Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes have made history. For the first time, two Black quarterbacks will start in the same Super Bowl. On Jan. 29, Hurts led the Philadelphia Eagles to a victory over the San Francisco 49ers to become NFC Champions. MaHomes led the Kansas Chiefs to a nail-bitting win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hurts will make his first appearance in the Super Bowl and this will be Mahomes’ third trip to the big game.
The historical moment shows how far the NFL has come in terms of diversity on the field. In 1987, Doug Williams became the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl after he led the Washington Redskins to a blow-out victory over the Denver Broncos in 1988.
In 2014, Russell Wilson became just the second Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl by leading the Seattle Seahawks to a win over the Broncos. And Mahomes became the third Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl in 2020.
Mahomes spoke against the media’s backlash against how Black quarterbacks play during an interview with ESPN in April 2022.
“Obviously, the Black quarterback has had to battle to be in this position that we are to have this many guys in the league playing,” Mahomes said. “Every day, we’re proving that we should have been playing the whole time. We’ve got guys that can think just as well as they can use their athleticism. It’s always weird when you see guys like me, Lamar, Kyler kind of get that on them when other guys don’t. But at the same time we’re going out there to prove ourselves every day to show we can be some of the best quarterbacks in the league.”
The Super Bowl will take place in Glendale, AZ on Feb. 12.
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