One team had a meaningful game with a lot on the line and everything in its control. The other had a meaningful game with a lot on the line and only some things in its control.
The Eagles, the latter team, went the conservative route and rested most of their regulars. The San Francisco 49ers, meanwhile, played a big game in prime time Saturday and lost at least one starter for the playoffs in the process.
Of course, had the Eagles been in a situation in which a win guaranteed them the No. 2 seed in the NFC, Nick Sirianni likely would have made a different decision for Week 18 vs. Washington.
As it happens, the decision may have cost the Eagles a chance at a second home playoff game, but what it did guarantee was them entering wild-card weekend with the healthiest roster they could have. It was an extra week for right tackle Lane Johnson and linebacker Nakobe Dean to continue working toward their returns from foot and hamstring injuries, respectively. It was a day off for defensive tackle Jalen Carter to give his ailing shoulders a break. Edge rusher Jaelan Phillips got to rest his ankle injury. Tight end Dallas Goedert got to stay off his knee.
Lane Johnson (left) and Jaelan Phillips rested during the Eagles’ loss to Washington.
The 49ers, meanwhile, lost linebacker Tatum Bethune to what coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters was a season-ending groin injury during their Saturday night loss to Seattle. San Francisco remains without star linebacker Fred Warner (ankle), who has been out since Week 6 and is unlikely to be ready until at least the NFC championship game. Bethune started in Warner’s stead. Two other linebackers, Dee Winters (ankle) and Luke Gifford (quadriceps), will be evaluated this week for their injuries, Shanahan told reporters on Monday. Winters has played 92% of the 49ers’ defensive snaps this season.
The Eagles could be facing a hodgepodge of linebackers on Sunday (4:30 p.m., Fox29).
San Francisco also was without star left tackle Trent Williams for its game Saturday. Williams is dealing with a hamstring injury, and the 49ers struggled offensively without him, although the Seahawks have one of the best defenses in the NFL. San Francisco was held to 173 yards and managed just nine first downs vs. the Seahawks, while 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was sacked three times. Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall practiced in a limited fashion last week but was ruled out for the game with knee and ankle injuries.
Johnson, the Eagles’ star tackle, seems to be trending toward returning for the postseason. Dean’s status remains unclear, but his Week 16 injury was not expected to be long-term. “Good news is, I don’t think it’s too serious and I don’t think we’re done seeing him for this season,” Vic Fangio said on Dec. 23. The Eagles could end up starting their postseason run with all of their active-roster regulars ready for action. (Rookie safety Drew Mukuba is on injured reserve.)
“I think it’s always a fine line of there’s two things that need to happen,” Sirianni said Monday. “[You’ve] got to have your players available, and you do different things to make sure that happens throughout the year, but it is so important that you continue to get better as the season goes on.
“Our guys know how to practice. They know how to practice efficiently. So we’ve had a tendency of getting better while also having guys healthy.”
Resting the regulars meant Tank Bigsby got the start at running back with Saquon Barkley on the sideline.
Bigsby has flashed in his limited role as a backup, and he showed Sunday why some are clamoring for more of him.
Bigsby rushed 16 times for 75 yards and a touchdown. He also turned a check-down completion into a 31-yard gain, making Washington’s Jordan Magee miss with a nifty cut in the process. Bigsby, however, played just two snaps in the fourth quarter and did not have a touch after the third quarter during the 24-17 loss.
Eagles running back Tank Bigsby rushed for 75 yards on 16 carries on Sunday.
“He runs hard,” Sirianni said. “He’s got extremely good ability to make you miss while also being able to put his shoulder down and finish runs through contact.
“The way he walks through, the way he practices, it really does show up in the game with how hard he runs and how hard he plays.”
Perhaps the Eagles will feature more of him, especially if they find success on the ground vs. a weakened San Francisco front seven.
Should the Eagles have rested most of their starters in Sunday’s regular season finale? After they blew a chance to jump up to the two-seed in the NFC, the question was certainly fair and ripe for debate. But the truth is, there’s nothing the Eagles can do about it now. They lost to Washington, and are subsequently locked into a Wild Card round matchup with San Francisco, an opponent with which the Eagles are very familiar. How do the teams – at first glance – matchup? What did the regular season reveal about the type of football we can expect from the Eagles in the postseason? The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Mike Sielski start to forecast this weekend’s showdown at Lincoln Financial Field.
00:00 Was the rest worth it?
03:54 Did the regular season finale reveal anything new about Kevin Patullo, Tanner McKee?
14:53 What should Tank Bigsby’s role be in the playoffs?
20:45 Sizing up the 49ers
31:21 Do the Eagles have enough for another Super Bowl run?
unCovering the Birds is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. Look for new episodes throughout the season, including day-after-game reactions.
The Eagles will host the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round of the playoffs after they missed out on the No. 2 seed in the NFC Sunday.
From Philly’s chances against the Niners to their odds of repeating as Super Bowl champs, here’s a look at where the Birds stand at two of the biggest sportsbooks …
Eagles vs. 49ers odds
The Eagles ended the regular season with an 11-6 record and an NFC East title. Meanwhile, the 49ers finished with a 12-5 record after their recent loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and had to settle for a wild-card spot. Now, both teams will meet at Lincoln Financial Field as they try to keep their Super Bowl hopes alive.
