Park the Floats: Eagles Blow a Gift-Wrapped Win.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ season came to a grinding and predictable halt Sunday night against the visiting 49ers in the Wild Card round. Despite Brock Purdy doing everything possible to hand the game away, the Eagles couldn’t take advantage of two interceptions- or a disastrous 25-yard 49ers punt that functioned as nothing more than a third turnover.

The Eagles’ offense was what it had been all year: predictable, inconsistent, penalty ridden, vanilla, and utterly incapable of putting away a team it should have beaten by two touchdowns based on the turnovers and short fields gift-wrapped for them.

Despite winning the turnover battle 2–0, the Eagles still lost. Historically, when the Eagles win the turnover battle under Nick Sirianni, they are nearly unbeatable, but Sunday dropped that mark to 42–3. Jalen Hurts wasn’t bad, but he also wasn’t great. He finished 20-of-35 for 168 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Given the windy conditions, that stat line is acceptable, but only if Hurts supplements it with his legs. That was the expectation, that the quarterback rushing element would finally reappear. Instead, the quarterback run threat that once defined and unlocked the offense, an element anticipated all week, was nowhere to be found, just as it had been for much of the season.

Photo Credit: Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire

Saquon Barkley finished with 26 carries for 106 yards and no touchdowns, becoming the Eagles’ all-time postseason rushing leader by surpassing Brian Westbrook. However, for the most part, San Francisco did a solid job of keeping him bottled up outside of one 29-yard run.

The biggest play of the game proved to be a San Francisco trick play to open the fourth quarter, an immediate contrast in offensive coaching creativity, when wide receiver Jauan Jennings, a former high school quarterback, finished a double reverse gadget play with a 29-yard touchdown pass to running back Christian McCaffrey. While McCaffrey was largely contained on the ground, finishing with just 15 carries for 48 yards, he burned the Eagles through the air, totaling 66 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions.

The contrast in offensive coaching was unmistakable: San Francisco leaned deep into the playbook late in the game, while the Eagles remained trapped in the same predictable box that defined their season. Kyle Shanahan moved the football with an injury-ravaged roster of mostly average talent, even after losing George Kittle to a torn Achilles in the first half, against one of the league’s best defenses...further underscoring the gap in coaching creativity and adaptability.

Meanwhile, the Eagles never truly adjusted to the pressure packages and disguised coverages dialed up by 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. When it was 4th and 11 with the game on the line, Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo dug deep in his playbook and drew up a four verticals play against a cover 4 defense:

The almost shocked look shared by both Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts, one of disbelief mixed with resignation, as if to say “yeah, that’s the call" could not have better symbolized what will almost certainly mark the end of the Patullo era as offensive coordinator. Yes, Hurts could have thrown it up to A.J. Brown and hoped the safety didn’t close fast enough, but that’s not good offense- the design was garbage.

In the days following the loss, some came to Patullo’s defense, including former Eagles star center Jason Kelce:

I'm not surprised by Kelce's comments. Players always believe it comes down to them. But what often gets overlooked is how great play design can elevate execution and mask offensive weaknesses, including talent limitations. San Francisco provided the clearest example of that reality, using creativity to move the football despite an injury-depleted roster.

In the end, the Eagles’ loss can’t be pinned on any single player or moment, but it also can’t be separated from the recurring themes that defined their season. Execution matters, and yes, that includes A.J. Brown’s two, and arguably three, costly drops. When you’re the squeaky wheel, and frustration begins to bleed into the locker room, the standard has to rise. Those are the moments when a star must leave nothing on the field and deliver when his number is called. Instead, Brown clashed with his coach over getting off the field, and more importantly, failed to rise to the occasion. That combination not only helped define this loss, but may have quietly marked the end of an otherwise great Eagles career.

The same scrutiny applies to Jalen Hurts. For the first time in his postseason career at home, Hurts failed to reach the level Eagles fans have come to expect- the level that outplayed Patrick Mahomes on the sport’s biggest stage (twice) and earned him a Super Bowl MVP last February. It’s also the level that justifies a $51 million-per-year contract. If Jalen Hurts, and the offensive staff, refuse to consistently design plays that leverage his threat as a runner, much like Buffalo does with Josh Allen, he will never reach the highest level of greatness again. Neutralizing Jalen's run threat handcuffs both Hurts and the offense as a whole.

Still, great offenses are built to survive imperfections. San Francisco showed how creativity and heart can keep an offense functional even when talent is depleted or mistakes occur. The Eagles never reached that standard. They never reached Jalen Hurts' standard- including himself. They remained the same predictable, stagnant, penalty-ridden mess they had been all year, and when the margin for error disappeared in January, so did their season.

There will be certainly be coaching staff changes in the upcoming days, but the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles blew it.