Minutes after Patrick Mahomes and his team clinched their third Super Bowl berth in four years last month, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback stood with a CBS sideline reporter and expressed gratitude to God for his role in the AFC Championship game.

“First off, I want thank God, man,” he said during a postgame interview, according to Fox News. “He healed my body this week to battle through that. He gave me the strength to be out here.”

The interview called back to the many other times Mahomes has spoken about his Christian faith during his NFL career. The quarterback, who is 27, has previously said his relationship with God helps him deal with on-field adversity and stay true to himself.

“As long as I’m doing everything the right way and the way that (God) would want me to do it, then I can walk off the field with my head held high and be able to be the man that I am,” he told WDAF, a television station in Kansas City, in 2020.

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During that interview, Mahomes shared that he tries to “glorify God” through his play on the field. On Sunday, he’ll have a chance to do that once again when the Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57.

On the opposite sideline from Mahomes will be another quarterback who hasn’t shied away from mixing football with faith. Jalen Hurts, 24, has repeatedly credited God with keeping him strong during difficult moments in his career.

“I’ve realized that God is everything and He’s worthy of praise. You have to put Him at the center of everything that you do. That’s what I believe,” he told CBS Sports last year.

Hurts continued, “All my spiritual wisdom — all of my wisdom as a whole — comes from Him, in some way, shape or form, whether that be passed down from my father, my mother, my grandmother. I just think, in all the things that we experience in life — good, bad or indifferent — you have to keep (God) in the center.”

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, right, and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts speak at Super Bowl 57 opening night, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Phoenix. | David J. Philip, Associated Press

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, who has the phrase “Be who God called you to be” displayed at the top of his Twitter profile, previously said his faith helped him process losing his starting spot at Alabama and his big move to the University of Oklahoma.

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“I understand that God put those obstacles and challenges in my life for a reason. He wanted me to feel the pain I felt for a reason. He wanted me to understand the importance of never losing faith — and of always staying true to myself. He had NOT brought me this far just to leave me there,” Hurts wrote in an essay for The Players’ Tribune about transferring to Oklahoma.

More statements about God will likely be coming from Mahomes and Hurts this week as they prepare for and then play in the Super Bowl.

The leader of the winning team will have a chance to thank God for the big victory, while the leader of the losing team will lean on God to overcome the disappointing result.

Super Bowl 57 kicks off at 4:30 p.m. MST on Sunday. It will be broadcast by Fox.

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