Eagles' Jason Kelce Explains 'Healthy' Way to Get Past Super Bowl Loss
PHILADELPHIA - You won’t find too many five-time All-Pros with a GPS pointed toward Canton like Jason Kelce who play the woe-is-me game.
Super Bowl LVII is a loss that still stings for much of Philadelphia, a heart-breaking 38-35 setback to Kansas City marred by a poor playing surface and a questionable holding call late, along with some uncharacteristic mistakes from what had been the most well-rounded team in football.
The focus is always inward for the Philadelphia Eagles, particularly the team’s leaders.
“For me personally, I never want to acknowledge that somebody else or something else has control over the outcome,” Kelce explained to JAKIB Sports when asked about the team’s mindset. “If I'm truly a competitor this s***'s on me, right?”
The literal randomness of life, in general, is not lost on Kelce, but achievers focus only on the things they control.
“Obviously there's a lot of factors that go into [winning a game],” Kelce said before pivoting toward Hurts, who outplayed superstar Patrick Mahomes, save for one unforced error. “When you're Jalen Hurts – I know the way he thinks because we've talked about it – you know he still beats himself up for this play and that play.
“It's like 'Dude you had like the best performance ever by a quarterback in the history of the Super Bowl,'" Kelce said. "'You did just fine.'"
Hurts finished Super Bowl LVII with four touchdowns (a Super Bowl-record three rushing and one passing), completing 27-of-38 passes for 308 yards, and adding 70 more yards on the ground (also a Super Bowl record for a QB).
The quarterback's unforced fumble in the second quarter, however, was returned for a touchdown by Nick Bolton and kept a Chiefs team that seemed like it was on the ropes in a position to make a second-half comeback.
“The reality is when you're that guy, if you're really a competitor, you think you control stuff," Kelce said. "You don't want to acknowledge that somebody else or a field or officials [do] because once you start doing that, you start devaluing who you are and who we are."
That sentiment is not surrendered easily.
“No, we're not giving that to anybody. We control the outcome,” Kelce said. “We've made enough mistakes and if we would have fixed that stuff up, we win that game regardless of what happens with the field, anything.
“So, I think that's the healthy way to go about it.”
The mindset also isn’t practiced or demanded. It's innate to top-tier competitors and the reason the Eagles were in the game in the first place.
“We certainly didn't talk about how to answer these questions,” Kelce said. “We have a very strong locker room. We had a very strong group of guys and if you look at –across the board – the way the leaders answer the questions. That just kind of ends up being what the team's feeling is.”
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
