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NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Just hours after being named the MVP of Super Bowl LIX, Jalen Hurts said he has yet to arrive. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback also detailed the "unprecedented journey" to his first NFL title Monday in New Orleans. "It's all a journey," Hurts said at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. "I've still to arrive. We're still yet to arrive as a team.
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"We've just enjoyed everything, put forth the effort and it's taken us here."
Hurts' journey is well-known. The former four-star prospect became a starting quarterback for Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide as a freshman, but lost the title game his first year. He also reached the title game again a year later, but was benched for Tua Tagovailoa, who led the Tide to glory.
Hurts transferred and rebuilt his stock at Oklahoma, parlaying that into his selection by the Eagles in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
In just his second season, Hurts quickly found himself again on the grand stage. And once again, another loss -- this time to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII in 2023 -- provided a speed bump for the stoic star.
"I was telling someone earlier, I'm that same kid who went to national championship and lost, went back and got benched had to transfer," said Hurts, who credited his parents for teaching him his work ethic.
"I had to go through this unprecedented journey, and that kid always kept the main thing and always was true to the vision and what he saw."
On Sunday, Hurts not only inflicted retribution on the Chiefs and denied Kansas City a historic three-peat, but also triggered internal reflection as he looked at his own in the mirrored shine of the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
"Obviously, I've been able to transform mentally into this place of trying to do whatever it takes to win and play my role in that," said Hurts, who threw for 221 yards and two scores and ran for 72 yards and a score in Sunday's 40-22 win over the Chiefs.
"I know every team is different, every game is different. These different moments sometimes require a different version of yourself.
"As a leader, that is something I accepted and I submitted to because when it's said and done for me, I won't measure my success off any numbers or statistics or passing yards or touchdowns or anything like that. I measure it off rings and championships."
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni cited team-wide adversity as another driving force behind the franchise's second title. He said he was "grateful" that the Eagles lost in the first round of the playoffs.
"I look back on last year and how last year ended and I'm grateful," Sirianni said. "As crazy as this sounds, I'm grateful how last year ended because it shaped us to who we are today .. .the adversity of the beginning of the year and the adversity through the season, through injuries, through ups and downs, through everything,
"I think that when you embrace adversity, it does something to you."
Hurts smiled multiple times when reporters recited the steps of his journey when asking him questions Sunday and Monday. He credited the Eagles' ability to focus as critical during their title run.
Hurts, who maintained that focus even when his Eagles teammates celebrated on the sidelines late in the second half, finally reflected on his journey by sitting on the locker room floor after he walked off the field of the confetti-covered Caesars Superdome.
"When you play a team sport like we play, so many things are built, so many lives are changed all from the energy and efforts put into it," Hurts said. "To be able to bring a championship back to Philadelphia, it means everything."
