Philadelphia Eagles to fire Doug Pederson odds: Coach favored to not return for 2021 NFL season
SportsLine oddsmakers offer their take on the future of Eagles coach Doug Pederson.
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Entering this season, it would have seemed laughable that Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson would be on the hot seat after leading his team to its first-ever Super Bowl win just three seasons ago. However, the 2020 Eagles are an utter mess at 3-7-1 and quarterback Carson Wentz is regressing in a historically bad way. SportsLine NFL oddsmakers thus now favor Pederson, one of nine active head coaches to have won a Super Bowl, to be fired after this year.
Philadelphia is still in the NFC East race but lost its third game in a row Monday night, 23-17 at home to Seattle. The offense has scored exactly 17 points in each loss and Wentz completed just 25 of 45 for 215 yards with a league-leading 15th interception against the Seahawks – no other QB has more than 11 picks, and Wentz has 19 giveaways when including lost fumbles.
Wentz has a QB rating of 73.4 that's third-lowest in the NFL and that's in comparison to having a combined passer rating of 98.3 from 2017-19. Wentz is the sixth quarterback ever to have his passer rating drop 24 points below his combined rating from his previous three years but the only one under the age of 30.
Whether Pederson should bench Wentz or not is something that SportsLine oddsmakers looked at last week, but backup and rookie second-round pick Jalen Hurts barely saw the field again Monday (two snaps) despite rumors he was taking first-team snaps in practices leading up to the game.
Owners can't fire high-paid quarterbacks – the Eagles can't realistically get out of Wentz's $128 million deal until after 2022 -- so the offensive problems are going to fall on Pederson, who calls the plays. The Jets and Eagles are the only two teams in the NFL this season that have not scored 30 points in a game.
Owner Jeffrey Lurie is clearly not happy and didn't attend Philly's 23-17 loss in Cleveland in Week 11. That's important because Lurie attends every game but that "his absence ... was widely believed by many to primarily be an extension of his feelings," according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report. Inquirer writer Jeff McLane also reported that Lurie has "left various workouts early out of disgust." And if you saw the shots of Lurie on ESPN during Monday's loss, he definitely was not happy.
On Tuesday, Pederson said he has received no assurances from the front office that he will keep his job for the remainder of the season, and frankly GM Howie Roseman is in trouble as well. Pederson has finally hinted at potentially giving up play-calling.
The only thing that could save either's job is winning the NFC East. In each of the last two seasons, the Eagles started slowly but then got hot and reached the playoffs. Philadelphia is only a game back of first in the win column in the division but has a challenging remaining schedule: Sunday at Green Bay, Week 14 vs. Saints, Week 15 at Cardinals, Week 16 at Cowboys and Week 17 vs. Washington.
Pederson's seat could become boiling hot if the Eagles lose ugly on Sunday in Green Bay, which is -8.5 on the William Hill Sportsbook NFL odds. On the bright side, Pro Bowl Philly tight end Zach Ertz is expected to return from injury.
Reading the tea leaves from the City of Brotherly Love, most Eagles beat writers thought Pederson was safe until Monday's dispiriting loss. Former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner said that Pederson "coached the game like he wanted to be fired," for example.
Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Will Doug Pederson be the Eagles coach Week 1 of the 2021 season?
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