MINNEAPOLIS – Surrounded by cameras and a sudden bandwagon of well-wishers, Nick Foles tried to bulldoze his way up the U.S. Bank tunnel. He clutched the hand of his wife Tori, who herself held their daughter Lily. The world suddenly wanted a word with Nick Foles, the discarded, unheralded, former backup Eagles quarterback who had just outdueled Tom Brady to lead Philadelphia to a 41-33 Super Bowl win.

It was all coming fast now, after always coming slow for the Foles family. For so long, it was just them, scraping and questioning and, in the end, believing. Believing in Nick. Believing in themselves and in their faith and in the idea that, sure, this outlandish, outrageous night out of their wildest dreams was possible.

An NFL employee tried to help them through the throng by promising there’d be plenty of time to talk with the Philadelphia quarterback.

“Nick Foles,” it was shouted, “is going to the MVP room.”

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Nick Foles holds up the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots. (AP) More

With that, Nick and Tori shot each other a look and a smile. It’s reasonable to assume Nick Foles didn’t know there was such a thing as a Super Bowl MVP interview room, let alone that such a sentence would ever be declared. Yet there were the Foles, Nick and Tori, a mostly anonymous couple out of the University of Arizona, marching right onto turf more familiar with Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen.

Two years ago Foles was ready to retire from football at age 26, frustrated with his situation, lacking in his motivation, uncertain either would ever improve.

Sunday, he outdueled Brady in one of the wildest Super Bowls ever. He threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns. He added a 1-yard touchdown reception on an all-timer of a trick play. Mostly though, he played with the poise and focus that belied the fact that until franchise quarterback Carson Wentz was injured in December, Foles was nothing but a backup, a journeyman, another name in the NFL’s parade of mediocre QBs.

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When Wentz got hurt though, in came Foles. When the Eagles got here and found themselves in a shootout with Brady, who would chuck it for a record 505 yards and three touchdowns of his own, Foles never blinked.

“The stage is never too big for him,” said tight end Zach Ertz, who caught the game-deciding touchdown pass.

“I didn’t have to be Superman,” Foles said. “I have amazing teammates.”

He was Superman though. And that was the thing. The Eagles didn’t win because of a superior defense and a mistake-free day by a game manager of a quarterback. Brady was slashing the defense apart. They needed someone to do the same. They needed someone to be better than Brady.

So there was Foles, moving the Eagles up and down the field to the tune of 538 total yards. There was Foles, throwing brilliant passes – a 34-yard touchdown to Alshon Jeffrey, a 22-yard bullet to Corey Clement.

There was Foles, leading an offense that went 10-of-16 on third down, and 2-of-2 on fourth, including a conversion on the game-winning drive. There was Foles, running a fake-audible-turned-Wildcat-reverse pass back to Foles for a touchdown.

There was Foles, providing the battered and gasping defense with enough hope to know it needed to make just one play, one stop and the Super Bowl could be Philly’s. It came with 2:16 remaining, a strip sack of Brady after the Patriots hadn’t punted or turned it over all night.

It wasn’t much. With Nick Foles at the helm, it was enough.

And so there was Nick Foles, in the “MVP room”, waiting for a chance to speak to the media.

First he took a seat next to Tori and held Lily on his lap. The baby wore a green Eagles scarf across her head and pink, noise-cancelling head phones over her ears. He pulled a silver chain out from underneath his jersey and she began playing with the cross at the end of it.

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