The last time these teams met was during Week 13 of the 2023 season, a 42-19 win for the 49ers that featured the altercation between Big Dom DiSandro and linebacker Dre Greenlaw. The game also marked the start of the Eagles’ infamous 2023 collapse. Heading into that matchup, the Birds were 10-1, but went on to lose six of their last seven games, including a playoff loss to Tampa Bay.
That regular-season loss to the Niners came 10 months after the Eagles eliminated San Francisco in the NFC championship game, knocking Purdy and backup Josh Johnson, who beat the Eagles Sunday, out of the game.
As both teams prepare for the wild-card matchup, the Eagles are early favorites over.
At both sportsbooks, the Eagles have moved up to the third spot in the race to win the NFC, including jumping over their opponent on Sunday, the 49ers, who have fallen three spots from last week’s odds. The Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams remain in the top two favorites at both sportsbooks.
Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks are the favorites to win the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl odds
The Eagles’ Super Bowl odds have increased from last week at both sportsbooks as well. They rank behind the Seahawks, Rams, and Denver Broncos with the fourth best odds to win it all. Meanwhile, the 49ers’ odds have dropped, falling outside of the top 10 teams.
With the end of the regular season, Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye remain at the top of the MVP race. Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts is completely out of the running.
For the NFL teams that made the playoffs, this is just another Monday of preparation for the next game, as coaches now have their eyes set on a Lombardi Trophy. For the teams that ended their regular seasons this week, it’s Black Monday — a day when big changes are made on the coaching side, with teams hoping for a better result next season.
Last year, there were seven coaching changes, but only one coach was fired on Black Monday: former Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who was let go by the Jacksonville Jaguars after a 4-13 season, his third with the team. This year, four coaches have already been let go since the regular season ended Sunday night.
It started with the Atlanta Falcons firing Raheem Morris on Sunday night. On Monday, three more coaches were dismissed: Jonathan Gannon (Arizona Cardinals), Kevin Stefanski (Cleveland Browns), and Pete Carroll (Las Vegas Raiders).
Two coaches didn’t even make it to the end of the season. Brian Daboll and Brian Callahan were fired by the New York Giants and the Tennessee Titans, respectively, during the season.
That brings the total to six coaching changes, one behind last year — but it’s still early. Here’s a closer look at the four coaches fired since Sunday.
Jonathan Gannon
Gannon was the latest to get fired on Black Monday. The 42-year-old coach was hired from the Eagles in 2023, signing a five-year deal that drew allegations of tampering against the Cardinals because of the timing of hiring, so quickly after the Eagles’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. The issue was resolved by swapping draft picks.
Now, the Cardinals have parted ways with the former Eagles defensive coordinator after a 15-36 record (.294) over three seasons. This season, the Cardinals finished with a 3-14 record, the worst of Gannon’s tenure, losing more games than the rest of the NFC West combined (13).
Pete Carroll was fired after one season with the Raiders.
Pete Carroll
While the Cardinals gave Gannon three seasons to try to get the team together, the Raiders weren’t so patient with Carroll, who was fired after just one.
Las Vegas was one of four teams with a 3-14 record this season, but thanks to tiebreakers, the Raiders will have the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL draft. They had already fired offensive coordinator (and former Eagles coach) Chip Kelly during the season. Of the 3-14 teams, only New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn remains.
Notably, Raiders minority owner Tom Brady — who will be on the call for the Eagles’ wild-card game Sunday on Fox — will be part of the search for a new head coach in Las Vegas.
Kevin Stefanski had a .446 winning percentage in six seasons leading the Browns.
Kevin Stefanski
A day after Browns fans celebrated Myles Garrett breaking the single-season sack record, they woke up to news that Stefanski, a former two-time NFL coach of the year, had been added to the unemployed list after six seasons in Cleveland.
Overall, Stefanski went 45-56 (.446) with the Browns, the franchise’s best winning percentage since Bill Belichick’s short tenure in Cleveland in the early 1990s (not counting the eight games Gregg Williams served as the team’s interim coach in 2018).
The Falcons fired Morris, along with general manager Terry Fontenot, even though Atlanta ended the season with four consecutive wins and tied for first place in the NFC South with an 8-9 record. It was Morris’ second straight 8-9 finish.
The No. 2 seed in the NFC was on the line on Sunday during the late window — but Nick Sirianni and the Eagles instead chose to rest their starters against Washington. The Birds needed the Bears to lose to have a shot at it, but the two games were unfolding simultaneously.
Instead of playing for the win and hoping for a Bears loss, the Birds looked forward to the playoffs. But some other former NFL coaches didn’t understand that decision, including Rex Ryan.
“If we had a chance for the two seed? Hell yeah, you’re playing the whole game, we’ll rest in the offseason,” Ryan said of the Eagles’ opportunity to guarantee themselves a second home playoff game if they advance past the San Francisco 49ers.
"One thing I know about Philly, they are hard as hell to beat in the playoffs at home." 👀
The Birds earned the No. 2 seed in 2024, and had home-field advantage until the Super Bowl thanks to last year’s No. 1 seed, the Detroit Lions, losing in the divisional round. This year, the third-seeded Eagles could potentially get just one home game, Sunday’s wild-card round game against San Francisco.
