Patrick Mahomes has built his career on rewriting the record books, but Sunday night in Kansas City he found himself on the wrong side of history.
In a tightly fought Super Bowl rematch, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles outlasted the Chiefs 20-17, sending Mahomes to his first ever 0-2 start and marking the first three-game losing streak of his career.
The victory also extended Hurts’ personal streak against Mahomes to three straight wins, placing him alongside Joe Burrow as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to accomplish that feat.
While Tom Brady, Eli Manning, and Josh Allen have managed multiple wins over Mahomes, only Hurts and Burrow have consistently strung together victories in consecutive meetings.
Hurts didn’t light up the stat sheet, he finished 15-of-22 for 101 passing yards, with his lone touchdown coming on a fourth-quarter quarterback sneak, but he delivered when the Eagles needed him most.
Early in the final frame, facing a blitz on third-and-10, Hurts lofted a perfectly placed ball to DeVonta Smith down the sideline. Smith hauled it in at the three-yard line despite tight coverage, setting up Hurts’ push into the end zone for the decisive score.
“It’s about finding ways to win,” Hurts said postgame. “It doesn’t matter how it looks. I play the game to win, nothing more, nothing less.”
That sentiment was punctuated in the game’s closing moments, when Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones jawed at Hurts about his meager passing totals.
Hurts, lined up in victory formation, fired back: “We won the f***ing game. Shut your a** up.” The exchange quickly went viral, embodying both his competitiveness and the edge that has defined Philadelphia’s rise.
Chiefs offense sputters again
Kansas City’s offense, meanwhile, continued to look uncharacteristically stagnant. Playing without suspended wideout Rashee Rice and with rookie Xavier Worthy sidelined by injury, Mahomes managed just 187 passing yards.
Though he briefly ignited a rally with a 49-yard strike to Tyquan Thornton late in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs couldn’t finish the job.
The defeat extended Kansas City’s skid to three games dating back to last season, underscoring how different this year feels from the juggernaut that reached five Super Bowls in seven years.
For all Mahomes‘ brilliance, he still owns more wins than any quarterback since 2018, his weapons remain limited and his margin for error slimmer than ever.
For Philadelphia, the win capped a defensive struggle that looked very different from last February’s shootout on the game’s biggest stage.
The Eagles posted just 216 yards of total offense, with star receiver A.J. Brown held to five catches for 27 yards and Saquon Barkley rushing for 88 yards and a score.
Head coach Nick Sirianni acknowledged the lack of explosive plays but praised his team’s resilience.
“The pass game has been efficient, but we haven’t hit the chunks,” Sirianni said. “When we needed one, DeVonta came up with it. That’s what winning football looks like.”
Hurts agreed that the offense is still finding its footing. “I’d be lying if I said we were fully established in Week 2,” he said. “But with toughness and discipline, you give yourself a chance to win. That’s what matters.”
Historical context for Mahomes
While the Chiefs’ stumbles dominate headlines, Hurts‘ growing dominance over Mahomes adds another layer to the quarterback rivalry.
Burrow famously toppled Mahomes three straight times in 2021 and 2022, including the AFC Championship. Hurts has now matched that streak, winning the last three encounters, including last season’s Super Bowl rout.
Add in Tom Brady, who beat Mahomes three times in his career, and the list of passers with sustained success against the Chiefs’ star remains strikingly short.
For Hurts, whose own resume already includes an MVP-caliber season and a Super Bowl victory, it cements his status as one of the few quarterbacks who can consistently outduel Mahomes on the league’s biggest stages.
The Eagles sit at 2-0 but face a testing stretch against the Rams, Buccaneers, and Broncos, all teams with playoff aspirations. For Philadelphia, finding a more dynamic offensive rhythm will be essential if they hope to repeat as champions.
Kansas City, on the other hand, heads to New York to face the Giants in what already feels like a must-win game. The Chiefs have weathered slow starts before, but never like this in the Mahomes era.
Mahomes has made a career of pulling off the improbable. But for now, Jalen Hurts, along with Joe Burrow, remains part of a very exclusive group: quarterbacks who have solved the Mahomes puzzle, not once, but three times in a row.
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