You may think that being a head coach that won a Super Bowl might be enough to keep you safe from the chopping block, but you’d be dead wrong. The Eagles, according to Sportsline, are considering firing Doug Pederson as their head coach. Eagles fans have been calling for his head for some time now, after the team’s dismal 2020 season, and many outlets have been speculating on him getting the sack. While it seems to be a genuinely drastic measure, a firing of this magnitude may be well deserved, considering where the Eagles are today.
What on Earth happened?
For this season, the Eagles’ record comes up to a mere four wins and ten losses with a single draw. At the end of last season, if you had to bet on the 2021 winner, you’d probably have taken the Eagles. This horrific performance has left many Eagles fans taring on at the results in shock. The last time the Eagles had a seasoned coach and won five or fewer games was just before the Second World War, in 1939. Today’s record is a far cry from the Eagles of last year, who were about to embark on a historic run, ending in their win over The Patriots.
Other winning coaches secured their tenure
Pederson is treading on thin ice, but he’s an exception to the rule. Most Super Bowl-winning coaches either retire or are still coaching the teams they won with. Out of thirty-three winning coaches, Pederson may fall into a group of just ten that lost their teams after dismal seasons post-win. However, he’s even more unique. Out of the ten fired coaches, only two were fired within six years of winning the Lombardi Trophy. Pederson is three years off the Lombardi himself, but if he gets fired now, he’d be the third-fastest coach to be fired after winning a Super Bowl with a team.
Don McCafferty holds the record, being fired for a disagreement with his team’s manager a mere twenty-one months after bringing home the Super Bowl. He ran the show for the Baltimore Colts during the 70/71 season. He remained with the team until early 1972 when the Colts were facing an uphill battle. The first five games saw them with a 4-1 record, and the manager told McCafferty to bench Johnny Unitas for Marty Domres. McCafferty refused, and the manager fired him on the spot. McCafferty holds the record for the shortest time, going from winning the Super Bowl to being fired. However, another character also stands in line to beat Pederson if he were to get canned.
George Seifert was only technically a firing since he wasn’t officially let go. Seifert was the head coach at the 49ers between 29189 and 1996. Under his leadership, the 49ers managed Super Bowl wins in 1989 and again in 1994. It was after the latter win that disaster struck for Seifert. Late in 1996, they informed him that he was scheduled to be replaced by the team’s offensive coordinator, Steve Mariucci. Seifert, not one to stick around to be shuffled off into the sunset, decided to call it quits and resigned in 1996. Many wouldn’t call it a proper firing, although it has all the hallmarks of one.
Three out of 10 might be bad
At the moment, it may be difficult to pinpoint what the problem with The Eagles is. Pederson had everything working out for him last season and how the team’s just short of a train wreck. How could a single coach get so much wrong in such a short space of time? No one’s really sure, least of all the coach, or else he’d fix it. If Pederson doesn’t want to get the sack and take his place as number three on the list, he needs to buck up and fly right.
Story by Alex Hamilton
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