Jeffrey Lurie faces big decision: Should Nick Sirianni take the fall for Eagles' collapse?
After a 10-1 start unraveled into six losses in seven games and a 32-9 wild-card loss to Tampa Bay, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie weighed whether to keep head coach Nick Sirianni.
The Philadelphia Eagles started the 2023 season 10-1 before losing six of their final seven games, a collapse that ended in a 32-9 wild-card playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 15, 2024, according to Fox Sports. The result left owner Jeffrey Lurie facing a decision on whether to retain head coach Nick Sirianni.
Fox Sports reported that multiple organizational sources suggested a coaching change could be coming, even though it would be a bold move given Sirianni had led the team to Super Bowl LVII the previous season. Right tackle Lane Johnson called the collapse embarrassing: "It's embarrassing when you start 10-1 and lose six of seven. It's the first time I've ever been in this kind of position."
Quarterback Jalen Hurts was notably reserved when asked directly about Sirianni's job security, telling reporters, "I didn't know he was going anywhere," and adding only that he had "a ton of confidence in everyone in this building," per Fox Sports' account. The retrieved reporting does not specify what, if anything, Lurie himself said publicly in the immediate aftermath of the loss.
What went wrong
Fox Sports' reporting pointed to friction over coordinator decisions, offensive play-calling during a stretch when Hurts was playing through a finger injury, and reduced use of run-pass options as contributing factors in the collapse. Sirianni, addressing the losing stretch, said: "I'm not thinking about that... I'm thinking about all the guys in that locker room that put their heart and soul into this."
How it was ultimately resolved
Lurie did not fire Sirianni after the 2023 season. At the NFL owners meetings in Orlando in late March 2024, Lurie told reporters, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia: "there's no recency bias, there's no latency bias, there's no bias. Take a very hard look at exactly what the entire season looked at." He pointed to the team's 31-7 record over the prior two-plus seasons as "extraordinary" and cited Sirianni's ability to connect with players, authenticity, work ethic and football IQ, along with new coordinator hires Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio, as reasons for keeping him. Those later statements are separate developments from the immediate January 2024 decision point.
What it signals
The gap between the players' guarded comments in the direct aftermath of the loss and Lurie's later public defense of Sirianni illustrates how unsettled the locker room felt about the coach's status in the days immediately following the collapse, even though the organization ultimately did not make a change.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Fox Sports, with additional later context from NBC Sports Philadelphia. It restores a story originally published on this site in January 2024; figures are as reported at the time.