Is Jalen Hurts or Kevin Patullo the Real Problem for the Eagles Offense?

The Philadelphia Eagles' title defense was already looking rocky heading into a key Monday Night Football showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers. Things took a turn for the worse when the team turned the ball over five times on the way to a 22-19 overtime defeat.

While the loss hasn't put the Eagles out of playoff contention—the 8-5 squad would still be the No. 3 seed if the postseason began today—it was a concerning showing that did nothing to smooth over the issues that have been plaguing Philly's wildly inconsistent offense.

The Eagles have taken a major step back after ranking as the league's No. 8 total and No. 7 scoring offense last year with averages of 367.2 yards and 27.2 points per game. The unit now averages a pedestrian 309.4 yards and 22.2 points per game—ranking in the bottom half of the league in both categories.

This is a confounding development given Philadelphia returned 10 of its 11 Super Bowl LIX offensive starters and has remained overwhelmingly healthy this year. Given these factors, it's tough to decide who deserves more blame for the stunning regression: offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo or quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Regardless of who is at fault, something clearly needs to change over the final month of the season if the Eagles are going to figure things out and successfully defend their title.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at the main culprits behind Philadelphia's woeful offense, try to suss out the crux of these issues and offer a solution for the downtrodden organization.

Is Patullo the Problem?

Patullo has quickly risen the coaching ranks in recent years, capitalizing on his decision to join head coach Nick Sirianni when he took the Eagles job ahead of the 2021 campaign.

AP Photo/Rich Schultz

After starting out as the team's passing game coordinator, Patullo was promoted to add the associate head coach title in 2023 and remained in that role for Philadelphia's Super Bowl run last year.

With the offensive coordinator role vacated by Kellen Moore following his departure to the New Orleans Saints, Patullo became the second internal candidate to be promoted into the role under Sirianni, ominously following in the footsteps of Brian Johnson—the one-and-done OC who was jettisoned after Philly's infamous 1-6 collapse following a 10-1 start to the 2023 campaign.

Sirianni's decision was initially criticized due to Patullo's lack of experience in an OC role and as a play-caller. Those detractors correctly predicted that the Eagles would regress significantly under Patullo's stewardship.

One of the most obvious differences from last season is the glaring lack of variety in the plays the team is running. Philadelphia's receivers are running hitch routes at an alarming rate while the dangerous deep ball (with a league-best expected points added of 0.941 per play) that Hurts threw with great efficiency has been largely eliminated.

The ground game has become stagnant as well. After ranking second in the league with an average of 179.3 rushing yards per game thanks to an all-time Saquon Barkley season, the Eagles are now putting up nearly 70 yards less per week, with their average of 110.5 rushing yards rating as the 11th-worst mark in the NFL.

AP Photo/Ashley Landis

Despite these developments, Patullo has received consistent votes of confidence from Sirianni. The divisive head coach—who has made in-season play-caller changes twice in his first four years at the helm, including stripping himself of a role and handing it to Shane Steichen in 2021—recently said his team will "stay the course," but noted he has been spending more time, and plans to continue spending more time, working directly with the offense.

If the Eagles don't believe Patullo is the problem and plan to keep him around with his current responsibilities, they may have to consider a change under center.

Is Hurts a Hindrance?

Ten months ago it would have been unfathomable to believe benching Hurts could actually help the Eagles.

The superstar was coming off his second trip to the Super Bowl in his first four years as a starter, getting named the game's MVP for his impressive efforts in stopping the Kansas City Chiefs' three-peat bid.

The NFL moves quickly, however, and he is now mired in one of the worst slumps of his career. He had arguably the worst performance of it on Monday evening, a disastrous outing in which he turned the ball over five times—including twice in the span of a single play—and directly cost his team a chance to win by tossing a game-ending interception during the extra frame.

Following that 21-of-40 passing, 240-yard, zero-touchdown, four-interception performance, Hurts' numbers remain down across the board. His 64.7 percent completion rate is a four-point drop from last year and his lowest since his first full year as a starter in 2021. He's already thrown more interceptions (six) than he did in all of 2024 and is matching a career low with 7.2 yards per passing attempt.

