You could see it coming.
Entering Sunday afternoon’s wild card match-up with the 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field, Eagles fans who had watched an entire season of uneven and frustrating performances that ultimately culminated with an 11-6 record and second straight NFC East title held onto the hope that the Birds would “flip the switch” and go on another postseason run.
The talent was there. Offensively, we’d seen them do something similar a season ago in the playoffs, and there were high-priced, marquee names on the backs of those jerseys. The defense had been playing at an elite level throughout the second half of the season. They were the defending champs and deserved a little benefit of the doubt, right?
Beneath all that paper-thin optimism, every fan harbored a deeper well of uncertainty and skepticism. I’m not sure anyone really believed in it, and their season-ending 23-19 loss proved the 2025 Eagles were who they told us they were all season long.
What a wasted opportunity. A year of a top-10 defense and prime seasons of an offensive core that isn’t getting younger was thrown away.
Here are 10 reasons why the Birds’ season ended so disappointingly.
1) Kevin Patullo Couldn’t Do It
It’s the No. 1 reason, and there really isn’t a close second. One thing became crystal clear given the way two talented Eagles teams’ seasons ended in 2023 and ‘25.
It doesn’t matter how good the roster is. It is virtually impossible to overcome inept and incompetent coaching.
An offense that spent more on its players than any other team in the league had more 3-and-outs than any in football and often suffered through dreadful droughts that debilitated them, even with some of the most talented players lining up every week. And yes, not all of the blame should fall at the feed of Kevin Patullo, but it’s clear the last two times the Eagles had in-house, Sirianni-backed coaches take over play-calling duties (Brian Johnson in ‘23), their seasons ended disastrously.
Jalen Hurts has his flaws but has proven to be a very good quarterback in the NFL. Wherever you want to rank him, he’s proven you can be a consistent winner with him and have a quality offense, too. The receivers didn’t have their best season, but are known monsters out there. Saquon Barkley appeared to have enough juice to be a well above average runner this season. The pieces were there, if used properly.
Instead, incompetence.
Just look at Hurts during the timeout late in the 4th quarter as Patullo & Co. dial up their very best, most creative play on 4th-and-the-season.
Hurts can hardly believe what he’s hearing.
At no point this season did the Eagles’ offensive coaching staff regularly confuse opposing defenses or put them in conflict. They essentially ran a preseason-like vanilla offense that only functioned to the degree it did because of the talent on the roster.
The one good thing that will come out of this disaster is Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman will take the keys away from the head coach and bring in an actual offensive coordinator with experience this off-season. If only they hadn’t wasted a year waiting for Patullo to figure things out.
2) Second Half Droughts
Patullo’s early game scripts often times were very successful. Such was the case in Week 17 against Buffalo, and it was also the case on Sunday against the 49ers, with two touchdowns on their first three possessions. But once Patullo and Co. had to toss aside the script and think on the fly, the offense stalled and sputtered like a broken down Pinto, particularly in the second half.
What was a strength a year ago was an obstacle they just couldn’t overcome in 2025.
The Eagles averaged 9.7 points in the second half this season, 26th in the NFL. Last season they averaged 15.4 points in the second half, second-most. This year, their second half time of possession share was 48.43%, tied for 19th. They were first last season, at 55.25%.
The number of three-and-outs in the second half of games was stifling, and with Saquon Barkley unable to rip off big chunks of yardage and play keep-away from opposing offenses, the offense found themselves making small, cameo appearances on the field in the 3rd and 4th quarters for much of the season, unable to mount late-game comebacks when they needed them.
3) Offensive Line Decline
Perhaps the struggles of the offensive line were simply the attrition of a long 2024 season that saw them play an extra four football games into February. Cam Jurgens needed off-season back surgery and was never the Pro Bowl player he became a season ago. Landon Dickerson struggled with injuries all year after gutting through the postseason last season. Tyler Steen was fine, but Mekhi Becton was better. Lane Johnson missed the last eight games of the season with his foot injury and had to be pulled from other games early in the season.
The run game design certainly factored into the O-line’s struggles, oftentimes failing to acknowledge the long-time stalwarts on the line were struggling physically, but it’s also clear they also just played poorly for much of the way. Jeff Stoutland largely escaped criticism this season, but the Offensive Line Whisperer didn’t have any answers this time.
Perhaps a full off-season to recover will get the offensive line looking the way it traditionally has, but it’s fair to wonder if Lane Johnson will be able to stay on the field and whether Dickerson and Jurgens will be able to get past their maladies this season. It will be a big question mark heading into 2026.
4) A.J. Brown Struggled
Brown did a lot of talking this year and, to be fair, his criticism of the offense was, for the most part, on the money. Still, it was clear from the beginning of the season that his focus was perhaps on the wrong thing.
Following the Super Bowl, A.J. appeared unsatisfied with winning it all.
