This collapse may have a decade-long ramification on the franchise! The Philadelphia Eagles are really looking at the serious threat of a retool (if not a mini rebuild) after their epic regular season collapse and blowout Wild Card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 2023 Eagles team will be studied for a long time as to how a team can collapse so spectacularly.
Despite being just three points away from a second Super Bowl championship in half a decade this past February, the Eagles capped off the 2023 season in one of the most epic regular season and postseason collapses in NFL history. And, even though this team is stacked with former All-Pros, Pro Bowlers, and past MVP finalists, I think the Eagles are heading for an offseason retool.
What a disaster 2023 (and a little of 2024) ended up being for the Eagles.
Not only did Philly lose the Super Bowl to the Chiefs by just three points (despite being the better team for 75% of the game), but they also have now just suffered one of the worst late season collapses in NFL history after a fantastic and historic NFC title defense throughout the opening 2/3rds of the season. And now the head coach, all the coordinators, and many of the key veterans that won the Eagles the 2018 Super Bowl are either looking at retirement or firing/release from the roster.
It’s crazy to say this about a team that was in the Super Bowl a year ago, but I really don’t see how the current core of coordinators in OC Brian Johnson, DC Sean Desai, and defensive play caller Matt Patricia stay once the full postseason ends given the state of the offense and defense against the Bucs. And I’m leaning towards Nick Sirianni getting the boot from Jeffrey Lurie as well as the Eagles collapse is really one of the most spectacular failures in all of NFL history.
The only team I can think of who had a similar collapse was the 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers who not only lost their final four of five games and got smashed in Wild Card round, but they also actually had an undefeated record of 11-0 before their epic collapse.
Yet, that Steelers team was nowhere near Super Bowl contenders (even though their record would suggest they would be) as the team had missed the playoffs in both seasons prior to 2020, they hadn’t even reached the AFC title game since the 2016 season (and still haven’t four years later), and they would go on to get bounced out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round in two of the next three seasons (and miss the playoffs entirely in that other season).
Do you see what I mean with how rare this scale of collapse is?
Usually, the team that loses the Super Bowl either completely folds during the next season or is skating by on an okay roster that was decimated through injuries, trades, and free agent signings lost to rivals.
What happened to the Eagles is something entirely different, and it’s only going to be exacerbated when you realize that Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Jason Kelce, and Lane Johnson, the stalwarts of the 2018 Super Bowl and the 2023 Super Bowl run, are all over 33 years old and within declining units.
The defense got completely destroyed by Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense for nearly 430 total yards, 119 rushing yards, 32 points, and nearly 25 First Downs; meanwhile, the Eagles offensive line played the worst game I’ve seen out of that unit in at least a half decade as they gave up 3 sacks, allowed a crucial safety, saw the “Tush-Push” get stopped outright, and couldn’t prevent Todd Bowles and the Tampa Bay defense from teeing off on Jalen Hurts all night long.
Now, Todd Bowles is a Super Bowl-winning defensive mind and can tear down any number of offenses he so wishes, yet this Bucs team is nowhere near as talented as the 2020 Super Bowl winning squad and the Eagles should have dealt with them comfortably.
So, you really have to question if this offensive line can actually hold up for another 2-3 years for more Super Bowl runs, while the defense is most likely going to see massive turnover with Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Nicholas Morrow, Zach Cunnigham, Shaq Leonard, Shaun Bradley, and Bradley Rosby are all out of contract and the unit finishing in the bottom of the NFL for most major defensive stats.
If you ever wanted to see a trainwreck in slow motion, then all you had to do was watch the Eagles to close out the season as they most definitely proved the losing-side Super Bowl hangover curse to be real.
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