In a surprising turn of events, Doug Pederson has been fired by the Philadelphia Eagles after a tumultuous 2020 campaign.
The writing has been on the wall since “Tankgate“. After an initial meeting with owner Jeffrey Lurie last week, a second meeting in Florida today ended the Super Bowl-winning coach’s tenure in Philadelphia.
Pederson leaves the Eagles after five seasons with a 42-37-1 record, having made the playoffs in three of his five seasons, and of course, winning the only Super Bowl in team history.
While he isn’t fully to blame for the outcome of a bitterly disappointing 4-11-1 season, he does have to take a chunk of accountability. The offense, although mired with injury problems, was an absolute trainwreck. They ranked 27th in points per game, 28th in yards per play, and despite being benched halfway through week 12, Carson Wentz was somehow still the second-most sacked quarterback in the entire NFL.
Report after report has surfaced citing Doug’s preference for Press Taylor for offensive coordinator along with a push for Matt Burke or Cory Undlin to be named defensive coordinator. This may be what sent Lurie over the edge. If these reports are true, which I’m told are indeed, then Pederson’s stubbornness and resistance to change may have been the nail in the coffin.
Doug Pederson now enters the head coaching pool while many candidates are in the second round of interviews. The Eagles, meanwhile, enter a very important offseason needing a new Head Coach and defensive coordinator at a very minimum.
If the Eagles want an external hire, they need to move fast. While candidates like Brian Daboll and Eric Bieniemy are still in the playoffs, Arthur Smith, Robert Saleh, and Joe Brady are out and interviewing.
More to come, but this is quite the start to the work week.