“I don’t understand Nick Sirianni not playing for the 2 seed Sunday,“ Peter King wrote in his newsletter. ”Makes no sense. If you’re the 2 seed and you win the Wild Card game, you’re home for two playoff games. If you’re the 3 seed and the 2 seed wins the Wild Card game, you’re home for only one playoff game. Seems like a missed opportunity to me, sitting so many of your guys in a game you’d likely win. Sirianni said he opted for resting guys who needed it. We’ll see if impacts the next two weeks.”
Chad Johnson, however, disagreed. The former wide receiver said giving the players the week off and not concerning themselves with the results of the other teams was the best path forward, to make sure everyone was good to go for the games that matter.
“Honestly, I like it, especially with the way they’ve looked,” Johnson said on Nightcap. “They’ve been up and down all season long. It’s one game or go home. It doesn’t matter where we’re seeded. We still have to play the game.”
Former Eagles defensive end Chris Long agreed that due to the injuries along the offensive line, it was best to just rest everyone to avoid anyone else getting hurt ahead of the playoffs. After the previous game against the Commanders ended in a scuffle, Long believes it was also the safest outcome.
“It’s a bit of a rockhead take, but if Jalen Hurts were playing in that game, [Commanders LB Frankie] Luvu would have done some crazy [expletive] to him,” Long said on his Green Light podcast. “Dudes were head hunting. … You had to rest the offensive line. That’s the crux of it. That offensive line is hanging on by a thread. Jalen out there without that offensive line, it’s going to be terrible.”
Hurts — and the rest of the Eagles starters — will be back out on the field Sunday when they host the Niners at 4:30 p.m.
Philly sports talkers are likely to debate the decision all week, but what’s done is done. The Eagles will enter the playoffs as the No. 3 seed, a position that has produced surprisingly few Super Bowl teams.
Wharton professor Deniz Selman crunched the numbers. Since 1975, when the current playoff seeding began, just five No. 3 seeds have made it through the playoffs and ended up in the Super Bowl. By comparison, 55 No. 1 seeds, 24 No. 2 seeds, and 11 No. 4 seeds have made it to the big game.
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The most recent No. 3 seed to advance to the Super Bowl was the Kansas City Chiefs, who made it to Super Bowl LVIII in the 2023 season and defeated the No. 1 San Francisco 49ers.
The Eagles’ four Super Bowl appearances have all come as either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, including last year’s victory against the Chiefs.
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The Eagles were the No. 3 seed in 2013, but they lost to the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round at Lincoln Financial Field. They also didn’t advance past the wild-card round as a No. 3 seed in 2010, while in 2006 their postseason run ended in the divisional round.
The Birds made it to the NFC championship game as the No. 3 seed during the 2001 playoffs, but lost to the then-St. Louis Rams, 29-24 when Aeneas Williams intercepted Donovan McNabb with less than two minutes remaining.
Here are the five NFL teams that entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed and advanced to the Super Bowl:
BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have fired coach Kevin Stefanski after six seasons.
Stefanski, a Wayne native who played quarterback at St. Joseph’s Prep and got his start coaching at his alma mater, Penn, is the fourth NFL coach fired this season. He joins Tennessee’s Brian Callahan, the New York Giants’ Brian Daboll and Atlanta’s Raheem Morris.
The Browns won their final two games to finish 5-12, including a 20-18 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
The 43-year-old Stefanski is a two-time AP NFL Coach of the Year. He led Cleveland to playoff appearances in 2020 and 2023. The Browns’ 48-37 victory over Pittsburgh in an AFC wild-card round game was the franchise’s first since 1993.
Ironically, Stefanski was not on the Browns’ sideline for that game after he tested positive for COVID-19. He watched the game from the basement at his house.
Stefanski is the sixth coach fired since owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam bought the franchise in 2012. The five coaches hired by the Haslams have a 73-139-1 regular-season record since 2013, the second-worst mark in the NFL.
I don’t vote on the Associated Press version of NFL postseason awards, which are the NFL’s official awards. That voting is done by an eclectic panel of 50 semi-rotating media members — and I use the term “media members” extremely loosely, partly because last year the panel included Fox analyst Tom Brady, who also is an NFL owner.
Maybe this year, too. Voters can out themselves, as Mike Florio at ProFootball Talk.com did to himself and his colleague Chris Simms, but we won’t know who all of this year’s voters are until the AP publishes the list during Super Bowl week.
While I’m not an AP voter, I have written a weekly NFL column for years, and I have covered the NFL extensively for 35 years. Therefore, it’s not entirely inappropriate to offer my insight, if only to inform the judgment of any actual voters, who have to vote by 3 p.m. Monday.
Read fast, Tom.
MVP
Brady said Sunday that his choice was Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford over Patriots QB Drake Maye. This, after Stafford rebounded from a three-interception game against the gritty Falcons with a four-touchdown home game against the pathetic Cardinals. Part of Brady’s rationale: Stafford, 37 and MVP-less, won’t have as many chances as Maye, who is 23 and in his second season.
This is the dumbest reason ever. Football is violent, tomorrow is promised to no one, and the only criteria should be the 2025 season. Unfortunately, I don’t think Brady will be the only voter who considers this year’s competition a lifetime achievement award.
Maye secured the No. 2 seed in the AFC with the highest passer rating among regulars, at 113.5, and did so with a new coaching staff in just his second season. Still, Stafford led the league with 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdowns passes, and secured the No. 5 seed against the NFL’s toughest schedule.
I actually agree with TB12.
Stafford it is.
But not because he’s old.
