A whole lot of Eagles fans are calling for Nick Sirianni's head. They may have a case.
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Nick Sirianni's seat is getting warmer.
Bill Streicher/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
During his five-year-plus tenure as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Nick Sirianni has won almost double the number of regular season games that he has lost. He has qualified for the playoffs all five full seasons he has coached, he has been to two Super Bowls, and he was holding a Lombardi trophy over his head on Broad Street a little more than 20 months ago.
Sirianni's record, on paper, is elite. And yet, there are a whole lot of Eagles fans who are calling for his head after a 2-5 start to the 2026 season. They may have a case. Let's look at the pros and cons of Sirianni's chances of remaining the Eagles' head coach following this season.
The arguments for Sirianni to remain the head coach beyond 2026
• Sirianni's aforementioned record
Sirianni is 61-31 (0.663) during the regular season, and 6-4 (0.600) in the playoffs. Among active coaches with at least three full seasons of head coaching experience, Sirianni has the best career winning percentage in the NFL:
Coach Wins Losses Ties Winning %
Nick Sirianni, PHI 61 31 0 0.663
Kevin O'Connell, MIN 48 25 0 0.662
Matt LaFleur, GB 80 43 1 0.649
Andy Reid, PHI, KC 284 158 1 0.642
Jim Harbaugh, SF, LAC 66 37 1 0.639
Sean Payton, NO, DEN 189 110 0 0.632
John Harbaugh, BAL, NYG 184 115 1 0.615
Mike McCarthy, GB, DAL, PIT 179 114 2 0.610
Sean McVay, LAR 95 61 0 0.609
DeMeco Ryans, HOU 34 24 0 0.586
Mike Vrabel, TEN, NE 72 51 0 0.585
Kyle Shanahan, SF 88 68 0 0.564
Dan Campbell, MIA, DET 57 45 1 0.558
Dan Quinn, ATL, WAS 61 63 1 0.492
Shane Steichen, IND 27 31 0 0.466
Zac Taylor, CIN 56 65 1 0.463
Todd Bowles, MIA, NYJ, TB 63 79 0 0.444
Kevin Stefanski, CLE, ATL 48 60 0 0.444
Robert Saleh, NYJ, TEN 21 42 0 0.333
There are a bunch of future Hall of Famers on that list above, and Sirianni has a better record than all of them. That's what he can hang his hat on.
• Howie Roseman definitely likes Sirianni professionally, and seems to like him personally
Roseman has full control over all roster decisions and that is how he wants it. Sirianni is happy to let Roseman do his thing. That is a major selling point for Roseman.
Of course, fans should want that dynamic to continue. Although he may not have had his best offseason in 2026 Roseman has built elite Super Bowl-winning teams alongside subservient head coaches... twice. The last time a head coach had control over roster decisions, he got rid of all the good players he didn't like personally. (We'll come back to that shortly.)
Also, just being a casual witness to Roseman's interactions with Sirianni over the years, they seem to get along well. That matters to Roseman. And, in fact, we saw after the Eagles' disastrous 2023 season that Roseman went to bat for Sirianni and was instrumental in Sirianni retaining his job.
• Players generally seem to like and respect Sirianni, and they implement his coaching
Sirianni places a high priority on cultivating relationships with his players. That's the "together" part of his "Tough, Detailed, Together" mantra. Players routinely speak well of Sirianni. It's hard to recall times when a player has had anything negative to say about him.
Additionally, although the 2026 season perhaps isn't the best example of this, players have embraced the fundamentals that Sirianni and his staff have tried to drill into them, such as ball security, block destruction, etc.
• An open Eagles' head coaching position isn't likely to appeal to the top candidates
The Eagles moved on from Doug Pederson just a few seasons after he won a Super Bowl, and if they did the same with Sirianni that would be twice in a span of a decade in which the Eagles were very clearly the most successful team in the NFC. Though both firings would have their merits, it's not hard to imagine potential candidates being wary of long-term job security (or lack thereof) in Philly.