“My thrill for this game comes when i dominate,” he continued. “It’s the Hunt that does it for me. It’s when the [defensive back] drops his head and surrender because he can’t F with me. The Intense battles. Early mornings. Late nights. Sacrifices. I love putting smiles on peoples faces, don’t get me wrong but it just wasn’t what I thought it would be.
At the time, Brown’s sentiments sounded like a positive. Here was a player driven to succeed, finding another way to motivate himself after reaching his sport’s ultimate team goal. But as the offense struggled to involve him this year, Brown became increasingly frustrated, and it appeared his motivation waned as the season wore on.
He also seemed to lose a step. He wasn’t as physical fighting for the ball. He stopped winning one-on-ones. He and Hurts couldn’t connect on go-balls. It was rare when a defender “dropped their head” and/or “surrendered” to Brown this season. And in what may have been his final game in Philadelphia, he was responsible for two critical drops, balls he has historically hauled in with ease.
If you’re going to talk, you have to produce when the ball comes your way. Brown was correct that the offense in which he existed didn’t do much to feature his abilities, but it’s also correct that Brown’s abilities appeared to take a big step back as well this season.
Is he still one of the five best wide receivers in the NFL? If he is, it didn’t look that way.
5) Disappearance of Explosive Plays
Everything was so difficult for the offense this season. There were no easy buttons. Last season, Saquon seemingly broke off a back-breaking 20+ yard rushing play in the fourth quarter every week. Hurts seemed to hook up with Brown or Devonta Smith for an explosive passing play at least once or twice a game.
This year’s offense was four verts, curls, hitches and stuffed runs. The explosives were gone. Oh sure, they tried to chuck some balls down the field to the wideouts, but more often than not, the defensive back won those matchups. The Eagles’ 5.0% explosive play rate was 6th-worst this season, coming off a year in which their 43 explosive plays (25+ yard offensive plays) were tied for 7th-most.
Patullo couldn’t scheme them open, the offensive line couldn’t gash teams in the run game, and the receivers had more difficulty winning their one-on-one battles.
The Eagles have always lived off explosive plays. They weren’t there this season.
6) Jalen Hurts No Threat to Run
It appears Jalen Hurts was not saving the QB run game for the postseason.
Hurts’ running ability is what has made him an elite, championship-caliber quarterback. While he his capable of making all the throws from the pocket, he sometimes struggles reading defenses, trusting his receivers when they’re not wide open, and is reluctant to throw the ball in the middle of the field. But what he’s always lacked in his ability to move the ball through the air has been compensated with his ability to win with designed runs and, just as importantly, scrambling for backbreaking first downs.
Despite the denials of Hurts and the coaching staff, the QB running game was simply ignored the entire season.
Hurts “ran” 5 times for 14 yards on Sunday against the 49ers. There was one designed run that went for a big play, but was called back due to a holding penalty. Hurts never gave opposing defenses a reason not to key in on the running back or take a couple steps forward on RPOs.
If Hurts isn’t running the football, it’s hard to see how he’s anything more than a mediocre quarterback.
7) Jake Elliott’s Misses
After the Eagles’ first touchdown on Sunday, Elliott once again missed an extra point in the playoffs. It’s actually a heartwarming tradition we’ve all come to know and expect.
Elliot struggled for much of the season, nailing just 74.1% of his field goals. The league average was 85.6%. And at a time when NFL kickers are kicking longer and longer field goals, his range is diminishing. Going back to 2024, Elliott is 5-for-15 on field goals from 50-plus yards.
Had Elliott hit that extra point in the first quarter, the Eagles would have been driving to tie the game on their final possession, not relying on a touchdown. Perhaps that would have changed how San Francisco defended them on that final drive, but it’s clear the difference between three points and four, in that spot, was enormous.
After the worst season of his storied Eagles career, the team will be looking for a new kicker in 2026.
8) Nick Sirianni’s Conservatism
The Eagles are not going to fire Nick Sirianni this off-season, although if former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is interested in a return to Philly, I’d seriously consider it. That being said, Sirianni won a Super Bowl last season, has made the playoffs in all five seasons and has overseen the greatest stretch of Eagles football in franchise history.
Has he been riding the coattails of Shane Steichen, Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio? Perhaps. It’s hard to articulate exactly what Sirianni brings to the table on game day, other than yelling at his star wide receiver and doing ridiculous touchdown celebrations with his buddy.
It was disappointing that Sirianni, who came to Philadelphia as an offensive mind from Indianapolis, was unable to help Patullo find his way to competency this season. Sirianni was not good at calling plays at the start of his tenure in 2021 to the point he had to give it up, and it now appears, he is incapable of developing coaches on his staff to take on the job of offensive coordinator, nor help them when they struggle.
