the regular season and playoffs. The mark before this season was 3,535 by Miami in its perfect 17-0 season in 1972. Baltimore also eclipsed that mark with 3,664 yards rushing.

The Eagles have a chance to break their own record for most touchdown runs in a season. They have 39 heading into the Super Bowl — three shy of the mark they set in the 2022 season.

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