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Following a late-season swoon in which they lost five of their last six regular-season games before being embarrassed in the NFC wild-card round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Philadelphia Eagles did a bit of housecleaning, firing both offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and defensive coordinator Sean Desai.
But it certainly didn’t take long for GM Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni to fill the vacancies, did it?
Just days after Desai was dismissed, the Eagles hired Vic Fangio, who spent last season as the DC of the Miami Dolphins, as his replacement. And according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Philly is set to bring in Kellen Moore as its new offensive coordinator.
Moore spent this past season in the same role with the Los Angeles Chargers, which makes the 35-year-old the third OC the Eagles have hired in the last nine years who’d spent the previous year with the Bolts.
And the good news for Philly fans is that the previous two, Frank Reich and Shane Steichen, each helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl within two seasons. Coincidence? Perhaps. But is it still a fun connection? Absolutely.
The Last 2 OCs the Eagles Hired From the Chargers Helped Philly Reach the Super Bowl
GettyFrank Reich ahead of the Eagles-Patriots matchup at Super Bowl 52.
Fired by the Chargers following the 2015 season, Reich was hired as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator on January 20, 2016, just two days after Doug Pederson was brought in as the new head coach.
While the ’16 campaign wasn’t successful, as the Birds finished with the same 7-9 record they had the previous year, the 2017 season was obviously a bit better. With Reich running the offense, the Eagles ranked third in the NFL in scoring, averaging 28.6 points per game during the regular season.
They then averaged 31.3 points per game in their three playoff victories, including a 41-point performance in their Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots. Reich, of course, left Philadelphia that offseason to become the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
Upon Reich’s departure, wide receivers coach Mike Groh was promoted to offensive coordinator but was fired following the 2019 season.
GettyShane Steichen during an Eagles-Steelers matchup in 2021.
After playing the 2020 season with no official offensive coordinator, the Eagles hired Shane Steichen for the role on January 25, 2021, one day after bringing in Sirianni to replace Pederson. Steichen spent seven years with the Chargers prior to coming to Philadelphia, the last season and a half as the team’s OC.
In Steichen’s first season in Philly, the Eagles led the league in rushing with a franchise-record 2,715 yards. In 2022, just two years after Philadelphia ranked 26th in the NFL in scoring, the Eagles had the third-highest scoring offense in the league, averaging 28.1 points per game en route to an appearance in Super Bowl 57, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Like Reich, Steichen left the team to become the head coach of the Colts.
Kellen Moore Takes Control of an Eagles’ Offense That Took a Big Step Back in 2023
While there’s obviously no guarantee that Kellen Moore can duplicate the success of the two former Chargers’ offensive coordinators that came before him, he will have a lot of weapons with which to work, even if the Eagles’ offense as a whole took a step back in 2023.
The NFL MVP runner-up a season ago, quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a career-worst 15 interceptions this past season but also set career highs in passing yards (3,858) and touchdown passes (23) while also rushing for a career-best 15 scores, tied with Josh Allen for the league lead among quarterbacks.
And while Philadelphia dropped in scoring (28.1 to 25.5), rushing (147.6 yards per game to 128.8), and passing (241.5 yards per game to 225.5), they still ranked seventh, eighth, and 16th in those categories, respectively. So there are far worse situations Moore could’ve walked into.
No, he didn’t have the greatest season with the Chargers. But in his four seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys (2019-2022), Moore’s unit ranked in the top four in scoring (27.7 points per game) and total yardage (391.0 yards per game) during that stretch.
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