Mike Macdonald is 24-10 in two seasons as Seahawks coach.
Coach of the Year
This, by far, is the toughest call, because there are so many worthy Coach of the Year candidates, and some fresh faces.
Sean Payton and the Broncos have the No. 1 seed, but he’s done it for 24 years and he’s had three years to build in Denver, two of them with his current quarterback, Bo Nix. Should having experience and tenure count against him?
Mike Vrabel is in his seventh season but his first in New England, where the pressure as a Patriots legend was immense and where the Patriots were the last-place team in the AFC East. They won the division and got the No. 2 seed, but Vrabel inherited Maye, who already was a Pro Bowl quarterback. Should that count against him?
In his second season as a head coach, Mike Macdonald added Pro Bowl QB Sam Darnold to a solid, 10-win Seattle roster, won 14 games, and took the NFC West from the Rams and the 49ers. Irrelevant fact: He’s only ever really worked for Harbaughs — John with the Ravens and Jim at Michigan. Anyway, the Seahawks led the NFL in point differential, at plus-191, three touchdowns better than the No. 2 team.
Liam Coen, the first of the rookies, was an NFL offensive coordinator for only two years — one of them a stormy season as OC with the Rams — before a bizarre courtship tore him away from being OC at Tampa Bay. He succeeded Doug Pederson in Jacksonville, won 13 games against some really good teams, and finished on an eight-game heater … but he inherited a franchise QB in Trevor Lawrence.
Ben Johnson, the second of the rookies, flipped the Bears from worst-to-first in the NFC North and refined second-year QB Caleb Williams. He was my slam-dunk pick two weeks ago, but the Bears have faded. Seventh seed Green Bay certainly isn’t scared to travel to the No. 2 seed now; the Bears lost to the Packers earlier this season and they needed overtime to beat them three weeks ago.
Who’s my choice now?
It’s Macdonald, but only by a meticulously groomed hair.
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson led the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 2,298.
Offensive Player of the Year
Player of the Year usually is the category reserved for the best running back or receiver, since only quarterbacks have been allowed to win MVP since Adrian Peterson in 2012.
My favorite offensive player this year: Falcons back Bijan Robinson, who led the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 2,298, the best by 172 yards, on a team so bad it fired its head coach and GM on Sunday night.
Unlike Robinson, both Jaxon Smith-Njigba of Seattle and Puka Nacua of the Rams will be catching passes in the playoffs. But what Robinson did, and with such little support, reminds you of Christian McCaffrey with the 5-11 Panthers in 2019.
McCaffrey was second in yards from scrimmage this year.
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett celebrates on Sunday after breaking the NFL record for sacks in a season with 23.
Defensive Player of the Year
Browns lineman Myles Garrett sacked Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in the fourth quarter Sunday to break the sack record of 22½ shared by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt.
However, Garrett’s 23rd sack came in the 17th of his 17 games. Watt played in just 15 of 17 games in 2021, which is remarkable. Strahan played in just 16 games of the 2001 season, which is all they played back then, but Packers quarterback Brett Favre essentially surrendered to the last “sack,” in the last game.
I know there’s a few people out there that say Myles Garrett had an extra game which he did, but let’s not forget Brett Favre literally dropped like a corpse to give Michael Strahan the record! S/O Myles Garrett on setting the new sack record! pic.twitter.com/lEcqX1pMHl
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough had a worse passer-rating season than Jacoby Brissett.
Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan caught 70 passes for 1,014 yards, better than either A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith, and seven touchdowns. No contest.
Linebacker Carson Schwesinger had 156 tackles in 16 games as a rookie for the Browns this season.
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Carson Schwesinger, the Browns’ tackling machine, is really the only choice this season. He’s a second-round pick who looks exactly like what you’d think a linebacker from UCLA would look like.
Assistant Coach of the Year
In his first season of his second return to New England, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels turned Maye into an MVP favorite in his second NFL season, running the top yardage and scoring offense in the AFC. McDaniels had as much to do with the Patriots’ turnaround as Vrabel.
Comeback Player of the Year
McCaffrey missed most of 2024 with a knee injury and might win OPOY this year. Sorry, Dak.
The Eagles (11-6) will face the San Francisco 49ers (12-5) Sunday at 4:30 p.m. on Fox in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Here’s the full wild-card schedule.
Eagles running back Tank Bigsby started Sunday’s game against the Commanders.
Resting the regulars meant Tank Bigsby got the start at running back with Saquon Barkley on the sideline.
Bigsby has flashed in his limited role as a backup, and he showed Sunday why some are clamoring for more of him.
Bigsby rushed 16 times for 75 yards and a touchdown. He also turned a check-down completion into a 31-yard gain, making Washington’s Jordan Magee miss with a nifty cut in the process. Bigsby, however, played just two snaps in the fourth quarter and did not have a touch after the third quarter during the 24-17 loss.
“He runs hard,” Nick Sirianni said. “He’s got extremely good ability to make you miss while also being able to put his shoulder down and finish runs through contact.
“The way he walks through, the way he practices, it really does show up in the game with how hard he runs and how hard he plays.”
Perhaps the Eagles will feature more of him, especially if they find success on the ground vs. a weakened San Francisco front seven.
49ers are paying the price for not resting their starters
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Tatum Bethune (48) will miss the entire postseason with a groin injury.
