Just 10 months ago, Jalen Hurts capped his fourth NFL playoff appearance in as many seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles by winning his first Super Bowl. He was named the Super Bowl MVP in his team’s crushing victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, confirming his status as a fighter and placing him on a very short list of the greatest quarterbacks in franchise history.
The highlights of a Super Bowl can be remembered forever.
But the dominant results, not so much.
Hurts is going through a post-Super Bowl slump, and there’s no sign he’s about to come out of it to help the Eagles end a three-game losing streak.
Hurts accepted his share of responsibility — he refused to blame Eagles (8-5) offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo and took most of the blame for his offense, which failed to score more than 21 points in the last five games, their worst such streak in 10 years.
Not all critics are wrong to point the finger at Hurts. After all, he threw four interceptions, including the game-ending one at the 1-yard line, and had a fumble in the overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Four interceptions and three straight losses were enough to put the spotlight on Hurts and raise the question of whether he can turn the tide among the NL East leaders and get the Eagles back on track.
The Eagles could use a welcome break in their schedule Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders (2-11). The latter have lost seven consecutive matches and are the underdogs with a gap of 11.5 points.
The Eagles still have to face the Washington Commanders (3-10) twice in the final four games of the season, and visit the Buffalo Bills (9-4).
That relatively easy schedule is one of the main reasons why the Eagles should be able to avoid another collapse under head coach Nick Sirianni, adding to the one they suffered in 2023. The Eagles started the season with a 10-1 record before losing five of their last six games and being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
The Eagles are therefore on familiar ground, and each defeat contributes to reviving old demons among their supporters, so devastated in the past.
“It’s nothing new, I’ve been through this before,” Hurts said. It’s just about facing it. »
Hurts will be the quarterback who will face pressure, even after calls from fans, media and internet users suggesting it might be time to give him a break and make way for backup quarterback Tanner McKee.
In other words: benching the Super Bowl MVP, who is 46-20 in his career, 2-0 in NL championship games and has one of the most lucrative contracts in history for a quarterback.
Earlier this week, as part of his weekly appearance on a sports radio show in Philadelphia, Sirianni brushed aside a question about the possibility of Hurts being stripped of his starting quarterback title by the end of the regular season.
Sirianni responded bluntly: “It’s ridiculous.”
Sirianni also had to publicly give two votes of confidence to Patullo in as many weeks, while the attack failed to get going again. Although Philadelphia sports fans love backup quarterbacks, often rightly so, like Nick Foles, who led the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, it seemed unlikely that Sirianni would replace Hurts with McKee.
The good news is that Hurts probably can’t do any worse against the Raiders after his poor performance against the Chargers.
He became the first Eagles player to commit five turnovers in a single game since Donovan McNabb in 1999, when he was a rookie quarterback, against the Indianapolis Colts. Additionally, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hurts was the first player to commit two turnovers on the same play since 1978, when he committed an interception, followed by a fumble.
Hurts knows how to bounce back after facing adversity, has the ability to turn a demotion into a learning opportunity and can use a poor end to the season as motivation for the next campaign. He’s done it before.
And he’s confident he can lead the Eagles again.
“When you work hard, when you put in the effort, good things happen at the right times,” Hurts said. That’s my philosophy. That’s how I got to where I am today. »
Worth a look
