By the Numbers: Mahomes, Hurts set to become youngest Super Bowl QB matchup
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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (27) and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts (24) will be a combined 51 years and 337 days old come Super Bowl LVII, surpassing Dan Marino and Joe Montana’s meeting in 1984 as the youngest Super Bowl QB matchup ever.
Born in Tyler, Tex., in September of 1995, Mahomes attended Whitehouse High School before spending his collegiate years at Texas Tech University. During his three seasons as a Red Raider (2014-16), Mahomes threw for 11,252 yards and 93 touchdowns – 41 of those coming in his 2016 junior season.
Mahomes was the second quarterback off the board in 2017, selected by the Chiefs with the 10th overall pick. North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky was taken second overall by the Chicago Bears.
Mahomes would spend his rookie NFL season behind veteran Utah product Alex Smith on the depth chart. Mahomes played sparingly in his first season, making one start against the Denver Broncos in Week 16, when he threw for 284 yards in a 27-24 win.
The following season would see Mahomes handed the keys to the Andy Reid-called offence as Smith would start a new chapter of his career in Washington. Mahomes set the league on fire in 2018, earning league MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, Pro Bowl, and First-Team All-Pro honours.
Mahomes would win his first Super Bowl in 2019, defeating the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.
Mahomes and the Chiefs would make their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance a season later but fall to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-9.
Now a three-time Pro Bowler, Mahomes fell to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship last season before besting them in the rematch this season.
With Mahomes’ win over the Bengals, his record improved to 10-3 in his playoff career. Mahomes is now one of four starting quarterbacks with at least 10 wins over his first five playoff appearances (Brady, Troy Aikman, Ben Roethlisberger). The only QB with more than 10 wins in their first five postseasons is Brady with 12, with seven of those 12 being Super Bowl victories.
The Chiefs are on one of the best five-year runs ever since Mahomes became their starter in 2018. With a win over the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, they would join the 2003-07 Patriots as the only teams in NFL history to win 75 games in a five-year span, including playoffs.
A fellow Texan, Hurts was born in August of 1998 in Houston and attended Cannelview High School. His collegiate years were spent at two of college football's powerhouses: the University of Alabama and the University of Oklahoma.
Hurts spent three seasons under Nick Saban with the Crimson Tide (2016-18). Following a 2018 season when then-starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw for 3,966 yards and 43 touchdowns and six interceptions, Hurts transferred to Oklahoma and became a Sooner.
Now in command of the Sooners' offence, Hurts threw for career highs in yards (3,851) and touchdowns (32).
Hurts became an Eagle with the 53rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and in 2021, supplanted Carson Wentz as the Eagles starter. Hurts threw for 3,144 yards and 16 touchdowns in his second NFL season but added another 784 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. The Eagles would later lose their wild-card game against Brady and the Buccaneers 31-15.
Hurts has put together an MVP-worthy season thus far, throwing for 3,701 yards, 22 touchdowns and six touchdowns, while adding another 760 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns.
Hurts and the Eagles finished atop the NFC East for the first time 2019 season and captured their first NFC title since the 2017 season – the season made famous for Nick Foles' "Philly Special" in the Eagles' 41-33 Super Bowl LII win over Brady and the Patriots.
Hurts and the Eagles enter Super Bowl LVII with 39 rushing touchdowns, one more than the 1924 Frankfurt Yellow Jackets (38) for the most amassed by a team in a single season (including playoffs), with Hurts accounting for 15 of them.