One team had a meaningful game with a lot on the line and a lot of things in their control. The other had a meaningful game with a lot on the line and only some things in their control.
The Eagles, the latter team mentioned above, elected to go the conservative route and rest most of their regulars. The San Francisco 49ers, meanwhile, played a big game in prime time Saturday and lost at least one starter for the playoffs in the process.
Of course, had the Eagles been in situation where a win guaranteed them the No. 2 seed in the NFC, Nick Sirianni would have made a different decision than the one he made for Week 18 vs. Washington.
As it happens, the decision may have cost the Eagles a chance at a second home playoff game, but what it did guarantee was the Eagles entering the wild-card weekend with the healthiest roster they could have. It was an extra week for right tackle Lane Johnson and linebacker Nakobe Dean to continue working toward their returns from foot and hamstring injuries, respectively. It was a day off for Jalen Carter to give his ailing shoulders a break. Jaelan Phillips got to rest his ankle injury. Dallas Goedert got to stay off his knee.
The 49ers, meanwhile, lost starting linebacker Tatum Bethune to a season-ending groin injury during their loss to Seattle. San Francisco remains without star linebacker Fred Warner, who is unlikely to be ready until at least the NFC championship game. Two other linebackers, Dee Winters (ankle) and Luke Gifford (quad), will be evaluated this week for their injuries.
San Francisco was also without star left tackle Trent Williams for their game Saturday. He is dealing with a hamstring injury, and the 49ers really struggled offensively without him, though the Seahawks have one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Johnson, the Eagles’ star tackle, seems to be trending toward returning for the postseason. Dean’s status remains unclear. But the Eagles could start their postseason run Sunday with all of their active-roster regulars ready for action.
“I think it’s always a fine line of there’s two things that need to happen,” Sirianni said Monday. “You got to have your players available, and you do different things to make sure that happens throughout the year. But it is so important that you continue to get better as the season goes on.
“Our guys know how to practice. They know how to practice efficiently. So we’ve had a tendency of getting better while also having guys healthy.”
LBs Tatum Bethune (groin) is out for the rest of the season. The other two LBs, Dee Winters (ankle) and Luke Gifford (quad) will be evaluated later this week.
Eagles early favorites vs. 49ers in wild-card round
The Eagles will face Brock Purdy and the 49ers Sunday in the first round of the playoffs.
The Eagles will host the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round of the playoffs after they missed out on the No. 2 seed.
The Birds ended the regular season with with a loss to the Commanders, settling for an 11-6 record to go with their NFC East title. Meanwhile, the 49ers finished with a 12-5 record after their recent loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but had to settle for a wild-card spot.
Now, both teams will meet at Lincoln Financial Field as they try to keep their Super Bowl hopes alive, and the Eagles are early favorites over the Niners in their first-round matchup.
Jonathan Gannon has been fired by the Cardinals after three seasons.
Jonathan Gannon is the fourth head coach to lose their job on Black Monday
The Arizona Cardinals announced they have parted ways with Gannon, who they hired away from the Eagles in 2023 under a five-year deal that ran through the 2027 season and drew allegations of tampering resolved by swapping draft picks.
The former Birds defensive coordinator went just 15-36 (.294) in three seasons with the Cardinals, and his team was completely uncompetitive in the NFC West (0-6). In fact, the Cardinals lost more games last season (14) than the rest of the NFC West combined (13).
As Peter King put it in his weekly newsletter, “He’s a defensive coach, and they gave up 37 points a game in their last five games. Is that a team playing hard for the coach?”
To add insult to injury, the team wished Gannon a happy birthday on social media Sunday.
The Dolphins also requested interviews with 49ers VP of Player Personnel Tariq Ahmad and director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams for their GM job, per sources.
The Raiders have fired head coach Pete Carroll after just one season.
Three NFL coaches have been fired on Black Monday, and it isn’t even noon yet.
Pete Carroll joined the ranks of the unemployed Monday, with the Las Vegas Raiders announcing they parted ways with their 74-year old coach.
“We appreciate and wish him and his family all the best,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement.
Carroll’s team tied for the NFL’s worst record (3-14), and the Raiders had already fired offensive coordinator (and former Eagles coach) Chip Kelly during the season.
The move also means Davis will be paying three former coaches who are no longer with the team — Carroll, Antonio Pierce, and Josh McDaniels. The team was also forced to pay Jon Gruden an undisclosed lump-sum after he resigned in 2021 due to an email scandal.
Notably, Tom Brady — who will be called the Eagles’ wild-card game on Fox Sunday — will be part of the Raiders’ search for a new head coach.
Peter King calls Eagles’ decision to rest starters a ‘missed opportunity’
Nick Sirianni decision to rest his starters is being second-guessed across the league.
Add longtime NFL writer Peter King to the list of pundits who think Nick Sirianni made a mistake by resting his starters with the No. 2 seed on the line.
King, in a weekend newsletter, called the decision a “missed opportunity” for the Eagles and pointed out why the No. 2 seed offers a much easier path to the Super Bowl than the No. 3 seed.
“If you’re the 2 seed and you win the Wild Card game, you’re home for two playoff games,” King wrote. “If you’re the 3 seed and the 2 seed wins the Wild Card game, you’re home for only one playoff game.”
