Sept. 29, 2026
For one night at least, Nick Sirianni’s luck ran out.
Even with the Chicago Bears missing their franchise quarterback, the Eagles coach had no answers. I’m not sure, during a 27-7 debacle at Soldier Field, that he even knew the questions.
In the end, there’s really only one important issue that needs to be addressed, and soon. Are the 2026 Eagles any good? Have they fallen so far in the two years since their championship that they are no longer a threat to win another Super Bowl?
It’s hard to imagine a game that could create more doubts than the one on Monday night. It was a three-hour exercise in frustration that indicted pretty much every facet of this overrated football team.
Let’s start with Sirianni, whose only decisive actions seemed to be his mindless tirades against the officials early in the game. At one point, ESPN analyst Troy Aikman felt compelled to point out, with video, that a call infuriating Nick was obviously correct.
And then there were the strategic stumbles. A leader in the movement to go for it on fourth down, Sirianni lost his nerve when the game was still winnable at 20-7 by punting on fourth-and-a-long-one from his own 49-yard line with 3:30 left in the third quarter.
Three minutes later, at the Chicago 46 and facing a fourth-and-five, the coach went for it. Huh?
Later, Sirianni admitted he should have tried for a first down on the initial fourth-down play.
Duh.
When you lose to an inferior opponent on national TV, there are usually more villains than just the head coach. This truth was especially applicable on Monday night.
For example, both of Sirianni’s coordinators had brutal games. For novice OC Sean Mannion, a rough performance was understandable. For veteran DC Vic Fangio, it was not.
Mannion made some head-scratching play-calls, and none more so than a dangerous throw into the end zone by backup QB Andy Dalton, a choice of play that ended a brilliant 95-yard drive with a far-too-easy interception. Also, Mannion’s infatuation with getting too-slow, too-small WR Makai Lemon the ball behind the line has reached a crisis point.
It’s much harder to explain how Fangio, one of the best coordinators in the NFL, could allow a 38-year-old statue with a rag arm named Case Keenum throw for 247 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. The Eagles D, the worst in the NFL in forcing turnovers – they have none so far in 180 minutes of action – played most of the game on its heels.
And while we’re assigning blame, let’s not forget that the Eagles pass rush so far – it’s more like a pass stroll – had zero sacks on a cement-shoed QB who hadn’t played an NFL game since 2023. In the three contests so far, the Eagles D has three sacks. Greg Rousseau of Buffalo (4) and T.J. Watt of Pittsburgh (3.5) have more than that themselves.
As usual, Jalen Hurts will get the most blame for the loss because he’s a quarterback and this is Philadelphia. The truth is, he was neither the problem nor the solution in Chicago. He was sitting in the medical tent when Dalton ruined the big drive, and his interception late in the game was on fourth down, so the Eagles were going to lose the ball either way.
Meanwhile, in easily the best moment of a gruesome night, Hurts performed a miracle for the only Eagles points when he got the offense back to the line, realized he didn’t have time to spike the ball, and then burrowed his way into the end zone a millisecond before the final second of the first half had ticked off the clock. Instinctively, there is no better NFL quarterback than Jalen.
The problem Hurts is having right now has more to do with trying to win without his best receiver of the recent past, A.J. Brown, a porous offensive line (especially at the guard position) and an offensive coordinator who is, at best, a work in progress.
If you’re looking for a positive spin on a bad loss, you already know this is not the place to come. But I will say the Eagles remain surprisingly healthy, Saquon Barkley is showing flashes of his ’24 MVP form, and the defense is bound to get better, given all the talent on that unit.
At the same time, if you’re thinking more negatively, well, just read the first 700 words of this blog post. There is a lot to fix after three games. Even the biggest optimists would have to make that concession. This team right now may not even be good enough to win the NFC East.
But at least we’ll always have that horseshow still lodged in Nick Sirianni’s backside. The Rams are next on the schedule, minus the best defensive player in the NFL, Myles Garrett, and probably their best pass-catcher, Puka Nacua. No team this season has missed more opposing stars than the Eagles. Sirianni is still the luckiest man in sports.
One thing I mastered during my 33 years at WIP was the art of panicking. Right now, there’s no need to lose your mind. The Birds are 2-1 and relatively healthy. All is well, even after a brutal loss to the Bears.
But if the Eagles lose at home on Sunday to the Rams – who, when healthy, definitely have a better roster and better coaches – the pressure will build exponentially. And if the Birds then flop on the road against the streaking Jaguars and drop to 2-3, well, uh oh.
A cold sweat is starting to form on my brow.
My right index finger is already twitching.
I’ll let you know when it’s time to hit the panic button.
If Monday night in Chicago was any indication, it might be very soon.
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When Analytics Finally Took the Day Off. . . .
I hope I’m not the only Phillies fan perplexed by the team’s desperate decisions in the final weekend of the regular season. Yes, they survived, barely. But only by abandoning their beloved analytics principles.
Did any else notice? Care?
Well, I did.
A team that has adhered to the 100-pitch limit for starting pitchers with a religious zeal over the past decade suddenly threw all of that nonsense out the window when confronted by the horrors of a historic collapse.
The most atypical decision had the Phils, shockingly, using their oldest starter, 33-year-old Aaron Nola, on two day’s rest in the penultimate game on Saturday. He had thrown six innings and 88 pitches on Sept. 23, and now there he was, back on the mound, three days later.
“If anyone’s built for this, it’s Nola,” the interim manager Don Mattingly explained. “He’s a guy who’s more old-school than anyone.”
Apparently, Mattingly equates old-school with durable. Apparently, throwing a lot of pitches between starts – a tradition frowned upon by the analytics nerds – suddenly became an attribute in times of crisis. Apparently, a manager who had several good choices among starters all season ran out of them when the games mattered the most.
What happened to all of those dire warnings about using starters for over 100 pitches, or for pitching a starter more than once every five days, or for using a reliever three straight days, or all of the other health-preservation moves dictated by analytics?
Regardless of all the rationalizations for using Nola on Saturday, the move didn’t work. Nola got shelled for three runs in the only inning he worked, and the Phils’ season was saved only because Arizona lost a slugfest later on Saturday, handing back to the Phillies control of their own destiny. If the Diamondbacks won their last two games after the Nola experiment, heads would be rolling right down Broad Street this week.
For example, Mattingly would have zero chance at the permanent managing job here. Fans would be demanding the immediate trades of Nola, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and even Bryce Harper. Finally, the free pass GM Dave Dombrowski has received over the past five years would have suddenly expired.
None of that has happened – yet – because all’s well that ends well. As the saying goes. But with Wheeler out of the wild-card round and the rest of the rotation in upheaval, I am planning on writing my post-mortem on a lost season later this week.
Try to enjoy the next couple of games, Phillies fans.
A long, cold winter awaits us all.