February 11, 2026
Geoff Burke/Imagn Images
Jalen Hurts is one of the few quarterbacks in NFL history to make it all the way back to the Super Bowl and win it after losing his first try.
The clock hit zero, Drake Maye began his walk off the field, and though the Patriots had just lost the Super Bowl, the optimistic outlook was there.
He'll be back. They'll be back. He's young. The team's young. Mike Vrabel's a great coach. New England has a bright future ahead of it again.
He'll be back, just like Joe Burrow after losing to the Rams.
He'll be back, just like Brock Purdy after losing to the Chiefs.
He'll be back, just like Jalen Hurts, also after losing to the Chiefs.
But only Hurts, so far, has kept to that assertion. Only the Eagles have re-stocked well enough to make the climb all the way back to the Super Bowl, conquer their demons, and win it.
It's brutal to lose at the final stage, to come so far only to walk away empty-handed, to have to collect yourself through so much physical and mental sacrifice, and to have to start all over again after free agency and coaching vacancies likely picked your team apart, all while everyone else got an extra month to rest and get ahead of you.
It's hard, and the NFL is a ruthless league that will leave you behind before you can even blink.
So yeah, maybe Drake Maye will get back.
But right now, there's only one recent example of a quarterback actually making that journey all over again after losing the first time, and seeing it all the way through to put a dagger in it on the second: It's Jalen Hurts.
There's no guarantee that Drake Maye and the Patriots will ever make it back to the Super Bowl. Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are the only recent proof that they can.
Burrow? He and the Bengals have only gone backwards to the point where Burrow's often hurt and the Bengals can't make the playoffs at all.
Purdy? Well, the 49ers beat the Eagles in the Wild Card this year, but their hopes always hinge on impossibly perfect health and then a mountain of excuses the second something doesn't go their way.
And then there are the top QBs who maybe should've been to the Super Bowl by now, but haven't, like Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, and Lamar Jackson. They keep hitting a wall, sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, put up by themselves.
It's not to knock any of them either.
It's to highlight how special Hurts' and the Eagles' situation really is, with how much they needed to get right, and how much they needed to go right.
They needed to survive a 2023 that got out of control for them in the latter half. They needed Saquon Barkley, Kellen Moore, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean to start and perform as rookie corners, Zack Baun to come out of nowhere, Vic Fangio to reset the defense, and then for the stars to align.
Then, once they finally made it back, it took Hurts taking over with the ball in his hands to dismantle a dynasty, and soon enough, to hold the Lombardi Trophy.
The only active QB in the NFL to have been to more Super Bowls than Jalen Hurts: Patrick Mahomes.
He made it back. But before him, it was only John Elway at the very end of his career with the Broncos to do the same. That was in the late 90s, and put the Hall of Famer on a small, though elite, list of company throughout NFL history, which Hurts has since joined, too.
"He'll be back." It's just so much easier said than done, more than a lot of people saying it even realize. And sometimes, well, a lot of the time, actually, a great quarterback only ever gets one try, if they're lucky.
Look, the Eagles have their shortcomings right now, which are amplified because their current championship window is still perceived as open. There's a lot to scrutinize and a lot at risk with the expectations so high, and with a largely new and unproven offensive coaching staff coming in (you can read about that HERE).
But it's tough to make it to a Super Bowl. It's tougher to win one, and it's even tougher to climb all the way back and win one after having your soul crushed.
Hurts and the Eagles, though, they did do that. They're forever immortal in Philadelphia now because of it – no matter how they perform from here on out – and it's largely why their standard has gotten so incredibly high.
"He'll be back."
They're saying it about Drake Maye. They said it about Joe Burrow and Brock Purdy, and they said it about Jalen Hurts.
But Hurts is unique, because he's the only one who held everyone to it.
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