94.1 WIP morning show co-host and former Eagles fullback Jon Ritchie was more blunt Monday morning.
“It was a mistake,” Ritchie said. “The fact you could have had the easy path, and instead you completely forfeited that opportunity… this team has the players to win a Super Bowl if the path is the right path, and we forfeited that possibility.”
Sirianni defended his decision to reporters following Sunday’s loss, saying it came down to what he felt was best for the team and his players.
“The one thing I could guarantee was giving them rest,” Sirianni said. “I couldn’t guarantee anything else.”
“Going into the playoffs healthy is a big deal for us,” Sirianni added.
Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski agreed, writing the Eagles got some rest and “eliminated any risk they’d be shorthanded to a significant degree” against the San Francisco 49ers.
“Do the Eagles have a harder road back to the Super Bowl now? Maybe, but not necessarily,” Sielski wrote. “The defending champs let everything play out, and now they really get to take their chances, to show that being healthy and healed up is a bigger advantage than anything they might have gained from treating Sunday’s game like their season depended on it.”
Jalyx Hunt pulled off a first in the Eagles’ 93-year history
Jalyx Hunt made the Eagles’ history books Sunday.
If Jalyx Hunt looked like a defensive back breaking on Josh Johnson’s sideline throw intended for Deebo Samuel on Sunday evening, you can thank his background as a safety, the position he originally played in college at Cornell before transitioning to the defensive line at Houston Christian.
Hunt’s interception was his third of the season and separated him from what was a four-way tie for the team lead with two interceptions.
It also put him in the Eagles’ history book. For the first time since the Eagles were established in 1933, the same player led the team in interceptions and sacks. Hunt’s two sacks in Buffalo last week gave him a team-high 6½ sacks on the season.
Hunt, a third-round pick in 2024, also became the second player in franchise history to post 6-plus sacks and 3-plus interceptions in the same season. Seth Joyner did it twice, in 1991 and 1992.
“He’s living good,” Zack Baun said of Hunt. “He’s doing something in his life that karma is just treating him right.
“He’s super impressive. Thinking about his transition in positions in college and high school, it’s insane. Got to give credit to guys like that that work really hard to put themselves in good positions and then, at the end of the day, it pays off for them.”
Brandon Graham played a lot more snaps Sunday than he did in Week 17.
There were varying reasons for who played Sunday and who didn’t, who played sparingly and who played more.
The Eagles, for example, decided to let DeVonta Smith play nine snaps and catch three passes on four targets for 52 yards so he could get the 44 yards he needed to reach 1,000 yards on the season. Nick Sirianni said the Eagles were “safe with him as far as what kind of routes we were running and what he was doing.”
Smith exited the game after his third catch.
Some Eagles got the entire night off. Safety Reed Blankenship said he was looking back with no regrets after the Eagles rested their starters and squandered a chance at the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
“I’d rather have a week of rest and let my body recover than go out there and be in a dog fight and then feel bad going into a playoff game,” he said.
For some other Eagles regulars, Sunday was almost a normal day.
Jalyx Hunt played 52% of the 69 defensive snaps, Moro Ojomo played 51%, and Jordan Davis 49%. There was a healthy dose of Byron Young (78%) and Ty Robinson (74%) on the interior, but defensive line isn’t a position where the Eagles could rest everyone. Even 37-year-old Brandon Graham played 28 snaps, 21 more than he played a week earlier.
“The plan was that you rotate on the defensive line,” Sirianni said. “To keep somebody in there and just make them go the whole time, that’s not how D-line play works. You always want to have fresh bodies in there and so we knew they would play into the fourth and we tried to limit their reps as best as we possibly could by giving the other guys some more reps, but we knew that we would have to play them the whole time through because just the way the nature of that position works.”
The other regulars who played Sunday were right guard Tyler Steen and tight end Grant Calcaterra, both of whom played 28 snaps. Backup tackle Fred Johnson, who has been filling in as a starter for Lane Johnson, played all 64 offensive snaps.
NFL playoff schedule: Birds playing Sunday afternoon
The Eagles are making their fifth-straight playoff appearance under head coach Nick Sirianni.
The first round of the NFL playoffs begins this weekend, with the No. 3 Eagles hosting the No. 6 San Francisco 49ers Sunday afternoon at the Linc at 4:30 p.m. on Fox.
Kevin Burkhardt will be in the booth alongside Tom Brady, who will be calling his sixth Eagles game this season. It will also be his fourth Birds playoff game, which included last year’s Super Bowl victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Fox is broadcasting two wild-card games this weekend, while CBS, NBC, and ESPN each get one.
One game will also stream exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video, which just finished up its fourth season as the home of Thursday Night Football.
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The No. 1 Seattle Seahawks will face the lowest-remaining NFC seed in the divisional round. Same goes for the No. 1 Denver Broncos in the AFC.
Full 2025-26 NFL playoff schedule
Wild-card round: Saturday, Jan. 10, to Monday, Jan. 12
Divisional round: Saturday, Jan. 17, to Sunday, Jan. 18
Super Bowl LX (or 60, for those who don’t like Roman numerals) is being held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., home of the San Francisco 49ers.
NBC will broadcast this year’s Super Bowl, with Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth on the call.
Here are the sites announced for future Super Bowls:
Surprisingly few No. 3 seeds have made it to the Super Bowl
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles are hoping to overcome history during their playoff run.
There are a lot of opinions about Nick Sirianni’s decision to rest the Eagles starters in Sunday’s loss, especially after the Chicago Bears’ loss opened the door for the Birds to land the No. 2 seed.
