The Philadelphia Eagles’ late-season implosion reached its lowest point Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
Less than one month after owning the NFL’s best record, the Philadelphia Eagles lost for the fourth time in the past five weeks — this time against their former defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, whose Cardinals rallied for a 35-31 victory.
With yet another humiliating loss, the Eagles (11-5) officially handed the NFC’s No. 1 seed to San Francisco 49ers and first place in the NFC East division to the Dallas Cowboys with one week to play.
Philadelphia, now the No. 5 seed in the NFC, led by 15 points at halftime, but the Eagles’ defense — which looked like it could have used Gannon’s help — couldn’t stop Kyler Murray (three TD passes) and the Cardinals’ 24th ranked offense, which scorched the Philadelphia defense for 449 yards.
The game, however, was much more one-sided in favor of Arizona than the score indicated.
Murray threw a pair of touchdown passes in the third quarter and completed a two-point conversion to pull Arizona even with the Eagles heading into the fourth quarter.
Philadelphia took leads on two occasions, yet could never prevent the Cardinals from coming back each time. They got a third TD pass from Murray and later a TD run from James Conner to take the lead for good.
The Eagles tried to rally in the final 32 seconds, but Jalen Hurts’ last-gasp pass was interested in the end zone to end the game as boos cascaded from the stands at Lincoln Financial Field over yet another Eagles’ collapse.
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Philadelphia Eagles finish December with 1-4 record
Ever since the Eagles lost to the 49ers on Dec. 3, it’s been all downhill for Philadelphia.
They followed the 49ers’ defeat with a loss in Dallas that led head coach Nick Sirianni to remove Sean Desai as defensive coordinator and replace him with Matt Patricia.
But the Eagles have since lost two out of three, with Sunday’s game being the Philadelphia’s worst defensive effort yet, despite getting a 99-yard pick-six from rookie Sydney Brown in the second quarter.
During a forgettable month of December for the Eagles, there have been reports of finger-pointing in a Philadelphia locker room that has been described as “miserable.” Mostly likely related to that, Hurts questioned the team’s “commitment” after the Eagles’ third straight loss in the final minute against Seattle.
Last week tensions boiled over on the sidelines, as Sirianni yelled at both players and assistant coaches at the end the Eagles’ victory over the New York Giants. And instead of celebrating their first win in four weeks, the Eagles instead expressed their unhappiness over how they’ve played.
Philadelphia Eagles’ dysfunction could cost Nick Sirianni
The defending NFC champions no longer resemble the team they were earlier in the season, when they rallied for four straight comeback victories games and had a 10-1 record.
Now, with one game remaining against the Giants to close out the regular season next Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., the Eagles are looking more and more like a one-and-done playoff team.
No one is more responsible for the Eagles’ dysfunction than their head coach. Last week Sirianni received a half-hearted response to his postgame locker room speech, and that came after a win.
Seeing how their season has unraveled over the past month, it’s possible that the Eagles no longer believe in Sirianni. And if he and his coaching staff don’t find some solutions over the next two weeks, Sirianni — despite the success he’s had in three seasons –could become a surprising addition to the coaching hot seat this offseason.
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