The NFL will officially crown a new Super Bowl winner this season.
The defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, who were dominant during a run through Super Bowl 59 a year ago, were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday in a 23-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. And the Eagles’ season-long issue proved to be costly in the defeat, namely, their pedestrian offense.
Last season, Philadelphia averaged 36.3 points and 361 yards across four playoff games. Against the 49ers on Sunday, the Eagles were held under 20 points and finished with only 307 total yards — mustering a middling 4.3 yards per play — a subpar effort that ultimately sank the season.
The game was hard-fought enough that Philadelphia still had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. After San Francisco scored the go-ahead touchdown, quarterback Jalen Hurts and the offense had two minutes and 54 seconds to come up with their own go-ahead score. But drops by A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith proved costly, and a Hurts incompletion on fourth-and-11 from the 49ers’ 21-yard line effectively ended the game.
Pick an offensive issue from the Eagles’ regular season, and it showed up against San Francisco.
Hurts’ inability to throw the ball downfield? After Philadelphia finished the regular season averaging just 194.3 passing yards per game, Hurts threw for even fewer Sunday, finishing with only 168 yards on 35 attempts.
Trouble getting Brown touches? The Eagles’ star receiver had only three catches for 25 yards — and no receptions after the first quarter.
Brown frustrated with those lack of touches? He got into an argument with head coach Nick Sirianni during the game.
A running game that could no longer compensate for the passing offense? Philadelphia averaged under 4 yards per carry in the loss. A season ago, the Eagles ran for 5 yards a rush all the way through the Super Bowl.
All those struggles added up to only 19 points against a 49ers team that was dealing with massive injuries on both sides of the ball but still found a way to win on the road.
Even as Philadelphia managed to win 11 games this season, there were concerns from the fan base over the direction of the offense under new coordinator Kevin Patullo. The team finished 19th in the NFL in points per game, 24th in yards per game and 22nd in yards per play.
Hurts himself even alluded to frustrations with Patullo when he was asked in the lead-up to Sunday’s game about why he wasn’t running the ball more often.
“No, the season has just gone the way it is,” Hurts told reporters when he was asked whether he was running less to keep himself healthy. “The approach this year, and the way the games have been called with this coordinator — with coach [Patullo] —it’s just kind of gone that way. I’ve taken it in stride and given my best with the position they’ve put me in.”
Though the Eagles will be only one season removed from a championship by the time they take the field again, it’s clear what the biggest task for Philadelphia will be this offseason: fixing an offense that fell off greatly over the course of one year.
