Nick Sirianni is setting the NFL gold standard for coaching meltdowns in 2024

Coaching meltdowns are always fun. They add spice to the long NFL season at different points in the schedule, and they produce entertaining conflicts that help keep headline writers and highlight jockeys busy. Quotes like Jim Mora’s old “Playoffs?” rant have stood the test of time when it comes to stories from back in the day, and sometimes fans even become an unexpected part of the churn.

That’s especially true of Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, who is setting a new standard for meltdowns in 2024. Sirianni has been quite successful in Philly, and the Eagles are still above .500 at 3-2, but you wouldn’t know it from the steady stream of drama he’s generated as his relationship with QB Jalen Hurts continues to go sideways.

Photo byCasey MurphyonUnsplash

Nick Sirianna entered this season on the NFL hot seat

Sirianni’s had a lot of success in Philly, but he went into this season facing serious speculation about his job. The Eagles’ epic collapse last year was a major storyline of the second half of the season, and the coach’s deteriorating relationship with Hurts has been generating monthly stories about how bad their split is and what it’s doing to the team as a whole.

Most of that was kept under the radar last year, but this year things have been completely different. The Eagles roster is built to be a Super Bowl contender, but they haven’t played like one in a long time. They continue to be an up-and-down team that alternates between good and mediocre games, and as that continues Sirianni’s stress level has been rising steadily.

Sirianni snapped during Philadelphia’s win over Cleveland

The Eagles coach finally lost it during last week's Cleveland game, which was one of the most unwatchable games on the NFL schedule so far this year. Both offenses struggled, and the only reason Philly was able to post a 20-16 win is because Deshaun Watson’s quarterback play is so bad right now that the Browns can barely score at all. They’ve yet to post 20 points in any of their six contests, and that’s not a sustainable formula for winning in today’s NFL.

The good news is that Hurts was better than he has been. He threw for 264 yards and two TDs while going 16-for-25, and he managed to stay out of the turnover column for the Eagles. The win wasn’t pretty, but winning ugly is something good teams have to do occasionally, although it’s tough to tell if the Eagles actually fall into that category anymore.

The Philly fans let Sirianni and company know about the “not pretty” part, and their reaction was everything they’re known for when they see bad football. This shouldn’t have fazed Sirianni at all—he knows the unwritten rules about interacting with fans, but for some reason he chose to get into it with a group behind the Eagles bench that was riding the team particularly hard.

The rest of Sirianni’s routine isn’t going over all that well, either

Having a bad day with the fan base can happen to any NFL coach, so Sirianni’s reaction was at least somewhat forgivable. But Sirianni has been doing things that look increasingly desperate as the Eagles continue to struggle, and those might be the real yellow flags here.

Shaving his head was an amusing move, and it might be acceptable in a rah-rah high school or college program. But this is the NFL, and coaches are expected to act like management representatives. What Sirianni did was the opposite of that, especially during his post-game presser.

The Eagles coach trotted out his kids when he took to the podium, which is basically just bizarre behavior for an NFL coach. It’s one thing to see an NBA player do a presser with a small child in tow—it happens all the time in that league, and it’s considered an acceptable part of standard diva behavior.

But it seriously damaged what’s left of Sirianni’s credibility, and at this point it seems like just a matter of time before he goes off the rails completely. A meltdown against the rival Giants this week or a subpar effort against the resurgent Bengals could easily send Sirianni over the top again, and if that happens it won’t take owner Jeffrey Lurie and chief exec Howard Roseman long to make a move.

This article was originally written by Bob McCullough