Also, the Eagles' head coaching job would likely require the candidate to be subservient to Roseman on roster construction. Not every candidate is going to love that.
And finally, the Philly job is far more stressful than many other markets. Philly locals eat, sleep, and breathe football, and are highly vocal when things aren't going well.
In other words, the Eagles likely would not have their pick of the litter, and it's no guarantee they'd hire someone better than Sirianni.
Of course, as it pertains to Sirianni's job security, the idea that the Eagles' job wouldn't be highly sought after only matters if Roseman and Lurie see it that way. Their pride might very well cloud their awareness on that front.
The arguments for the Eagles to move on from Sirianni
• The offense — Sirianni's side of the ball — has been absolutely atrocious the last two seasons
Sirianni is an offensive head coach. That is his side of the ball, and he more or less allows Vic Fangio to cook on defense. The Eagles' offense wildly underperformed relative to expectations in 2025, and in 2026 they have been downright putrid.
First, the 2025 offensive numbers:
Eagles offense Stat Rank
Points per game 22.1 19
Yards per game 311.0 24
Yards per play 5.2 20
First downs per game 18.1 25
EPA per play -0.02 17
Success rate 42.67% 23
Rush yards per game 118.2 16
Rush yards per attempt 4.1 25
EPA per rush -0.05 19
Pass yards per game 192.8 23
Pass yards per attempt 6.9 16
EPA per pass 0.0 14
Average T.O.P. (excluding OT) 30:16 12
In the aftermath of the 2025 season offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo was fired. Sean Mannion was hired to replace him, installing a new scheme along the way. It felt unlikely that that the offense could get worse, but they have, and then some.
The Eagles' offensive numbers through seven games:
Eagles offense Stat Rank
Points per game 18.1 29
Yards per game 264.9 31
Yards per play 4.5 32
First downs per game 16.0 30
EPA per play -0.17 30
Success rate 37.62% 30
Rush yards per game 878.7 27
Rush yards per attempt 3.9 24
EPA per rush -0.14 26
Pass yards per game 177.1 26
Pass yards per attempt 5.8 29
EPA per pass -0.19 28
Average T.O.P. (excluding OT) 27:40 31
Injuries haven't helped, but it's in the conversation for worst offense in the NFL.
• Bad offensive coordinator hires
After the Eagles' Super Bowl season in 2024, Kellen Moore left to be the head coach of the New Orleans Saints.
To replace Moore, the Eagles opted for familiarity and continuity by promoting Kevin Patullo, who had been the Eagles' passing game coordinator since 2021.
"That continuity is really important because he knows what I'm thinking in certain situations, how you want things to be taught, all of those different things, so he's been a great resource for me the entire time, our success this year, but really the success we've had since we've been here," Nick Sirianni said after Patullo's promotion. "Can't be great without the greatness of others and that is definitely a fact with Kevin Patullo and I trust him with everything. Got a ton of trust and faith with him. He's awesome."
Narrator: "He was not awesome."
And it's not as if the Eagles' offense changed from 2024 into 2025. It was more or less the same starers, with the exception of Tyler Steen taking over for Mekhi Becton at RG.
The Eagles entered the 2025 with the most expensive offense in the NFL, filled with decorated players:
• QB Jalen Hurts: 2 Pro Bowls, 1 All-Pro, 1 MVP runner-up, 1 Super Bowl MVP
• RB Saquon Barkley: 3 Pro Bowls, 1 All-Pro, 1 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
• WR A.J. Brown: 3 Pro Bowls, 3 All-Pros
• LT Jordan Mailata: 1 All-Pro
• LG Landon Dickerson: 3 Pro Bowls
• C Cam Jurgens: 2 Pro Bowls
• RT Lane Johnson: 6 Pro Bowls, 5 All-Pros
There were only four players without any postseason decorations who were primary starters for the Eagles' offense in 2025, and two of them were very good players in DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.