Perhaps that’s because his style of coaching is incompatible with modern-day NFL offensive thinking. Sirianni is obsessed with winning the turnover battle above all else and, historically, he’s largely been proven right. But after winning the turnover battle 2-0 on Sunday, the utter collapse of the offense proved you actually need to be able to score points in this league in order to win in the postseason.
After the game, Sirianni explained why the offense once again failed to produce in the second half.
“Felt like that was kind of our story as the year progressed — good first half, didn’t do a good enough job coaching, didn’t do a good enough job executing in the second half, in that third quarter particularly,” Sirianni said. “Some penalties got us behind the sticks, and we had a hard time overcoming them.”
So often this season, Sirianni and Patullo were asked to explain what was wrong with the offense and, for the most part, offered word salad-like manifestos that made it sound like he was answering a question without actually having an answer. The issue, though, is Sirianni’s conservative style made it virtually impossible to recover when behind the sticks.
Prior to the final drive, there were 12 instances where the Eagles faced a 2nd or 3rd and long situation. Here is what they called.
- 3rd quarter, 2nd and 10: Jalen Hurts run (2 yards, called back on 10-yard Cam Jurgens holding penalty)
- 3rd quarter, 2nd and 18: Saquon Barkley run (-1 yards)
- 3rd quarter, 3rd and 18: Dallas Goedert completion (5 yards)
- 3rd quarter, 2nd and 12, Devonta Smith completion (11 yards)
- 3rd quarter, 2nd and 11, Devonta Smith completion (8 yards)
- 3rd quarter, 2nd and 10, Barkley run (-3 yards)
- 3rd quarter, 3rd and 13, Hurts run (4 yards)
- 4th quarter, 1st and 20, Incomplete Short Pass to Goedert
- 4th quarter, 2nd and 20, Barkley run (7 yards)
- 4th quarter, 3rd and 13, Incomplete Short Pass to Barkley
- 4th quarter, 2nd and 10, Incomplete Long Pass to Jahan Dotson
- 4th quarter, 3rd and 10, Short Pass to Will Shipley (!!!, 6 yards)
A Barkley run on 2nd and 18? A five-yard completion to Goedert on 3rd and 18? Another Barkley run on 2nd and 10 and a Hurts run on 3rd and 13? A Barkley run on 2nd and 20? WILL SHIPLEY??? On 3rd and 13!!!??? You want to know how you overcome penalties that put you behind the sticks? THROW BEYOND THE STICKS!
But hey, at least the Eagles didn’t have any turnovers! Hang the banner!
Sirianni also mangled and turtled up heading into halftime throughout the season as well. How many times did we watch the team sit on the ball with timeouts to burn and time on the clock? Coaching scared is no way to win, especially when you don’t have a 2,000-yard running back at your disposal.
9) Penalties
The penalties that were called on the Eagles Sunday were mostly legit. There were one or two that were perhaps ticky-tack, but on the whole, the penalties that were called on the Birds were fine. The Eagles did get hosed a few times on penalties that were not called on San Francisco, including a missed hold on Nolan Smith on the Purdy touchdown pass to McCaffrey in the 4th quarter, and a clear illegal motion penalty on the Niners that should have negated a big first down catch. Those misses were frustrating and should have stopped some big plays by San Francisco.
That said, the Eagles were an undisciplined team all season long, penalized an average of 6.9 times per game. Only six teams were penalized more often, up from 6.0 times per game last season, 10th-best. The Eagles were also penalized an average of 62.3 yard per game, 4th-worst in the NFL. Last season it was 45.7, 3rd-best! Defensively, the Eagles’ defense allowed 38 first downs by penalty, 3rd-most in the league.
That is a ridiculous regression.
10) Rushing Defense
I had to put something about the defense on here, right? Look, the defense had a subpar game against the 49ers. They were not able to put up an elite performance like we saw against the Lions, Packers and Bills and we all knew that if the defense didn’t dominate, it was unlikely the Eagles would win. They didn’t dominate. They couldn’t get consistent pressure on Brock Purdy, and Kyle Shanahan’s crossing routes exposed the middle of the defense. While Quinyon Mitchell did pull down two interceptions, the pass defense allowed San Francisco a number of key drives after scores that ultimately put the Birds on the losing side.
An issue with the defense all season was the running game. With Jalen Carter battling shoulder issues for much of the season, the Eagles gave up 2,115 yards on the ground and 124.4 yards per game this year, both 11th-most. It wasn’t a crushing issue most of the time, although it cost them games against the Giants and Bears, in particular.
It’s pretty far down the list, as the defense overall had an outstanding season.
In short, the 2025 Eagles season doesn’t sting quite as much, given they’re coming off a Super Bowl victory. But it was a huge opportunity missed, leaving an off-season ahead with difficult questions to answer and some re-tooling needed for another crack at a championship.
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