Super Bowl LVII will be a historic day, as it will mark the first time two Black quarterbacks will start in the Super Bowl. Jalen Hurts, the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, led his team to the big showdown after a 31-7 rout of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday (Jan. 29). Patrick Mahomes, the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, brought his team back to the Super Bowl after inching past the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 after a Harrison Butker field goal in the final seconds of the game.
There is more history on the line with this matchup. If the Eagles are successful, Hurts will become the fourth Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. If the Chiefs take the victory, Patrick Mahomes will become the first Black quarterback to win multiple Super Bowls and add to his already impressive resume, which already includes a Super Bowl victory, two Super Bowl trips overall, and five consecutive AFC Championship appearances in his five seasons as starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Mahomes won his first Super Bowl in 2020, with a 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. He returned the following year in a 31-9 losing effort against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Let’s take a look back at all of the Black quarterbacks to appear in the Super Bowl over the NFL’s storied history and how they performed.
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Doug Williams - 1988
Image Credit: Mike Powell/Getty Images Doug Williams made history when he became the first Black quarterback to start and win the Super Bowl in 1988. He threw for 340 yards and four touchdowns in the then-Washington Redskins’ 42-10 decimation of the Denver Broncos. Williams earned MVP status for the game and was ultimately the catalyst for more Black quarterback success to come.
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Steve McNair - 2000
Image Credit: Doug Pensinger Steve McNair led the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV to take on the then-St. Louis Rams, who were popularly known as “The Greatest Show On Turf” at the time due to their record-breaking offense. McNair threw for 214 yards and did not pass or run for a touchdown in a 23-16 losing effort.
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Donovan McNabb - 2005
Image Credit: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images Donovan McNabb had a stellar showing for the Philadelphia Eagles in their Super Bowl XXXIX clash with the New England Patriots in 2005. He threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns, but also three interceptions. Two of those three were thrown to the Patriots’ defender, and eventual Super Bowl XXXIX MVP Rodney Harrison, as the Eagles suffered a tough 24-21 loss to the Patriots.
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Colin Kaepernick - 2013
Image Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images Before Colin Kaepernick battled the NFL’s controversial politics, the former 49er had to endure an over half-hour power outage at the New Orleans Saints’ Mercedes Benz Stadium during Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. Kaep threw for 302 yards, one touchdown, and ran for one touchdown versus the Baltimore Ravens. The game came down to the very end and the Ravens walked away with a 34-31 victory.
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Russell Wilson - 2014, 2015
Image Credit: Elsa/Getty Images The Seattle Seahawks were one of the scariest football teams ever seen during the 2010s, in large part due to their ferocious defense dubbed “The Legion Of Boom.” They also had a versatile quarterback playing under center in the form of Russell Wilson. Wilson and the Seahawks faced off against the Denver Broncos, led by the legendary Peyton Manning, in Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014. He threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 43-8 victory over the league’s highest-scoring offense, earning the Seahawks their first-ever Lombardi trophy. This also marked the first time that two Black quarterbacks started in back-to-back Super Bowls, following Colin Kaepernick starting for the 49ers the previous year.
Russell Wilson led the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl in 2015 for a matchup with the New England Patriots. He threw for 247 yards and two touchdowns, but the biggest Wilson memory of this game is his crushing goal-line interception thrown to Malcolm Butler that sealed the victory for the Patriots with 20 seconds left on the clock. Though unfortunate, this marked three consecutive seasons of a Black quarterback starting in the Super Bowl and Wilson became the first to start in back-to-back years.
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Cam Newton - 2016
Image Credit: Harry How/Getty Images Cam Newton was electrifying in the 2015-2016 season, leading the Carolina Panthers to a 15-1 season and his first-ever MVP award. In the historic 50th Super Bowl, they took on the gritty Denver Broncos led by a battered Peyton Manning. Despite Manning’s decline in talent and nagging injuries, the Broncos defense dominated the Panthers and denied Newton any passing or rushing touchdowns, though he did still throw for 265 yards. In the end, the Panthers lost 24-10 but Newton became the fourth consecutive Black quarterback to start in the Super Bowl.