Even if most of the above players underperformed individually that season, it's still unfathomable that the Eagles could finish comfortably in the back half of the league in almost all of the team stats shown in the chart above with the roster they fielded. But even worse than the pure numbers was the experience of watching the Eagles' offense, which was predictable, far too conservative, and frankly, often nonsensical.
On some levels, Patullo unfairly bore the brunt of the blame for some aspects of the offense that were very likely outside of his control. For example:
• In several games — notably in losses to the Broncos and Cowboys, as well as a near-loss to the Bills — the Eagles got a lead, and then went into hyper-conservative mode in the second half, blowing double-digit point leads.
• Oftentimes on third and long the Eagles would call ultra-conservative plays (draw to Will Shipley, for example), opting not to risk a turnover and instead choosing to punt.
• In several scenarios at the end of the first half, the Eagles would effectively opt not to try to score more points, and let the time run out.
Those frustrating big picture types of strategic decisions came from Sirianni, not Patullo.
But certainly, there were aspects of the offense that were at least partly attributable to Patullo that were maddening to watch on a week-to-week basis, such as:
• They were the slowest team in the NFL to get out of the huddle and to the line of scrimmage.
• Pre-snap procedural penalties were a season-long issue.
• They rarely schemed their receivers open for easy throws/catches, and instead relied on their receivers to constantly have to win contested catches.
• Route concepts were remedial at best, as they ran a historic number of hitch routes, complemented by four verts.
• There was rarely any discernible play sequencing, in which one play early in the game might set up another play later in the game.
• Personnel decisions were often maddening, such as the reliance of tight end Grant Calcaterra to serve as a run-blocking specialist, when that is the biggest weakness in his game; or the refusal to get the effective Tank Bigsby involved in the rushing attack in any meaningful way.
• They would line up in tight formations, bringing receivers close to the offensive line, thus triggering the defense to bring more defenders into the box and then running out of those looks into brick walls.
And after every game, film junkies would point out these very obvious flaws, and the offensive staff would be asked about them during their weekly press conferences. And yet, it never changed. They ran their boring, predictable offense complete with all of their annoying quirks all the way through the regular season and into the playoffs, when an absolutely abysmal 49ers defense was able to shut them down one last time.
So, Patullo was out, and the team hired Mannion to install a new offense in 2026.
There have certainly been unexpected developments, like injuries and Lane Johnson's retirement, but even when everyone was healthy the structure of the offense has been nearly nonfunctional. They lead the league in unblocked pressures by a country mile, the run game is nonexistent, and the under center aspect of the offense has been almost impossibly bad.
The offense has no identity. There's nothing obvious that they do well, and can hang their hat on. The coaching staff has had no answers, and they don't seem to be forthcoming.
So, that's two consecutive bad hires, whether they were by Sirianni, or by Roseman. If Sirianni was the most key figure in promoting Patullo and hiring Mannion, their lack of success ultimately falls on him. If he didn't make those hires, then, well, what exactly does he do? Which brings us to the next bullet point...
• Sirianni doesn't call plays, the current scheme isn't his, and he isn't crushing the limited responsibilities he does have
Sirianni's in-game strategy has left a lot to be desired the last two seasons. We noted above what he was responsible for in 2025, such as the ultra-conservative approaches with leads against the Broncos, Cowboys, and Bills, among other issues.
In 2026, he has had two glaring game management mistakes.
Near the end of the third quarter against the Bears, down by 13, the Eagles faced a 4th and 1 (a long 1) at the 49-yard line. Sirianni kept the offense on the field, but only to try a hard count to try to get the Bears to jump offsides. When the Bears didn't jump, the Eagles took a delay of game penalty and then punted.
