PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Hurts can sing as well as he can orchestrate the kind of punishing scoring drives that sent the Eagles to the Super Bowl.
At the conclusion of yet another triumph, Hurts took to the stage on the field — as his Eagles teammates passed the NFC Championship trophy — and clutched a microphone outside Philadelphia’s largest karaoke venue. His rendition of the team fight song was a bit wrong.
Hurts may not sing as well as he can score, but it was another memorable moment in a Hurts-packed season. And the Eagles don’t think they’re done yet.
“We have new moments,” Hurts said. “New moments and new times.”
Hurts had one of Philadelphia’s four rushing touchdowns and the Eagles advanced to the Super Bowl, forced both San Francisco quarterbacks out of the game with injuries and beat the injured 49ers 31-7 in Sunday’s NFC championship game.
The Eagles, who won the Super Bowl five years ago with a different coach and quarterback, will be looking to do it again behind the impressive duo of Hurts and coach Nick Sirianni. Philadelphia meets former Eagles coach Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs.
“We can do it because we did better than anyone else in the NFC this year,” said Sirianni.
Hurts had a modest game by his standards after a season in which he was a finalist for MVP. He was 15 of 25 passing for 121 yards and rushed for 39, improving to 16-1 as a starter this season. The Eagles (16-3) lost two games that he missed with a sprained right shoulder.
Hurts sat alone in his locker, dressed all in purple, puffing on a cigar while the Eagles celebrated around him. He understood that there was still a game to win.
“I never knew how far we would go,” Hurts said, “but I never said I couldn’t.”
Miles Sanders ran for two touchdowns and linebacker Haason Reddick got the hit that forced 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy out of the game with an elbow injury. Reddick was also recovering from a fumble from Purdy’s backup, Josh Johnson, who later suffered a concussion.
That forced Purdy back into the game, but his injury was clearly a factor as the 49ers all but gave up the passing game despite being several points down. Purdy said he couldn’t throw the ball more than 10 yards after injuring his elbow.
San Francisco’s bad luck at quarterback was finally too much to overcome when the 12-game winning streak ended. The Niners (15-5) lost both Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo to season-ending injuries, and Purdy — the last pick in the April draft — lost for the first time as a starter.
Philadelphia police smeared traffic and light poles in what again proved a futile attempt to slow down the post-game celebrations. The city now has its beloved Birds in the Super Bowl, just three months after the Philadelphia Phillies reached the World Series.
“When you guys go to our hall (practice facility), in the back there’s always this picture of the 2017 NFC Championship game, and it’s just the electricity of the stadium,” said Sirianni, who was hired two years ago to replace the Super Bowl Eagles winning coach Doug Pederson. “We look forward to getting another picture up there of this special moment we had.”
The game broke up in the final minutes and Philadelphia’s K’Von Wallace and San Francisco’s Trent Williams were kicked out for their role in a brawl. Williams grabbed Wallace from behind and slammed him to the ground.
The moment only seemed to excite the Eagles fans more as they were soon waving their green towels and going wild as confetti fluttered around them.
“We have one game left for the rest of our lives,” Sanders said.