Two Black quarterbacks will lead their teams to the Super Bowl
Two Black quarterbacks will lead their teams to the Super Bowl in a dramatic changing of the guard, a far cry from an unbroken history of White guys only leading teams to the biggest game in football.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts will lead the Philadelphia Eagles against Patrick Mahomes, III, quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, at Super Bowl LVII. The game will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday, February 12. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m./EST.
The Eagles whipped the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 after the team fouled and scuffled its way to a loss with the Eagles.
Mahomes led the Chiefs over the Cincinnati Bengals 23 to 20.
Mahomes, 27, is a native of Tyler, Texas. He attended Texas Tech University. Hurts, 24, was born in Houston and later lived in Channelview, Texas, where he attended Channelview High School.
Mahomes, who became the third Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl in 2020, aims to become the first Black quarterback in NFL history to win multiple Super Bowls, while Eagles quarterback Hurts could become the fourth Black quarterback to win the Lombardi Trophy.
Doug Williams was the first Black quarterback to start and win the Super Bowl, leading the then-Washington Redskins to victory in 1988. The network cut off his victory speech in which he said he was going to Disneyland, quickly cutting to a commercial. This cutaway led many to complain that Williams had been overtly disrespected.
Williams was followed by Russell Wilson for the Seattle Seahawks in 2014 and Mahomes in 2020, while other Black quarterbacks have started and lost the big game.
At the big game, actor-singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, who won an Emmy last year, will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,†which is the Negro National Anthem.
Rihanna will be the headline performer at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. She will bring in a number of guests, none of whom have yet been named, though it has been rumored that Jay-Z will be among those performing.