Perhaps most concerningly, the 2020 second-round pick isn't making his usual impact as a rusher. He's on a pace that would result in by far the lowest rushing yardage (440.7) total of his tenure as a starter, while his 10.5 rushing touchdown pace would be well below the 14.5 he averaged over the last two seasons.

The Eagles haven't scored more than 21 points for five consecutive games with Hurts at the reins. If the team continues down this dismal path and loses a Week 15 showdown against the hapless Las Vegas Raiders, the calls to replace Hurts with Tanner McKee—the backup who showed out in the preseason opener and has generated significant trade buzz—will only grow louder.

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Benching Hurts and Moving On

If the Eagles do make the once unfathomable choice to bench Hurts and ultimately go on to fare better with McKee at the helm—potentially even defending their title with the backup under center—it could lead to one of the most intriguing quarterback controversies in league history.

It wouldn't be unprecedented for a backup to emerge as a superstar after supplanting the starter. Hurts himself stepped in for an ineffective Carson Wentz just over a half-decade ago and never relinquished the role. Wentz hadn't won a Super Bowl the previous season, nor made it to the big game a couple years prior, which makes this one of the more interesting hypothetical scenarios that has a chance (albeit an extremely small one) of playing out over the next few months.

If Hurts did lose his job, he would likely become available on the trade market to open the 2026 offseason. Expect plenty of interest for his services if he's being shopped around, as the QB is under contract through the 2028 season after signing a five-year, $255 million extension ahead of the 2023 campaign. It's a very affordable amount for a 27-year-old signal-caller who already collected a litany of impressive accolades despite just entering his prime.

The Eagles would theoretically see offers that include multiple first-round selections and other premium picks they could use to pad out the weak areas of the roster. The team would have a small window to go all-in on another championship run by placing a slew of talent around McKee, who is locked into his cost-effective rookie scale contract through next season.

Moving on from Patullo

After three-and-a-half months, it has become clear who Patullo is. It's also clear who he isn't and it doesn't seem that any amount of outside criticism or poor on-field results will change him at this point.

While the 44-year-old was described by Kenny Pickett as the "unsung hero" of the team's resounding Super Bowl LIX victory, he's out of his depth as an offensive coordinator.

Patullo was at his best preparing the team's two-minute offense and ironing out the minutiae of a game plan. He hasn't been able to make a successful transition to head honcho, though, as his play-calling and overall scheming have been a bust.

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

There are plenty of capable replacements who deserve their chance—including several candidates currently on Sirianni's staff—to run the offense. Sticking with a coordinator who has proved time and time again that he isn't willing or able to make the type of adjustments a Super Bowl contender needs will cost the Eagles a chance to repeat.

What Philadelphia Should Do

Rather than send Hurts to the bench—something that hasn't happened for skill-related issues since Tua Tagovailoa replaced him at Alabama during the 2018 College Football Playoff championship game—in a desperate attempt to right the ship, the Eagles would be better served taking the play-calling sheet out of Patullo's hands.

While that would likely spell the end of the offensive coordinator's tenure in the City of Brotherly Love—becoming the latest in a string of one-and-done Eagles OCs—it's the type of desperation move Philadelphia needs to find a spark.

Instead of going back to the well with the same predictable, poorly orchestrated offense, the Eagles might get a much-needed shot in the arm by having Sirianni call plays for the first time in four years.

If the head coach prefers to delegate, it makes plenty of sense to promote quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler, who has a wealth of experience stemming from his tenure as Bowling Green's head coach as well as OC stops at programs like Boston College, Virginia Tech and Auburn. He's a strong internal candidate to fix Philly's schematical and game-planning issues, boasting the knowledge and experience to excel in that role.

Regardless of whether Sirianni, Loeffler or someone else ends up calling plays, the Eagles are running out of time to make the change. Monday's result showed that the team simply can't afford to continue down the same road if it wants to be a serious contender.

The Eagles would be wise to avoid the nuclear option of benching Hurts and forging ahead with McKee. Things aren't looking very bright right now, but Philly has already proved it has the on-field tools to get the job done and simply needs to find the right play-caller to unlock them again.