Eagles fire head coach Doug Pederson
Birds only 3rd team in league history to fire Super Bowl-winning coach
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie fired Doug Pederson Monday, calling it “in both our best interests to part ways.”
Pederson guided the Eagles to a 46-39-1 in five seasons, including a Super Bowl title in 2017.
Pederson is just the third Super Bowl winning head coach to be let go or to step aside under duress, joining the late Don McCafferty, who guided the Baltimore Colts to the 1970 Super Bowl championship and George Seifert, who led the 1994 San Francisco 49ers to the title.
But Pederson alienated Lurie, management and quarterback
Carson Wentz, who he benched with four games remaining in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts. The Eagles not only finished last in the NFC East with a 4-11-1 mark; they were accused of assaulting the integrity of the game. In the regular season finale Pederson benched Hurts in favor of Nate Sudfeld, who, two quick turnovers later in a three-point game had all but assured Washington of victory. The Football Team made the postseason while the New York Giants, who would have gotten the division pennant had the Eagles prevailed. Eagles players were surprised and confused.
It made no sense to fire Pederson last week while that mess
raged nationally.
“I have spent the last few weeks evaluating ever y thing from this past year and looking ahead,” Lurie said in a statement distributed on Twitter. “We are all very disappointed with the way our season went and eager to turn things around, not just for next season but also for the future of the franchise. Coach Pederson and I had the opportunity to sit down and discuss what that collective vision would look like moving forward. After taking some time to reflect on these conversations, I believe it is in both of our best interests to part ways.”
Lurie didn’t provide details but Peder son saw the handwriting on the wall before meeting Monday with the boss in Palm Beach, Fla., to go over the divorce proceedings. Lurie likely wasn’t happy that Pederson wanted Press Taylor to be his offensive coordinator, which he tried to make happy before the 2020 season, per sources. Pederson also was told special teams coach Dave Fipp had to go, per reports.
Pederson, before the 2020 season, caved when sources say Lurie told him he was going to fire Mike Groh, who was his offensive coordinator. Pederson, Groh and Wentz worked well enough to rally the struggling Birds to the NFC East pennant and the organization’s third straight trip to the playoffs.
When Pederson gave in, he wound up with an odd assortment of offensive coaches, two of which — Rich Scangarello and Marty Mornhinweg — are no longer around.
Pederson, who turns 53 later this month, has two years left on his contract.
“I have known Doug and his family for more than 20 years and they will always be family to me,” Lurie said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and everything we have accomplished together over the last five seasons. Everyone in the organization understands the ty pe of man and coach that he is, and how much he means to all of us as well as the City of Philadelphia. We all look forward to the day he will be inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame as a Super Bowl-winning head coach, and we are confident he will have success with his next team.
“But as the leader of this organization, it is imperative for me to do what I believe is best for everyone as we look ahead to the future and move into our next chapter. I know that we have work to do to get back to where we want to be but I also believe that we have an exceptionally strong group of people in this organization who can help set us up for future success.”
Thanks to Pederson, the Eagles have the sixth, not the ninth pick in the draft.
Among other candidates for the head coaching job are Mike Kafka, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterbacks coach who the Eagles drafted in the fourth round of the 2010 draft, Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley, who developed Hurts and Eagles assistant head coach Duce Staley.