3 Eagles who shoulder the loss to Chiefs in Super Bowl 57

The Eagles-Chiefs’ Super Bowl matchup had everything a football fan could imagine: phenomenal quarterbacks, big plays, shocking turnovers, electrifying controversy, and for those loyal to Philly, the bitter taste of disappointment.

After a soul-crushing end to their Super Bowl dreams, the Philadelphia Eagles head home to an empty wasteland wondering forever, probably, about what could have been.

There will be no climbing of poles or mounting on bus stops this time. If fires burn in Philly, they burn out of pure spite and rage as the city and the team look back on the trophy that got away.

The Eagles came up short, 38-35, in a Super Bowl thriller against the one-legged superhero Patrick Mahomes, one questionable call away from adding the cherry on top of their 2022 season. Somewhere out there, head coach Nick Sirianni is crying. These Eagles players may be crying, too.

One could hardly point a finger at any single Eagles player for the defeat, but these three will carry the largest burden for letting the Super Bowl slip right through their fingers (literally, in one case.)

Here are the Eagles players who shoulder the loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.

Eagles to blame: Jalen Hurts

Had the Eagles won, Jalen Hurts would unequivocally be the game MVP. Hurts became the first quarterback in history to record three rushing touchdowns in the Super Bowl and ended the game with 304 passing yards, one touchdown, and 70 rushing yards.

If the Eagles franchise wasn’t sure about Hurts before, they should be now.

There have been four games in NFL history where a player recorded 300-plus passing yards and 3 or more rushing touchdowns, and Hurts has two of them. Contrary to Robbie Gould’s snide comments, Hurts actually did have to play quarterback in the Super Bowl and made a handful of clutch throws on third-down, not to mention a few sneaky rushes.

With all of that in mind, Hurts did lose a crucial fumble. In the second quarter, Hurts slipped and lost his grip on the ball at Philly’s 49-yard line, and Chiefs’ Nick Bolton smoothly scooped up the bouncing football to run it home for a defensive touchdown.

Philly had both hands firmly on the steering wheel with a 14-7 lead in the first half, and Bolton’s scoop-and-score breathed life into a Chiefs team that had missed an early field goal and had just gone three-and-out the drive prior.

No one can reasonably blame Hurts for losing the game just because of that tide-turning play. However, in Hurts’ mind, the fumble stands out as the Eagles’ biggest “What if?” moment and stains his otherwise godly Super Bowl performance.