But that’s all academic now. The Eagles will enter the playoffs as the No. 3 seed, a position that’s produced a surprisingly small amount of Super Bowl teams.
Wharton professor Deniz Selman crunched the numbers. Since 1975, when the current playoff seeding began, just five No. 3 seeds have made it through the playoffs and ended up in the Super Bowl. By comparison, 55 No. 1 seeds, 24 No. 2 seeds, and 11 No. 4 seeds have made it to the big game.
The most recent No. 3 seed to advance to the Super Bowl was the Kansas City Chiefs, who made it to Super Bowl LVIII in the 2023 season and defeated the No. 1 San Francisco 49ers.
The last time a No. 3 seed in the NFC made it all the way to the Super Bowl was the Carolina Panthers in 2003, when they went on to lose to the New England Patriots.
The Eagles were the No. 3 seed in 2013, but lost to the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round at the Linc. They also didn’t advance past the wild-card round as a No. 3 seed in 2010, while in 2006 their postseason run ended in the divisional round.
The Birds made it to the NFC Championship game as the No. 3 seed during the 2001 playoffs, but lost to the then-St. Louis Rams 29-24 when Aeneas Williams intercepted Donovan McNabb with less than two minutes remaining.
Here are the five NFL teams that entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed and advanced to the Super Bowl:
Kevin Stefanski is the fourth head coach to be fired this season.
The Cleveland Browns fired Kevin Stefanski Monday morning, becoming the fourth NFL team this season to part ways with their head coach.
The former NFL Coach of the Year (an award he won twice) and a Philadelphia native, Stefanski’s sixth season with the Browns was a disappointment. While the Browns have a history of burning through head coaches (12 since 2000), Stefanski’s three playoff games was the most for the franchise since Marty Schottenheimer’s tenure during the mid-1980s.
Overall, Stefanski went 45-56 (.446) with the Browns, the franchise’s best winning percentage since Bill Belichick’s short tenure in Cleveland in the early 1990s (not counting the eight games Gregg Williams served as the team’s interim coach in 2018).
Expect most teams with a head coaching vacancy, including the New York Giants, to have interest in Stefanski, who is just 43.
They will open the playoffs at home against a 49ers team that is coming off a sloppy loss on Saturday in its third game in 13 days. San Fran’s offense scored just three points.
The Eagles and 49ers have met twice previously in the postseason. San Fran shut out the Birds, 14-0, in a muddy wild-card game at the old Candlestick Park after the 1996 season. Three years ago, the Eagles thumped San Fran, 31-7, in the conference championship game.
Niners quarterback Brock Purdy was a rookie that season. He got hurt on the first possession, and the 49ers had an uphill climb.
Coincidentally, he was replaced that day by Josh Johnson, who on Sunday led Washington to a win over the Eagles, which knocked the Eagles out of the conference’s No. 2 seed and set up the meeting next weekend with the 49ers. Small world.
Purdy had been red-hot until Seattle shut him down in a 13-3 Seahawks win on Saturday. In the three games prior, he had 11 TD passes and two interceptions.
This will be his seventh postseason start. He’s thrown one interception in 171 playoff passes, and San Fran is 4-2 with losses to the Eagles and the Chiefs.
Lane Johnson, seen here arriving for Sunday’s game.
Offensive tackle Lane Johnson hasn’t played since suffering a Lisfranc sprain in his foot back in Week 11. He’s expected to return to the team for Sunday’s wild-card game, per the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Safety Brandon Johnson, who started alongside Sydney Brown, injured his ankle while attempting to pick off a deflected pass in the second quarter.
Tight end Grant Calcaterra hurt his ankle and knee on a hip-drop tackle from Reaves in the third quarter.
Offensive lineman Brett Toth was evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter and did not return to action.
Other players dealing with injuries include defensive tackle Jalen Carter (hip), linebacker Nakobe Dean (hamstring), linebacker Jaelan Phillips (ankle), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), and safety Marcus Epps (concussion).
If Aaron Rodgers is back next season, he’ll face the Eagles at the Linc next season.
While the 2025 season is still going on for the Eagles, we now know all the Birds’ opponents for the 2026 season.
Their final opponent was decided Sunday night. Not only did the Pittsburgh Steelers win the AFC North and punch the final ticket to the playoffs, they’ll now face the Eagles at the Linc in 2026.
The Eagles also face the first-place teams in the NFC South (Carolina Panthers) and AFC North (Pittsburgh Steelers), and will play every team in both the AFC South and the NFC West, which sent three teams to the playoffs this season.
The Birds are scheduled to play nine home games next season, which increases the likelihood we’ll see the Eagles in an international game. That could include a return to Brazil or hosting a game in Munich, Mexico City, or London.
Home games: Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, New York Giants, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers
Away games: Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Chicago Bears
Falcons kick off Black Monday on Sunday by firing Raheem Morris
Jonathan Gannon is just 15-36 (.294) in three seasons with the Cardinals.
Black Monday, the NFL’s annual send off of underperforming head coaches, kicked off Sunday night in Atlanta.
The Falcons fired both general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris, despite Atlanta finishing the season on a four-game winning streak and tied for first place in the NFC South with an 8-9 record.
“I have great personal affinity for both Raheem and Terry and appreciate their hard work and dedication to the Falcons, but I believe we need new leadership in these roles moving forward,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a statement.
