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From 10-1 to one-and-done, the Philadelphia Eagles’ collapse is complete.
The defending NFC champions won’t be going back to the Super Bowl. They’re heading into a potentially turbulent offseason after an early vacation that few could’ve imagined heading into December.
A 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an NFC wild-card game on Monday night turns up the pressure on owner Jeffrey Lurie, general manager Howie Roseman and coach Nick Sirianni.
“I’m not thinking about that,” Sirianni said about his job status. “I’m thinking about the guys in the locker room. I’m not worried about me. … We’re hurting right now.”
Anything less than a Lombardi Trophy was going to be unacceptable for a team loaded with talent playing in a city that demands success.
But going out like this — a sloppy effort featuring plenty of poor tackling and a lopsided loss to a mediocre team — will have the city of Brotherly Love angrier than usual.
They started calling for Lurie to fire Sirianni and hire Bill Belichick last week when the Eagles were still alive. After this debacle, Philly’s fickle fans don’t even want Sirianni on
the team’s flight back home.
Instead of celebrating a postseason victory, players were left to answer questions about their head coach in a somber locker room.
“I didn’t know he was going anywhere,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said, adding he wasn’t aware of the speculation about Sirianni’s job.
Given an opportunity to endorse his head coach, Hurts said: “I have a ton of confidence in everyone in this building.”
Hours earlier, a banged-up Hurts couldn’t pull off any magic without star wide receiver A.J. Brown. Cornerback James Bradberry and his defensive teammates missed several tackles, including a few that led to a pair of long touchdown passes by Baker Mayfield.
Now, Sirianni has to explain what went wrong and how he allowed the team to crumble. Of course, there’s plenty of blame to be spread around from the front office to highly paid players who underachieved.
“Obviously we’re in a big slide. I didn’t do a good enough job,” Sirianni said. “We couldn’t get out of the rut we’re in. We all have to look ourselves in the mirror and find solutions. … Expectations were high and we fell into a skid, so I’ll look at play calling, scheme, practices, everything we’re doing.”
