If someone polled the whole city of Philadelphia and asked them what the root cause of the Eagles' offense being so bad in 2025 was, most people would probably say offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
While that might be the correct answer, there is more than just Patullo that is the blame for it. That's a question that stumped Eagles running back Saquon Barkley as he cleaned out his locker one day after losing to the San Francisco 49ers, 23-19, in the NFC Wild Card game.
"That's a loaded question right now," Barkley said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "We're one day removed from it, one day removed at the end of the season. I know there's going to be a lot of questions and a lot of opinions, but, and I'm not just saying this because there's cameras and mics in my face — It's how I operate — before I go same with someone else, getting them better. I got to start myself, and I think we all need to do that.
"Because if we think that there's one problem, we think that there's one reason why we weren't successful as a team and why we weren't successful as offense, and that we had nothing else, and we had nothing to do with it, no matter what happens, we're going to be the same position. Same position next year. What needs to change in offseason? We got to learn from our mistakes and the leaders on this team, we got to learn from it. We got to be better, not let things slide and hold each other accountable and use this as fuel and emotion, fuel to get us ready for the next season."
Is there one problem to Eagles' offense in 2025 or more?
Patullo deserves a lot of the blame, as he became too predictable in his play-calling, which made it easier for defenses to game-plan against them. The Eagles' offensive coordinator loved his hitch routes and died on the hill with his out routes, instead of attacking the middle of the field, where the 49ers blitzed throughout the game.
But just putting everything on Patullo would be too elementary a response, as this Eagles team had big problems all around the offense.
The offensive line was banged up all season, which caused a lot more defenders to break through the line, and two or three of them would be in the backfield ready to blow up a run when Barkley got the ball. That's something that rarely happened in 2024, but when Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens, and Lane Johnson are all hurt, that's what is going to happen.
Philly's receivers certainly had trouble getting open in the field. That might be more on the plays being called, but A.J. Brown had a down season overall because he couldn't get separation from defenders.
Of course, we also have to look at Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, as he was far from perfect in the season. Hurts took a step back with his deep ball accuracy and struggled to find open receivers quickly, so he would panic too early and when he rolled out to the right, it was most likely going to be a throw away.
Read more: Dan Orlovsky's vicious takedown of Eagles offense isn't good for Kevin Patullo
Sure, firing Patullo is the simplest call, but there might need to be some examination of the offense to see which players need to stay and which need to go after this disastrous season.