Stop Blaming Nick Sirianni For Every Thing Wrong With The Eagles

2025 did not go the way anyone hoped with the Eagles. After winning the Super Bowl, people saw them as a team that could be the next Chiefs and dominate the next several seasons of the NFL. Instead, they lost in the first round of the playoffs and saw a talented offense underperform all season long.

Some of that is undeniably on Nick Sirianni. He installed his long-time collaborator, Kevin Patullo, as the OC. Patullo was overmatched as a play caller. More importantly, when Patullo struggled, Sirianni did not have the answers to either help Patullo out or take over as play caller, and the offense continued to spiral. Those are two things Sirianni needs to own.

But in the wake of that disappointing season, there is a trend among Eagles fans, and even Eagles media. The instinct to pin any Eagles problem, or any road bump, squarely on the head of the Head Coach.

Somehow, nothing good about the Eagles can be attributed to the Head Coach. He is carried by a talented roster, put together by the greatest GM in the league, Howie Roseman.

Nothing can be credited to him. Not the Eagles winning a Super Bowl, not them making it to another in 2022, and not them being 59-26 with him as the Head Coach. A record that is currently the 5th best in NFL History. Granted, his 5 seasons are a small sample size compared to the rest of the pack.

They have made the playoffs every season with him as head coach. The only team with a longer streak is the Bills, who just fired their head coach because, unlike Nick Sirianni, Sean McDermott was never able to get his team to the top of the mountain. Obviously, he is doing something right.

Clearly, there is dysfunction in paradise. The Eagles' offense was a mess. Jeff Stoutland is out as O-Line coach, partly because he felt disrespected by the way things were handled last year. Tim McManus reported that Stoutland felt frozen out from the run game plan he was supposed to be the coordinator of.

But let's talk about that run game. We do not know when Stoutland vacated the role, but the run game was bad from week 1. Is that not at least partly on Stoutland? His offensive line struggled from the jump. Part of that is on injuries and fatigue. But Stoutland's line still struggled more than it ever had in his tenure with the Eagles. By the way, the run game actually performed later in the season, when they went more under center. Something many Eagles fans begged for, and apparently, one of the changes Sirianni made when he took a bigger role.

The part I can't wrap my head around is why Nick Sirianni is the target of the most ire. Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie also hired Kevin Patullo. They get a pass. Jalen Hurts took a step back and did not step up this postseason the way he usually does. Yet many fans give him a pass.

They all get the deserved benefit of the doubt. Howie earned it by winning two Super Bowls. Hurts earned it by winning one and playing at an elite level in the other. The question is, why does Nick not get the benefit of the doubt? Why is the blame placed on him, with none of the credit?

If you look only at the cold, hard facts, Sirianni has one of the best starts to a coaching career ever. Yes, things were a mess this year, and they were a mess in 2023. But they were also better than anyone could hope for in 2022 and 2024. That has to count for something.

Some criticism is deserved. This Jeff Stoutland situation clearly is on him. Jeff Stoutland felt frozen out. That is on Sirianni as a coach. I can argue Sirianni was right to make the change, and they needed to be under center more. But Sirianni needed to do that in a way that did not alienate one of the best position coaches in NFL history.

There is also a reason the Eagles brought in Sean Mannion, who has very little experience, to transform the offense. Sirianni clearly is not a good play caller. We learned that in 2021, and again in 2025. But we have also seen that with good coordinators, he can coach this team to great heights.

Even his down years are the best things some teams can aspire to. While we focus so much on the Eagles' troubles, they at least made the playoffs. Do you know who didn't? The Chiefs, the Lions, the Commanders, and the Ravens.

If they repeat the same pattern next season, it will be time to talk about pulling the cord. But one disappointing season does not erase the great things the Eagles accomplished. Wanting to fire a coach a year after he won the Super Bowl is absurd.

He is not the first coach to have a great roster. Plenty of teams have lost because they had great rosters but bad coaching. Does he have flaws as a coach? Certainly. Criticizing those flaws is fair game. But to then give him zero credit for the good times and act like he is a clown carried by the rest of the team is crazy.

Sirianni did not become as successful as he is by accident. We need to stop putting all the blame on his head, yet give him no credit for the Super Bowl. We rightly point out how dumb that is when people do it to Jalen Hurts. It is equally dumb to do it with Nick Sirianni.