Defense wins championships

I disagree; one guy was on the tail end of his career, and the other was starting. Drew, Peyton, and Eli were Brady's peers. But the primary point is that Hurts is only the second guy to beat Mahomes in the big game.
Being a peer has nothing to do with tail end of your career or not.

If you have two NFL starting QBs in the same game those guys are peers.