Nov. 2, 2026
The last thing Eagles fans want to do after a loss like the 27-10 drubbing by Washington on Sunday night is to rehash all of the awful performances in a six-game losing streak that may stretch all the way to 15 by season’s end. The 2026 Birds are truly that bad.
So I won’t belabor the dumb coaching, the inept offense, the decrepit defense or the not-so-special teams. We know the season is lost. Now we just have to figure out who’s going to pay for this debacle.
Barring a colossal lapse in judgment or yet another period of self-delusion, heads will roll soon. People will lose their jobs. Lots of people.
Nick Sirianni
Even after these six defeats in a row, the 2025 Super Bowl champ has a fantastic NFL career coaching record. Somehow, that doofus is 30 games over .500 (67-37). By now even his most loyal supporters know better. We all watch the games. Sirianni inspires confidence . . . never.
But here’s the reason he should be fired at the end of the season. He has no ability to stop the bleeding when fortunes turn against his team. In three of the last four seasons, he has been helpless when adversity struck. Everybody has his/her theory as to why. I just don’t think he’s very bright.
Regardless of the reason, he needs to go. Duh.
Sean Mannion/Chris Kuper
The dumbest thing the new offensive coordinator did when he got the job was to bring with him from Minnesota a failed offensive-line coach, Chris Kuper. The Vikings OL was a doughnut factory, filled with gaping holes. It’s hard to understand how the Eagles thought Kuper’s dubious expertise would be a refreshing change from legendary line coach Jeff Stoutland.
As for Mannion’s brilliant new schemes, well, they turned out to be neither brilliant nor new. Add to that the offense’s knack for petering out in the second half of pretty much every game, and you have a unit lacking the basic leadership required of an NFL team.
If I had to keep one of these two disastrous hires, it would be Mannion, believe it or not. Kuper is a dreadful coach. Check the tape of Sunday night’s game. Unlike the Eagles themselves, it doesn’t lie.
Preferably. though, Mannion and Kuper both need to go.
Tanner McKee
Has a third-string quarterback ever received more buzz than this cement-footed rag arm? For all four years here, McKee has been portrayed as a legitimate replacement for Jalen Hurts. Of course, no one is saying that now.
If it were my choice, I would switch to Cole Payton or Joe Milton – not that I hold any hope that they are reasonable options, either, if Hurts cannot play again or if the veteran QB plays out his option.
A couple of years ago, the Eagles could have gotten something decent in return for McKee. Now, they’d be lucky to receive a bag of deflated footballs.
Jalen Carter
OK, don’t freak out, I know he’s the most talented defensive player, by far. And I know he just signed a ridiculous new four-year, $152 million contract. But he’s a sulker, sometimes a quitter, and a terrible role model for his defensive teammates.
We’re always talking about culture change. The fastest and most dramatic way to accomplish that is to take offers for Carter. Hey, if Myles Garrett and Jeffrey Simmons can get traded at the peak of their careers, why not Carter?
Jake Elliott
He has been a terrific kicker for a decade here now, a major reason why the Eagles have won two Super Bowls during his tenure. But now he’s on the other side of 30, and the last couple of years the reliability of has kicking has been in steady decline.
His miss – after a couple of maddening procedure penalties – on a 41-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter was a nail in the coffin of the Washington loss, and the season.
The look on Saquon Barkley’s face when Elliott missed that kick has gone viral today. I’m not a mind reader, but the running back had to be thinking, “I’m out here trying to play with a bum back and a strained hamstring, and Jake can’t make that simple kick?”
By the way, Barkley and punter Braden Mann deserve the only kudos for that otherwise miserable night in DC. Barkley is a winner. And Mann is having the best season of everyone on the Eagles.
You know it’s a bad season when your top performer is the punter.
There are many other people worthy of ending in the dust bin after this excruciating season, but they know who they are, and so do you. A major housecleaning is upon us. This era of success is over. It’s time to fumigate the premises.
If nothing else, it will be fascinating to see who survives.
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No one has ever accused Jalen Carter of being an intellectual – or, for that matter, a clear-thinking human being. He is here for his brute, not his brain. But that’s still no excuse for saying what he said last week about Eagles fans.
The defensive tackle’s exchange with the media began when he was asked to describe his play so far this season.
“Trash,” he started. OK, so far, so good. And when you consider that he just signed a new four-year, $152-million deal, it was acknowledgement of my biggest fear – that the money would lead a player who is not self-motivated to even more lethargy.
But then he diluted the truth of that statement by adding: “I think you asked me this last year and the year before, and I gave you the same answer: Trash.”
At this point, Carter was still acting with his usual passion aggression. He didn’t say anything truly stupid until he added: “Not to my satisfaction, and, I guess, not what the fans want.”
Then came the sentence that nauseated me:
“Doesn’t really matter what they want.”
Oh, really? And how does this ingrate think the Eagles and the NFL brought in the money that made him so rich? Does he really think what the fans want is unimportant? Is he really so dense that, in his fourth NFL season, he still doesn’t understand that nothing is more important than those people spending their money to watch him play?
I’m going to say this one more time, for the benefit of Carter and any other dunce who doesn’t see the obvious truth that those fans are the most essential element in sports.
Don’t insult the paying customers, dummy!
They were here before Jalen Carter, and they will be here long after he has departed. Doesn’t he realize that yet?
If I were going to next week’s game against the Giants, I would let him know how I feel with a boo that would shake the foundation of Lincoln Financial Field.
Then he would truly see if the fans don’t matter.
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More food for thought . . . .
- Nick Sirianni and Vic Fangio both rejected the notion last week that some of the Eagle players are giving up. This is not news. I have never heard a coach acknowledge that his team wasn’t trying hard enough because then he would have to admit that his coaching was a problem. Oh, by the way, it is a problem. I don’t need any coach’s assent to know that. I have something more credible – a TV.
- I find it ironic that, with three major drama queens on their roster – LeBron James, Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown – the Sixers have a player who is more worthy of our attention and our adulation. His name is Tyrese Maxey. He wears number 0. If you’re going to invest in a new jersey, his would be the best use of your money. By far.
- Looking back on the last NBA season, I can’t believe I actually got wrapped up in the Knicks story and found myself rooting for them to win their first championship in 53 years. Anyway, I was thrilled to see them fall – splat! – in their first two meetings with the Sixers this season. So why did I root for the Knicks last year? I’ve given it a lot of thought, and now I know. Temporary insanity.
- On the other hand, I actually found myself happily watching snippets of the big parade in Milwaukee on Friday after the first Brewers title in MLB history. Look, I know there are nerds infiltrating their organization, too, but not to the extent of the Phillies. If the presence of two old-school teams in the World Series – don’t forget the small-budget Rays – won’t jar the analytics-based thinking in the Phils’ front office, well, forget about staging one of those parades in Center City any time soon.
- Hey, I may be dead wrong here but, as someone like Dave Dombrowski who’s on the other side of 70, it’s starting to look like he’s taking some major short cuts. He tried twice to hire his former Red Sox manager Alex Cora, and now he has signed his ex-hitting specialist in Boston, Peter Fatse, to a similar role here. What I’m saying is that the GM didn’t bother to do anything resembling an exhaustive search for the best candidates. He just consulted his trusty Rolodex. Dave, who turned 70 in July, is tired. I know the feeling.