After the Eagles’ shocking 2023 season collapse, there was a strong sense that Nick Sirianni’s time with the team was officially over.
Following the Eagles’ humiliation at the hands of the Bucs in the wild-card round, we were left wondering for a week whether Nick Sirianni would be fired.
One of the worst collapses in NFL history came to an end with the 32-9 loss in Tampa.
After the AFL-NFL merger in 1969, the Eagles became only the second team to start a season 10-1 and finish outside of its division. They are the first team to do so in 37 years. After starting a season 10-1 then losing five of their final six regular-season games, they were the first team in 37 years to do it. They became the only squad to start 10-1 and not win 12 games or a postseason match in 54 years. Additionally, they became just the third club in history to win 11 games yet fall to a team that won nine or fewer games by 20 points or more in a wild-card game.
Aw shucks.
However, the Eagles of 2023 did not simply lose football games.
Their humiliation continued week after week as they lost to the 49ers and Cowboys by a combined 43 points, blew a lead in the closing seconds in Seattle, gave up a 15-point lead in the third quarter to the 3-12 Cards at home, suffered their worst loss to the Giants since Andy Reid’s farewell game 12 years prior, and concluded with the worst postseason loss in 31 years and the second-worst ever for the franchise.
Their final seven games saw them outscored by 82 points.
Could Sirianni make it through this, even with a Super Bowl appearance in 2022?
Sirianni says he merely showed up for work every morning, without caring what would happen next, while everyone else waited to see what owner Jeff Lurie would do.
He remarked, “I just didn’t think (about) that. I don’t know.” “I didn’t consider that. Because in the end, that’s something outside of my control.
“Now, I had control over the product on the field and our ability to win games. And for seven games at the conclusion of the year, I fell short of my goal. Occasionally, you have to deal with the cards as they lie after that.
Sirianni spent more time visiting with his players, pitching ideas to Roseman and Lurie, and analyzing what went wrong than worrying about his own future in the days following the Tampa defeat.
Above all else… I feel bad for the individuals in that (locker room),” he uttered. “Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelse, I think I had a feeling they might not be playing anymore, and that hurts every time.” Of course, you have individual ambitions as well as team goals, but you always want to see the guys who will never play football again come out on top.
“You’re mad as hell. To be completely honest with you, I wasn’t thinking about getting fired. As a competitor, you’re upset about your defeat and you feel bad for the other guys on your squad.
“I still had the knowledge that my wife and my three children loved me. I was still somewhat happy within.
It was a Jan. 15 loss for Tampa. The news of Sirianni and Howie Roseman’s yearly year-end press conference was announced by the Eagles in a group text on January 22. After a frenzied week of conjecture, the Eagles finally acknowledged for the first time that Sirianni will stay head coach.
It was a very horrific way to end a once-promising season, and highly unusual for a head coach fresh off his third consecutive postseason participation to be left hanging like that.
Notwithstanding the setback he suffered last year, Sirianni has a 34-17 career record and, after Matt LaFleur’s.675 winning % over five seasons with the Packers, is the second-highest among active coaches.
Sirianni’s winning % of.667 is 14th out of 201 NFL coaches that have coached at least 50 games in NFL history. The only players with a better winning % over the past 50 years are Tony Dungy, Jim Harbaugh, Don Shula, and John Madden.
It is a guarantee, though, that Sirianni will most likely not be granted a fifth season if the team just makes it to the playoffs in 2024. Though you never know what Lurie is thinking, it’s difficult to see Sirianni making it through another wild-card loss, or even worse, missing the playoffs.
Sirianni is aware of the stakes as his fourth training camp gets about to start.
He declared, “It’s the NFL, it’s Philly.” In the end, though, it will be difficult for me to stay on staff if we don’t win enough, don’t you think? I understand it, too.
“I believe that relates to the things under your control. I am in charge of our everyday operations. I have daily control over the message that “Hey, this is what’s important,” and everyone else must carry it through as well. I can therefore control that. Nothing else is within my power.
The question, “What if we start this way?,” escapes my mind. What happens if we take this action? Say we take that action, what would happen? My everyday control is all that I have.I’m thankful for the opportunity to coach the club once more, and I intend to show Mr. Lurie that he made the correct choice in having me return.