The 2023 Super Bowl is going to be a big game for multiple reasons. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will face each other in the big game, and both teams finished the regular season with the best records in the NFL (14-3). But history will be made on Sunday, Feb. 12, as it will be the first time two Black quarterbacks will face each other in the championship game. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is playing in his third Super Bowl, while Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is playing in his first.
For Mahomes, he is just one of three Black quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl with the other two being Doug Williams (1988) and Russell Wilson (2014). The 27-year-old led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl title in 2019 and has emerged as arguably the NFL’s best quarterback. Along with having a Super Bowl ring, Mahomes won the Super Bowl MVP award and was named NFL MVP in 2018. He has a chance to win the award again after finishing the regular season, throwing for 5,250 yards and 41 touchdowns with a 105.2 passer rating. And in the playoffs, Mahomes lead the Chiefs to two big playoff wins despite playing with a high ankle sprain.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“Throughout the game, I think I just tried to do whatever I could to win. Obviously, there were times where you could see [that the ankle] wouldn’t let me do what I wanted to, but I was able to do enough on that last play to get the first down, get myself out of bounds and try to give Harrison a chance to win it,” Mahomes said after the Chiefs’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game, per the team’s official website. “I knew that I was going to do whatever I could to get us in field goal range, and then Harrison made the kick.”
Hurts, 24, was selected by the Eagles in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft and had an MVP-type season in 2022. In 15 regular-season games, Hurts threw for 3,701 yards, 22 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He also rushed for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns, and his stats led to him being named to the Pro Bowl and All-Pro Second Team.
“Reflecting on everything that we’ve been able to overcome, to have this opportunity in front of us, we want to take advantage of it,” Hurts said after the Eagles’ win over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game, per the team’s official website. “The atmosphere tonight was amazing. The fans showed up, the energy, all of it. We need to bring that to AZ (the site of the Super Bowl).”
