“Philly Philly” was a phrase that took over the world in 2017 when the Philadelphia Eagles won the Lombardi Trophy and the Super Bowl. Since then, the best way to describe life after the Super Bowl win? Disappointing at best. After backup Nick Foles won them the Super Bowl, he had one more playoff run in him before the Eagles let him walk as a free agent to Jacksonville. In 2020, coach Doug Pederson took it upon himself to draft quarterback Jalen Hurts. 

  Poor performance by established Carson Wentz ultimately led up to a week 13 start for the rookie quarterback. Junior Carlos Betancur expressed, “After week 12, the Eagles were in the worst division in football and still had a chance at the playoffs proved that they needed a switch fast. Starting Hurts was the right move for sure.” Hurts played well throughout the season yet was knocked out of playoff contention in week 16. 

  The Philadelphia Eagles were scheduled to play the Washington Football Team, who were in a win-and-in scenario. Yet, if the Eagles were to win, the New York Giants would be into the playoffs instead and would knock off Washington. The Giants had beaten the Dallas Cowboys to eliminate them from playoff contention. So, as Maraiah Carey sang the intro song to Sunday Night Football, the game began…

  The game was a bore as most football fans know by now, yet that’s not the reason many were so intrigued by this Sunday night game. It was a close game coming towards the end of the first half, and Doug Pederson made a questionable decision to bench the rookie again for a veteran Nate Sudfeld who had only played in pre-season games for the Eagles. As coach Pederson described, “We wanted to see what we had with Nate, if he had any potential and if we could trust him in big games. I was coaching to win not to lose.” This obviously didn’t sit well with Eagles fans, especially adding the fact that they drafted Hurts to be the future of the franchise, not Sudfeld. 

  More importantly though, Giants fans all over America were steaming at the fact that they thought Pederson was intentionally throwing the game for the Washington Football Team. Sophomore Xavier Lewis stated, “ I watched Hurts play in college for both Alabama and Oklahoma, he’s the real deal and no one should even consider taking the job away from him, whether that be Wentz or Sudfeld. Overall bad management from the entire Eagles organization.” The Washington Football Team ended up taking home the victory because of this and getting into the playoffs and winning the NFC East title at a drastic 7-9 record. 

  As of the writing of this story, the Eagles organization and Super Bowl winning coach Doug Pederson have decided to part ways due to professional differences and coaching disputes, but questions remain. Will the Eagles strive under Jalen Hurts? Or will the Eagles no longer be able to fly without Pederson? The Eagles are still looking for the answers as to what went wrong this season, and at the same time may have just jeopardized their future too. Only time will tell to see if the Eagles truly will fly again.