Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts understand the significance of making history Sunday night as the first two Black quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl.
The game in Arizona sees two of the NFL’s most dynamic stars go head-to head. Kansas City’s Mahomes, who won his second MVP award and is chasing a second Super Bowl, goes toe-to-toe with Philadelphia’s Hurts, whose side have gone 16-1 when he has started this season.
Hurts, 24, added: ‘I think it’s history. I think it’s something that’s worthy of being noted and it is history. It’s come a long way. I think it’s only been seven African-American quarterbacks to play in the Super Bowl, so to be the first for something is pretty cool. I know it will be a good one.’
In a sport where 70 percent of its players are Black, of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks, 11 were Black at the start of the season. There are four Black head coaches, with one vacancy to fill.
Asked why it has taken so long for the landmark to happen, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said: ‘There are probably a variety of reasons, probably none of them good, because the reality is that there’s such great talent at that position — Black and white.’
Both men are carrying injuries. Mahomes suffered a high right ankle sprain in the divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. It hampered his mobility in the AFC Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but he gutsed it out to reach a third Super Bowl in four years.
Hurts is still feeling the effects of a sprain to his right throwing shoulder, suffered in December.
It is likely that both men will need their powers of evasion. The Eagles topped the NFL with 70 sacks; Kansas City's was second with 55.
If Mahomes wins, he will become the first Black quarterback to win multiple titles, while Hurts can become the fourth youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid – who was in charge of the Eagles between 1999 and 2012 and is the only coach to rack up over 100 wins for two different NFL teams – paid tribute to Hurts.
Williams, now a senior advisor to the president of the Washington Commanders, was the Super Bowl XXII MVP: he finished with 340 passing yards and four touchdown passes. The presence of two Black starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl for the first time reminded him of past injustices faced by Black quarterbacks and gave him hope for a more equitable future. “We have been denied over the years,” says Williams from Phoenix, where he’s in town for Sunday’s big game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. “I don’t care what anybody says, there’s one word that’s key to this whole thing, and it’s opportunity.”
That opportunity to set up behind center, to become the face of a franchise and perhaps the entire NFL, once eluded Black players. Coaches at all levels slotted Black quarterback prospects into other positions, like wide receiver or defensive back. “I think about all the rich history in this game, and to be part of such an historic event, historic moment, it’s special,” said Hurts on Monday. Mahomes also used the word “historic.” “So many people laid the foundation before us,” he said, “and to be playing with a guy like Jalen, who I know is doing it the right way, it’s going to be a special moment that I hope lives on forever.”
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