Jalen Hurts was benched in the College Football national championship.

The hard-to-read Eagles quarterback spent part of his 2024 season wearing sunglasses on TV while calmly trolling an ESPN host.

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Jalen Hurts is passionate but knows how to hide his emotions[/caption]

And Hurts kept a photo of himself during Philadelphia’s last Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs as his phone-lock screen.

“That screensaver is his daily reminder that the task has not been accomplished,” Dave Spadaro, Philadelphia Eagles insider, exclusively told talkSPORT.

“The Eagles have not achieved anything yet until they win the Super Bowl, and so that has been his driving force.”

If Philly gives millions of Chiefs haters exactly what they want on February 9 inside the Superdome in New Orleans, one of the NFL’s most mysterious stars might finally let go.

The Eagles will achieve revenge after the searing pain of Super Bowl LVII, when Hurts was supposed to be the MVP and passionate head coach Nick Sirianni held a 27-21 lead entering the fourth quarter in Arizona.

The 26-year-old Hurts will have turned Channelview High School, Tua Tagovailoa, the University of Oklahoma, and Patrick Mahomes‘ Chiefs 38-35 in the big game just two years ago into a career- and life-changing breakthrough.

“He is an old soul,” Spadaro said. “He is a very mature guy. He takes his craft extremely seriously.

“I feel like we will not see an emotional explosion — just letting go, that vision of Michael Jordan holding the NBA championship trophy and crying after his father died — until he wins the Super Bowl.”

Hurts’ NFL story keeps adding chapters, but Philly’s dual threat is still searching for his first ring.

He got into it with Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert when Philadelphia was blasted out of the playoffs last season.

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Hurts has faced regular criticism despite being back in the Super Bowl[/caption]

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The questions don’t stop for the Eagles’ QB[/caption]

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Michael Jordan broke down in tears several times after winning the NBA Finals[/caption]

“The reality is we have to be better, and it starts with me,” said Hurts, after Tampa Bay won an NFC Wild Card game 32-9.

Hurts’ arm and passing attack have been constantly questioned this season, which saw wide receiver A.J. Brown reading ‘Inner Excellence’ on the sideline weeks after a locker-room blow up.

“What we did today is not (good enough),” Brown said in December. “It won’t help us.”

Three months later, the Eagles are 17-3 overall and have only lost once since starting 2-2.

“He (Hurts) hears it,” said Spadaro, referring to critics. “He ignores it. He’s focused. He understands that this is another chance here, this is what they play for.

“He lost the Super Bowl and then signed this big contract in the offseason after. And I feel like it took a conflict of emotions for him.

“The abject depression. When you lose a Super Bowl, you are abjectly depressed — it is devastating.

“And that’s why so many teams have trouble the next season. This is the season — two seasons after — we’ve seen a different Jalen Hurts.”

Hurts joked after a 27-13 home win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15 that the Eagles still knew how to expertly throw the ball downfield.

“So that’s what you all wanted to see?” he said.

During Super Bowl week in New Orleans, a supposed pro-Chiefs bias and Kansas City’s hope of a historic three-peat have received most of the media attention.

But Mahomes has serious respect for his opposing QB.

“I honestly have no idea. It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Mahomes told CBS Sports, referring to Hurts’ doubters.

“He goes out there and has success every single year it seems like. Whether it’s throwing, running, whatever it is.”

It can be hard to know the real Hurts, who balances humility with a wall of steel while dealing with Philadelphia’s fans and media.

If he wins Super Bowl LIX and defeats Mahomes in the Superdome, history and Philly immortality will belong to No. 1 for the Eagles.

“Hopefully we will see it late February 9 … all of that pent-up kind of coolness just erupts into a volcano of joy and emotion,” Spadaro said.

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