Eagles Offense Outcoached as Season-Long Issues Doom in Wild Card Loss

This game is the perfect example of the Philadelphia Eagles’ season in a nutshell.

The San Francisco 49ers came into the game with the entire front 7 of the defense being 3rd and 4th string players, yet the Eagles still managed to make the 49ers’ defensive unit look like a lockdown unit. The Eagles’ defense played a game well enough to win the game, but the offense couldn’t move the ball at all in the 3rd quarter and into the 4th quarter.

Though the 49ers were missing most of their offensive firepower, one thing that stays consistent with their offense is that Kyle Shanahan is possibly the best play caller in the NFL, especially when it comes to utilizing the weapons he has at the moment. This was obvious when his primary receiving threat, George Kittle, went down in the second quarter with a torn Achilles tendon, yet he didn’t get run-happy. He didn’t call check downs; he wasn’t predictable at all. Quite the opposite, he dug deep in the playbook and found a trick play where Jauan Jennings took a reverse and threw a dime to Christian McCaffrey for a touchdown.

On the other sideline, the play calling of the Eagles is truly where the blame for this loss lies. Tonight is only the second time in 40 seasons in this playoff format where a team with no turnovers and 35+ minutes of possession lost a game. While the receivers didn’t help with the dropped passes down the stretch, this loss is squarely on the shoulders of the play calling, and that is the responsibility of 2 men, Kevin Patullo and Nick Sirianni.

There will be plenty of fans who want to put this on Jalen Hurts, but I want to point out that he has had no consistency in offensive coordinators during his Eagles career. Going back to 2021, he’s had Shane Steichen, Brian Johnson, Kellen Moore, and currently Patullo. The only OC that has had back-to-back years during this stretch is Steichen. Hurts’ style hasn’t meshed well with Patullo’s limited playbook, and the Eagles’ offense has felt like nobody is on the same page all season.

Tonight’s game showcased one important thing: Howie Roseman can bring in all of the talent that is available, but if there isn’t a play caller that can take advantage of that talent and put them to good use, the offense will be ineffective, and this will be the story if the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles offense.

Shanahan outduelled Patulo all night offensively, and this is an embarrassment when you look at the talent each had to work with. Shanahan was missing his primary weapons, but he kept calling plays based on what the Eagles defense was giving them. Patullo kept calling the same five looks over and over while Shanahan was attacking every weakness. The talent gap between these offenses is astounding, but play calling and the ability to adapt to different defensive looks are why the Eagles are going home, and San Francisco is moving on.

The regression of the Eagles’ offense has been frustrating for not just fans, but also for the star players on the offense, namely A.J. Brown, who was seen on camera jawing with Sirianni as the first half wound down. It was a heated exchange that was so tense that Dom DiSandro stepped to pull Brown away. Granted, Brown had several key drops in the game, but the Eagles’ scheme didn’t help to get him open.

In reality, with the sheer number of key defensive players out for the 49ers, there was no excuse not to attack the middle of the field more. Patullo falls in love with a scheme and then keeps going to it in hopes that the Eagles’ talent will overcome a play that’s obviously not working.

The Eagles can’t continue like this. This season, their defense was overshadowed by the ineffective play calling of Patullo, and the regression of several key offensive components, namely 2024 NFL offensive player of the year, Saquon Barkley, Pro Bowl wide receivers Brown and DeVonta Smith, and 2024 Super Bowl MVP Hurts. A season like this can cause not only tension that boils over with star players, but also can wear away at the confidence of the players and fans as well.

Replacing Patullo is 100% the right move, but this isn’t an optimal solution because this will mean the Eagles have had 5 offensive coordinators in 6 years. There is no way of getting any kind of consistency and rhythm on offense, and I think we saw the culmination of that tonight.

It’s imperative that the front office gets this right. I assume that Patullo will be unemployed after this showing, and bringing in a brilliant offensive mind to harness the power of this offense is going to be more important than adding new pieces. The talent is there, the leadership let the players down, and it let Philly down, too.

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