One of the most important questions surrounding the Eagles right now, both inside and outside the NovaCare Complex, is whether Nick Sirianni will survive his team’s collapse at the end of the regular season and if Monday night’s wild-card playoff game against the Buccaneers will be a referendum on his leadership qualities. The Eagles are in a poor place right now. Teams that fall to these levels usually end up losing and having their coaches fired, not 11-6 winners who are making their third straight trip to the postseason.
Sirianni was having a great time just two months ago, leading his club to an NFL-best 10-1 start. Nevertheless, the Eagles have collapsed, losing five of their last six games, each one appearing to be worse than the last.
It seems like 2020, 2015, and 2012 around the NovaCare—the final seasons of former Eagles coaches Andy Reid, Chip Kelly, and Doug Pederson, respectively. They didn’t have a playoff appearance coming up to turn things around, unlike Sirianni. They also hadn’t been eliminated from the Super Bowl just a year before. As Sirianni prepares for what could be the most significant game of his coaching career, at least in terms of his prospects of staying in Philadelphia, the most recent installment of “unCovering the Birds” takes a deeper look at him. For the most part, the players still seem to support the coach because of his accountability and commitment to the team.
A more comprehensive look at his three seasons in Philadelphia demonstrates the new coach’s performance in comparison to the NFL as a whole. Sirianni has the best regular season winning % of any NFL coach appointed in the last three years, at.667.
Jeffrey Lurie will undoubtedly consider Sirianni’s entire history when evaluating his coach, regardless of how the season turns out. Furthermore, the Eagles’ owner is well aware of most behind-the-scenes activities, including whether Sirianni made the contentious choice to demote defensive coordinator Sean Desai. However, Lurie has a history of acting when his squad is struggling. As the Eagles’ recent decline has become worse the 72-year-old owner has been increasingly involved in football operations, team insiders told The Philadelphia Inquirer before the taping of our podcast episode simply titled “Nick.”
It’s still too early to say what that signifies for Sirianni’s future. Although Lurie is an interested owner, he tends to be more of an inquirer than an interfering person. But he will use his power when he feels it is appropriate. Although Lurie moved quickly to fire Pederson and Kelly, it would be unusual to fire Sirianni at this point in his 42-year career.
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