In the morbid NFC East, the Philadelphia Eagles are the only team in the division eliminated from the playoffs -- despite playing in a division that could have a 6-10 champion. The Eagles sit at 4-10-1 after Sunday's blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys, who officially eliminated Philadelphia, which controlled its own destiny in the final two games, from playoff contention.
The four wins are the Eagles' fewest in a season since 2012 -- Andy Reid's final season. The Eagles lost 10 games in a season for the first time in eight years, and for just the third time since 2000. The last time Philadelphia had this many losses, Eagles owner/CEO Jeffrey Lurie fired Reid and made changes in the front office.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has seen his team regress every season in the three years since Philadelphia won its first Super Bowl title. Even though the Eagles are under .500 since that Super Bowl win (22-24-1), Pederson believes he'll get the opportunity to turn things around next year.
"I feel fully confident to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021," Pederson said Monday on SportsRadio 94 WIP. "The thing that I'm the most proud of with this football team -- we've been in the postseason three of the last five years since I've been here, and that's pretty good. We've won a championship here. We've gone through a season where a lot of our veteran guys are not playing due to injury. We're playing with a lot of young players.
"There's always going to be evaluation in the offseason. Obviously my job is evaluated as well, but I fully expect to be the coach next season and I welcome that opportunity to get things right and get things fixed and take this team into next season."
Should Pederson return as the Eagles head coach with the mess he's helped create over the past few years? The Eagles have gotten progressively worse since winning the Super Bowl, falling in the NFC divisional round the next year (2018), the wild card round (2019) and missing the playoffs altogether (2020) -- while having their win totals decrease from 2018 to 2020 (Eagles had nine wins in 2018 and 2019). The offense has dipped from a top-10 unit in 2017 to 22nd in yards per game and 25th in points scored this year, coinciding with the regression of franchise quarterback Carson Wentz -- who was in the bottom three among NFL quarterbacks in a number of categories in 2020.
Lurie likes continuity within the organization, which is a strong vote of confidence in Pederson that he could return in 2021. Unless the Eagles owner decides to just tear down the structure and rebuild, Pederson will likely return next season.