The Eagles used to be at the forefront of in-game analytical decisions. They are no longer innovators on that front:
On a relative basis they would win 21% more often by choosing to go for it pic.twitter.com/dc0QfS7wUO
— Ryan Paganetti (@RyanPaganetti) September 29, 2026
On the next possession, at roughly the same area of the field — in this case the Bears' 46-yard line, and only three minutes later in the game, with the same score — Sirianni decided to go for it on 4th and 5. That was the right decision, even if the play resulted in a Hurts INT.
But going for it there and not going for it on 4th and 1 in a nearly identical situation is mind-blowing. What is the process for these decisions? It all feels so random.
Sirianni did at least admit that he should have gone for it on the 4th and 1.
"As I look back at that, I should have went for it there," Sirianni said. "Didn't like that decision."
The Eagles have gone for a lot of fourth downs during the Sirianni era, but a whole lot of those fourth down attempts/conversions were Tush Pushes. Now that the Tush Push doesn't work anymore, they are just an ordinary, conservative team.
Against the Jaguars, Jake Elliott connected on a lead-changing 48-yard field goal near the end of regulation, but the Eagles left eight seconds on the clock. The Jaguars burned all of their timeouts to salvage those eight seconds, and when the Eagles opted for a returnable kick, Ameer Abdullah made them pay, returning it 53 yards to the Eagles' 39-yard line, setting up a 57-yard game-winning field goal by Cam Little. The entire sequence is here:
The end of game sequence.. They let Abdullah run it back all the way passed the 50 and then Legend Cam Little kicks it for the win pic.twitter.com/JNNE9ot8cs
— Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) October 11, 2026
If Sirianni had Elliott kick the ball through the back of the end zone, the Jaguars would have had the ball at their own 35-yard line, and they would have needed to complete a long pass while also getting out of bounds, and do it in seven seconds or fewer since they were out of timeouts.
Instead, Sirianni opted to allow a return, despite the Eagles missing several core special teamers (Jeremiah Trotter, Michael Carter, etc.), and in a game in which the Jags had already returned a kickoff for a touchdown (that was called back because of a hold).
Once again, Sirianni took blame for the that game management decision.
"Our guys fought their butts off today," Sirianni said. "The defense had an outstanding game, keeping us in that game. The offense did enough at the end to go win us that game. Special teams did a nice job of kicking it there. I didn't make the right decision and I lost us that game, and that's what I said to our guys.
"What hurts there is that the guys fought so hard and then I don't make the decision that I should make at the end of the game, and I cost us that game and I put that fully on me."
If Sirianni doesn't call plays and it's not fully his offense anymore, he has to be great at the other aspects of coaching, like game management, and he simply hasn't been.
• The Eagles' brass won't hesitate to move on from a head coach when the team is heading in the wrong direction
In 2011, Andy Reid had a disappointing 8-8 "Dream Team" season, but kept his job. But after an injury-plagued 4-12 season in 2012, he was out.
In 2014, Chip Kelly had a 10-6 season, but didn't get into the playoffs. In 2015, Kelly got full control of the roster, and the Eagles were 6-9 when Lurie decided he had seen enough of Kelly and his nonsense. He got canned in-season.
In 2019, Doug Pederson got into the playoffs with a 9-7 record, but the team was one-and-done after a home loss to the Seahawks. The following season, the Eagles went 4-11-1, and it initially appeared as though Pederson would survive, but when he wasn't on board with replacing assistant coaches he was let go.
Lurie has a quick trigger finger when coaches underperform relative to expectations.
Conclusion
Sirianni already cashed in one "I won a Super Bowl so I get to survive a terrible season" token after 2025. Was his Super Bowl season in 2024 worth two of those tokens? My guess... Nope.
It's probably going to take a dramatic turnaround and some postseason success for Sirianni to keep his job. Lurie likes Sirianni, so an in-season firing feels unlikely. Sirianni will at least get a chance at some sort of miraculous recovery. But obviously at the moment, any mention of the postseason would conjure up Jim Mora's infamous "Playoffs?!" rant.
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