January 28, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Can Eagles team brass decide to forgo five years of overall team success to blow up the offensive structure?
Statement 1: The Eagles, searching for an offensive coordinator, have been rejected by at least two of their coveted candidates, while others have withdrawn from consideration, revealing that the job itself isn't very attractive to the outside.
Statement 2: The Eagles have made the playoffs in each of the past five years, made two trips to the Super Bowl, and won the Super Bowl in that span of unprecedented franchise success.
The statements above are the very definition of the adage that two statements can conflict but also be true.
With the recent decisions by Mike McDaniel to accept an offer to become the Chargers' offensive coordinator and by Brian Daboll to take the Titans offensive coordinator job, the Eagles lost out on two renowned offensive minds who could've come to Philly and theoretically taken the wheel of the offense for a team that's been among the league's most successful by any metric in Nick Sirianni's five seasons as head coach.
McDaniel chose much cozier temperatures and a quarterback with more God-given talent than Jalen Hurts who has yet to come close to matching Hurts' career accomplishments. Daboll decided he'd rather disappear in a small market to reconstruct No. 1 overall pick quarterback Cam Ward than preside over an offense that already has a Super Bowl MVP, an NFL rushing champion, several Pro Bowlers on the offensive line, and at least one Pro Bowler at receiver (and perhaps two).
Those decisions have been tough to accept and digest for a fan base that likes to point out that two former Sirianni play callers have benefitted from the team's success by spring-boarding into head coaching jobs. But counterpoints aside, the lack of attraction surrounding the job is a cold, hard reality.
Then there's the other reality – the one that concretely shows that the Eagles, doing it their way, boast an incredible resume that includes a Lombardi Trophy and an annual trip to the playoffs.
So you have to ask yourself: Would you trade all that success just to have a more desirable offensive coordinator position?
Other than maybe A.J. Brown, I don't know a single, rational-thinking person or organizational member that would give back the ring, the undressing of the Chiefs dynasty, the Linc sellouts, the parade down Broad Street and even the heartbreaking loss to Kansas City in the first Super Bowl go-round under Sirianni simply to make the offensive coordinator position more appealing.
Those calling for Birds chairman Jeff Lurie to axe Sirianni now, before another good play caller declines an Eagles interview or asks not to be considered, are apparently willing to gamble the greatest stretch of Eagles football ever to potentially see if a new head coach and new organizational philosophy can not only recreate but improve upon the past five seasons of the Sirianni regime.
That's a bet that even Lurie and his chief decision maker, Howie Roseman, two reputed risk-takers known to move on quickly from past mistakes, still aren't willing to make.
Winning unconventionally, on the backs of a 1990s-style combo of rushing offense and disciplined, unyielding defense, has made the Eagles somewhat unique. It's also put them in their current predicament.
The Patriots dynasty could maneuver from Charle Weis to Josh McDaniels to Bill O'Brien and back to McDaniels because its quarterback was perhaps the greatest and most cerebral to ever play the game. There wasn't a system Tom Brady couldn't master.
The Chiefs dynasty cycled through Doug Pederson, Brad Childress, Eric Bieniemy, Matt Nagy and back to Bieniemy because the actual play caller, Andy Reid, held that responsibility along the way, is one of the greatest play callers in the history of the sport, and custom-fit his scheme to fit the enormous talent of Patrick Mahomes.
The Eagles have neither an offensive mastermind of a head coach nor a transcendant quarterback who has proven that he can adapt to any scheme or system. They also have an untouchable offensive line coach who's already in charge of designing the run game and several question marks about the futures of impact players, including Brown and Canton-bound right tackle Lane Johnson.
It's also important to note that the Eagles fired two of their last three offensive play callers after 11-win seasons, one of whom also had his house egged in the hours after a loss, which doesn't typically happen in most of the 31 other NFL markets.
All of this leaves the powers-that-be to decide whether their next offensive play caller among a decreasing pool should be someone who can adjust to the way the Eagles have won for the past five seasons or someone who'd push the reset button and gut the operation from inside-out.
In order to find out if these Eagles could truly be dynastic, they might first need to discover if cutting against the grain that got them to the top will be the reason they stay there.
Is forgoing the past for a potentially better future a risk they're willing to take?
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