The Philadelphia Eagles have fired head coach Doug Pederson according to Tim McManus of ESPN. Pederson had been the head coach of the Eagles since 2016, and won a Super Bowl with the Eagles in his second season as the Philadelphia head coach. On February 4, 2018, the Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In five seasons coaching the Eagles, Philadelphia had a record of 42 wins, 37 losses, and one tie for a winning percentage of .531.
This past season was clearly a season of turmoil for the Eagles. They only won four of 16 games, and with a record of 4-11-1, the Eagles were last in the NFC East. Remarkably, despite being seven games below the .500 mark, Philadelphia still had a chance of reaching the postseason until the second last week of the regular season. That is because they were playing in the worst division in NFL history. The Washington Football Team found a way to win the division with a record of seven wins and nine losses. They were followed by the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, who were each at six wins and 10 losses.
There was also a conflict within the Eagles organization of how the team was going forward. It appeared that Pederson was loyal to Carson Wentz, while others in Eagles management wanted Jalen Hurts to be the quarterback. In the Eagles’ final week of the regular season against the Washington Football Team, Pederson made the extremely controversial decision in giving Nate Sudfeld playing time in the second half, when Hurts was by far the better quarterback. Even though the game meant nothing to the Eagles, it was huge for the Giants as they needed an Eagles win to make the postseason. It appeared Pederson was not trying to win the game, but evaluate talent, and the Eagles lost 20-14.
