Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson is expected to return to his current role for the 2021 season.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen were the first to break the news, noting that Pederson will meet with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie on Tuesday to discuss plans for 2021.
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network has shown “all the signs” that Pederson is keeping his job.
The 52-year-old led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl victory in his year as head coach, beating favorites the New England Patriots in February 2018.
After going 7-9 last year, Pederson led the team to a 13-3 record, enough for the top spot in the NFC playoffs. They beat the Atlanta Falcons 15-10 before beating the Minnesota Vikings 34-7 in the NFC naming game and knocking down the Pats favorites 41-33 in the Super Bowl.
However, the Eagles’ clever fortune in the regular season may not repeat itself from then on, as the team went 9-7 in each of the next two seasons. That brand smart enough for anytime playoff appearances, adding a name from the NFC East in 2019.
However, the good fortune of the playoffs eluded Philadelphia, which won an NFC wild card game with the Chicago Bears in 2018 and fell to the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round. The following year ended with a 17-9 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the wild-card round.
The 2020 season has been a struggle for the Eagles, as they are 4-10-1 in Sunday night’s Week 17 game against the Washington soccer team.
Philadelphia still had a chance to win the modest NFC East it beat in Week 16, however its playoff hopes were dashed by a 37-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on December 27.
Injuries affected the Eagles, who were much of their first attack of Week 1 for much of the season.
A makeshift offensive line cost Carson Wentz, who got into a varied and rotating organization of wide receivers and had his own fight percentage.
Wentz was eventually benched to replace rookie Jalen Hurts.
The defense was also damaged, the structure of the linebackers was affected. This unit blinked at times, but ultimately failed down the home stretch, allowing 513 yards in an unmissable game against Dallas in Week 16.
The skill is still there for Philadelphia to compete next season in a weak NFC East, and Pederson will likely lead the way in hopes of securing his Third Division title.
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@GDavenport says David Bakhtiari injury knocks Green Bay down at the most sensible convention ➡️