Two NFL coaches were fired during the regular season: Brian Daboll with the New York Giants and Brian Callahan with the Tennessee Titans.
They will open the playoffs at home against a 49ers team that is coming off a sloppy loss on Saturday in its third game in 13 days. San Fran’s offense scored just three points.
The Birds will have home-field advantage and an edge in playoff experience — at least defensively. Here are 25 things to know about the 49ers:
1. The Eagles and 49ers have met twice previously in the postseason. San Fran shut out the Birds, 14-0, in a muddy wild-card game at the old Candlestick Park after the 1996 season. Three years ago, the Eagles thumped San Fran, 31-7, in the conference championship game.
2. Niners quarterback Brock Purdy was a rookie that season. He got hurt on the first possession, and the 49ers had an uphill climb.
Brock Purdy (13) threw 20 TD passes and 10 interceptions in nine games played this season.
3. Coincidentally, he was replaced that day by Josh Johnson, who on Sunday led Washington to a win over the Eagles, which knocked the Eagles out of the conference’s No. 2 seed and set up the meeting next weekend with the 49ers. Small world.
4. The Birds opened as three-point favorites.
5. The 49ers entered Sunday 10th in the league in scoring offense, 12th in points allowed. The Eagles were 18th in scoring offense, third in points allowed.
6. Left tackle Trent Williams missed Saturday’s game against the Seahawks. He injured his hamstring on the first snap in Week 17 against Chicago. Williams, 37, spent his first nine seasons with Washington. He’s played 20 games against the Eagles. His teams are 9-11. He’s 5-5 at Lincoln Financial Field.
7. Williams is one of six Niners selected to the Pro Bowl. Running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, special teams ace Luke Gifford, and long snapper Jon Weeks are the others.
8. Juszczyk’s 10 Pro Bowl selections are the most ever for a fullback. Williams’ 12 Pro Bowls tie him with Will Shields and Randall McDaniel for second-most ever by an offensive lineman. Only Bruce Matthews (14) had more.
Kyle Juszczyk is no stranger to the Pro Bowl.
9. San Francisco’s top two reception leaders were McCaffrey (102) and Kittle (57). Their leader among wide receivers was Jauan Jennings (55). Jennings (in 2020) and Purdy (2022) were seventh-round draft picks of the 49ers.
10. Jennings apparently is a prolific trash talker who straddles the line of what’s acceptable. In Week 12, he was punched below the belt by Carolina defensive back Tre’von Moehrig. The following game, he got into a heated scuffle with some Cleveland Browns players.
11. “I see why he got punched in the nuts,” Cleveland defensive tackle Shelby Harris said. “He said some things that you should not say to another man, ever. … I’m surprised nobody punched him in the jaw yet.”
12. Purdy had been red-hot until Seattle shut him down in a 13-3 Seahawks win on Saturday. In the three games prior, he had 11 TD passes and two interceptions.
13. This will be Purdy’s seventh postseason start. He’s thrown one interception in 171 playoff passes, and San Fran is 4-2 with losses to the Eagles and the Chiefs.
14. Of the 49ers’ defensive group that started the season finale in Seattle, only linebacker Eric Kendricks, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, and safety Ji’Ayir Brown have ever started a playoff game.
Matt Hennessy is a Temple grad who spent preseason time with the Eagles in 2024.
15. Backup center Matt Hennessy played at Temple. He also plays special teams and has seen action in all 17 games this season. Hennessy, born in Nyack, N.Y., was a third-round pick of the Falcons in 2020. This will be his first playoff game.
16. The 49ers were 12-5 straight-up, 10-7 against the closing point spread. The Eagles were 11-6 straight-up, 10-7 against the number.
17. Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee) also missed Saturday’s game. Pearsall, who survived a harrowing robbery attempt in 2024 when he was shot in the chest, had 36 catches in nine games this season.
18. San Fran went 4-4 against playoff teams this season. They split with Seattle and the Rams, beat Carolina and Chicago, and lost to Jacksonville and Houston.
18a. The Eagles were 3-3. They beat the Rams, Green Bay, and Buffalo; lost to the Chargers, Denver, and Chicago.
19. The Eagles entered Week 18 with the NFL’s best red-zone offense, converting 70.73% of their trips inside the 20 into touchdowns. San Fran’s defense was 10th in the league in red-zone efficiency at 53.85%.
20. Conversely, the Eagles defense was eighth at 51.11% while San Fran’s offense was fourth at 65.15%.
21. Linebacker Curtis Robinson is the 49ers’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. Robinson, in his fifth year out of Stanford, played in 14 games this season but has been deactivated after having a rough game against Tennessee in Week 15.
Robert Saleh (center) is part of the brain trust for coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.
22. Renowned coordinator Robert Saleh runs San Francisco’s defense. He didn’t do so well as the Jets head coach, going 20-36 from 2020 to 2024.
23. The Niners were 12th in points allowed despite being dead last in the league with just 20 sacks and tied for 29th with six interceptions. They lost All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa to a torn ACL in Week 3.
24. Saleh’s brother, David, was in the south tower when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. David escaped but wasn’t able to reach his family for several hours.
25. Robert Saleh said the tragedy of that day made him reassess life’s frailty and get into coaching football. He played at Division II Northern Michigan and took his first job as an offensive assistant at Michigan State in 2002.
