The Philadelphia Eagles hired Nick Sirianni as the 24th head coach in franchise history on January 24, 2021. We guess we can include Pat Shurmur's one game at the helm as enough of a reason to place him between Chip Kelly and Doug Pederson. Oh well... It doesn't matter. It's Nick's show now. At least that's the case for one more campaign. Much hinges on the coming season.
Time flies. We have come a long way from that introductory press conference that, shall we say, didn't go very well. Coach has proved us wrong though.
Coach Sirianni has led his team to three straight postseason appearances and a spot in the Super Bowl to punctuate year two. No one saw that coming, so why are we discussing job security?
Well, let's just say there are still concerns.
Some say Nick is still Philly's head coach in title only, a CEO head coach if you will. Most say he's on the hotseat. Can he prove the doubters wrong again? His continued tenure will most certainly hinge on his ability to do so.
Reuben Frank believes, if Nick Sirianni is to remain as Eagles head coach, there's only one way for him to do so.
NBC Sports Philadelphia's Reuben Frank needs no introduction in Eagles circles. He has been doing this for a while. One of his more popular columns, Roob's 10 Random Observations, is a must-read weekly. Recently, he dissected Sirianni's coaching tenure and asked a question.
How does Nick keep his job past the 2024-25 regular season? The answer is simple while also complex.
"I think it’s pretty clear if the Eagles don’t win a playoff game this year, he’s gone. And he should be. Because if the Eagles lose in the wild-card round or don’t make the playoffs, then you’re looking at a team that reached a Super Bowl in 2022, finished 2023 with a 1-6 record and a blowout playoff loss and then failed to advance in the postseason again in 2024. That’s a trajectory Sirianni wouldn’t be able to survive."
Sirianni has sandwiched a season that ended in a Super Bowl appearance (and loss) between two others that ended in devastating Wild Card Round losses, both to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A similar resume might be acceptable in Dallas or in Florham Park, New Jersey. Philly is a football-crazy town, however, and this current iteration of the Eagles is in win-now mode with an open Super Bowl window.
Yep! Nick can't afford another first-round playoff loss, especially because there are constant conversations about whether or not he can hang versus football's most gifted coaching minds. Roob offers a little more here. Again, he hits the nail on the head.
Nick is and should be on the hot seat and coaching for his job.
"If the Eagles don’t win a playoff game this year, that means they lost in the wild-card round for the third time in four years (or earned the No. 1 seed and lost a home game to a wild-card team in the conference semis, which would be even worse). Just getting to the playoffs is no longer enough. Whatever equity Sirianni earned in 2022 is running out. He's got to prove this team has moved beyond the 2023 collapse and that he still has what it takes to guide a team on a postseason run. The Eagles have real coordinators now. They have unlimited talent on offense, and they’re younger and faster on defense. They have a manageable schedule. Everything is in place for Sirianni to get this team to mid-January. If not, Jeff Lurie won’t have much of a decision to make."
Roob also mentions Buddy Ryan and that he entered his fifth and final season with the Eagles in 1990 having never led Philly to a postseason win. Nick has been better than that, but this is also a different time than the one we lived through in 1990. That preceded free agency. Players had to be developed. That team was also loyal to Buddy.
Hence another problem...
One of the constant narratives surrounding Coach Sirianni, particularly following the collapse, has been he lacks the respect of his players and this team implodes in whenever in crisis. His guys have defended him publicly. That's a good thing, but how this team handles adversity will be dissected often during this coming regular season.
This can play out several different ways, Coach has a lot to think about in the meantime as do we. This is a conversation we'll be discussing all season.
