Why haven’t these Philadelphia Eagles interviewed Jim Caldwell?

The Philadelphia Eagles‘ decision not to interview Jim Caldwell yet is astounding. So far, their quest for a new head coach to replace their only Super Bowl champion, Doug Pederson, has resulted in them bringing in a myriad of potential candidates. Some of them have been intriguing and others, bewildering, but the fact that Jim Caldwell hasn’t been included amongst them is both absolutely astounding and completely maddening.

Simply put, Caldwell is a winner, one that for, some reason, gets dismissed in NFL conversations. This is most likely due to his quiet, reserved personality, but as far as winning goes, Caldwell may not have won a Super Bowl but does have a winning percentage of just over 55 percent. There’s a big difference between excuses and reasons though.

Caldwell took over for Tony Dungy as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2009 and led the Colts to a 14-2 record (they started the season 14-0 then controversially rested their starters), but they fought their way to Super Bowl birth and ultimately lost to the New Orleans Saints.

Caldwell is still the last rookie head coach to reach the Super Bowl, and his Colts followed that season with a 10-6 mark in their second year before losing to the New York Jets by a 17-16 margin in the Wild Card Round of the AFC Playoffs. In 2011, the Colts suffered as Peyton Manning sat on the sideline with neck issues. Caldwell was fired following that season.

A story any Philadelphia Eagles fan can appreciate.

Caldwell scored the Detroit Lions head-coaching job in 2014. In his first season in the Motor City, they posted an 11–5 record and made the playoffs as a Wild Card team. They were defeated in the first round by the Dallas Cowboys, a game with a still-controversial ending, one in which Dallas wound up being called for an obvious pass interference penalty.

2015 saw Caldwell’s Lions go 7-9. That was followed by consecutive 9-7 showing. In their first, the Lions were again defeated in the Wild Card Round by the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle in a game where Detroit left the field with nothing to be ashamed of.

Caldwell was fired following that second 9-7 season by then-new Lions general manager Bob Quinn, who allegedly did so to bring in Matt Patricia from Quinn’s old team, the New England Patriots. Look how that turned out. No, Caldwell never won a Super Bowl as a head coach, but he was unfairly fired twice.

As an assistant, however, Caldwell is a two- time champion. He was Peyton Manning’s quarterbacks coach when the Colts won the Super Bowl during the 2006 season. He was also the quarterbacks’ coach and interim offensive coordinator for the Ravens in 2012 during Joe Flacco’s magical run. Flacco hasn’t come close to duplicating that level of greatness since.

So, why would Jim Caldwell be a significant addition to the Philadelphia Eagles?

Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie stated that he wants his Eagles to win with offense. Caldwell can check that box. It’s also quite apparent that Lurie and Howie Roseman want to try to win with Carson Wentz. Well, if Caldwell made a Super Bowl MVP out of Joe Flacco, who, until Patrick Mahomes, was the only AFC quarterback to start a Super Bowl not named Brady, Manning, or Roethlisberger since 2003, the argument can be made that Wentz or Jalen Hurts could definitely benefit from having someone like Caldwell to work with.

With Jim Caldwell’s resumé, a Super Bowl appearance as a head coach, two Super Bowl wins as a quarterbacks coach, the best winning percentage for a Lions head coach since Buddy Parker (that was in the 50s), and the ‘I took the Lions to the playoffs twice’ feather in his cap, he checks every box the Eagles are looking for.

All of this begs one question. Why in the world haven’t the Philadelphia Eagles brought in Jim Caldwell to interview for their vacant head-coaching position? We have time. If someone has a legitimate answer, the ITI staff would love to hear it.