Nick Sirianni made the right move this week regarding his much-maligned first year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. He didn’t make one.
There was no reshuffling of the offensive coordinator spot for his Philadelphia Eagles, no change in the play calling duties and no reactionary overcorrection designed to win the press conferences but lose the locker room. Sirianni did what smart leaders do. He resisted the noise and chose stability over chaos.
SCENE SET:
Who: Eagles (8-3, 4-1 Home) vs. Bears (8-3, 4-2 Away)
When: 3:00 PM ET, Black Friday, November 28, 2025
Where: Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia, PA
TV: Amazon Prime Video (announcers Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit) plus local FOX coverage in Philly and Chicago, and also on NFL+ for out-of-market viewers.
Betting Lines: Eagles -7 Over/Under 43.5
Money Lines: Eagles -325, Bears +260
And thank God he did. Because the last time this franchise panicked and rearranged coordinators in the middle of a season, it detonated the entire operation.
Those Who Don’t Learn From History…
Everyone remembers 2023 when the Eagles fired defensive coordinator Sean Desai in December, elevated Matt Patricia, and everything collapsed. The defense fell apart, the players revolted and they lost six of their last seven games, including a first round Wildcard game in Tampa. The locker room turned toxic. That was the consequence of a panic hire. It created confusion, instability, and distrust. Sirianni learned from that nightmare. He was not going to repeat it on offense just because the Cowboys beat the Birds in a frustrating, self-inflicted loss. Besides, unless there was a plan in place to exhume Bill Walsh and hand him a set of laminated play cards, what was the viable next move?
The Dallas Autopsy
Now let’s talk about what happened against Dallas.
The Eagles did not lose because Kevin Patullo called a bad game. They lost because the offense kept shooting itself in the foot and gifting Dallas free possessions, erasing explosive plays with penalties, and leaving points on the field.
Patullo’s plan was more than good enough to win last Sunday in Arlington.
The Eagles put up yards. They created chunk gains. They moved the ball through the air. The head coach saw that, the players saw that, and anyone who watched the game with clear eyes saw it.
Jalen Hurts threw for almost 300 yards and his top receivers ate just fine.
A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith combined for 14 receptions, 199 yds, 1 td on 21 targets. Dallas Goedert had a real presence and the passing attack statistically, was productive. The offense accounted for no fewer than five different drives that should have led to points, but each time some sort of self-sabotage blew the operation up, after the first 20 minutes of the game in which the Birds had built a 21 point lead.
Critical penalties were the cause of drive killers and momentum destroyers. Illegal formation, offensive pass interference, a false start, a hold and an illegal hands to the face infraction more than all led to Philly’s melt down in Big D last week.
Every one took potential points off the board in a game where the Eagles probably needed just three more after the 11 minute mark of the second quarter to pretty much secure what would have been their ninth win of the season. Every one shifted the pressure back onto the quarterback and the coordinator. That is not a play calling problem. That is a discipline problem. That is a technique problem. That is a situational awareness problem. But it is not grounds to fire the coordinator.
Jake Not So Automatic
Let’s talk about the Jake Elliott miss.
He has been pretty automatic for years. He has bailed this team out more times than we can count. But he pushed a 56-yarder in the fourth quarter with a chance to give his team a two-score lead. Did that pretty much su*k? Yes. Does that mean Patullo called a bad game? Of course not. It means your elite kicker missed a long one on a windy night indoors. That’s life in the NFL.
Could Patullo have given Tank Bigsby more than one carry? Sure. It is fair to question that. The run game has been inconsistent and Bigsby has flashed signs of explosiveness to the tune of a nine yard average per carry this year. But one questionable distribution decision does not justify a midseason coordinator firing or a late November play caller swap. That would not have helped. It would have made everything worse.
And here is the biggest reason of all that Sirianni was right to hold steady.
Jalen Hurts has had nine different offensive coordinators in the last ten years.
Nine.
That is unheard of. That would break most quarterbacks. That would stunt most careers, yet Hurts has become a franchise quarterback and Super Bowl MVP through all of it. At some point the kid deserves continuity. Patullo is in year one calling plays. There is a learning curve and you cannot shortcut it. The only way to grow is to go through it. There are no cutting corners when it comes to experience.
The Birds Have the Pieces, Do They Have Enough Time?
The Eagles need to clean some things up. No one disputes that. The offense needs rhythm. They need better pre snap execution. They need to get their run game identity back. But blowing up the staff in the middle of a playoff push would have done nothing but create more instability. Panic moves feel good in the moment, but they make everything worse long term.
Nick Sirianni made the correct call. Patience is not weakness, it’s strength due to emotioanl intelligence. Stability is not complacency, it is foundation.
Sometimes the smartest move is to not make one, while the world is collapsing aroud you and everybody else is overreacting emotionally.
The Eagles have the talent, they have the quarterback, they have the weapons and they have the coach.
What they need most right now is time. Do they have enough of it? Time will tell.
PREDICTION: Eagles 38, Bears 19
Why Nick Sirianni Was Right Not To Blow Up the Eagles’ Offensive Staff