The Philadelphia Eagles have failed in their quest to repeat as champions in the 2025-26 season, as Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni were sent home by an undermanned San Francisco 49ers team, 23-19, a score that is sure to sting this fanbase.
While the lion's share of the blame from fans of social media will be directed at Hurts, as is always the case when a quarterback of his pedigree puts up a bit of a stinker in a situation like this, the Eagles' wide receiver room may be more to blame for this performance than any other unit.
The room led by A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith dropped four different passes on third down, one of which was a painful miscue on Brown's part during the attempted game-winning drive. Those four drops were more than the Eagles had on third down all year long coming into this game.
The four drops are the most that any team has had in a playoff game since ESPN started keeping track of such statistics in 2006. Hurts was giving his guys a chance, and they didn't hold up their end of the bargain.
Eagles WRs lets Jalen Hurts down after insane drops vs. 49ers
Hurts certainly did not play his best ball tonight in the inclement weather, as he failed to even crack 150 yards passing despite 30 attempts against a defense that has been ravaged by injuries. However, the bigger problems were his receivers not following through, and Kevin Patullo stinking it up yet again.
The 49ers are so beaten up, especially up front, that their pass rush (which ranked dead last in the league in sacks) was a complete non-factor. The offense still made it look like pulling teeth to pull off any big downfield play, and that falls on coaching, specifically.
The Eagles will likely be back in the contending tier once again in the offseason, especially if Patullo is shown the door. However, that aura of impregnability this team may have had to their name appears to have wilted away, and this franchise needs to find a way to reckon with that.
Read more: Nick Sirianni tried to play down sideline tirade with A.J. Brown in Eagles loss
Hurts and the Eagles will be in for an offseason with a much stronger deluge of negativity than what normally comes for defending champions who won 11 games and a division title. Losing as they did against San Francisco, however, warrants this level of self-reflection.