Jalen Hurts Takes Blame for Eagles' Failed Final Play in NFL Playoff Bracket Loss to 49ers

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts owned his part of the offense's struggles during both the 2025 campaign and Sunday's 23-19 season-ending loss against the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card Round.

He also spoke about the team's inability to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

"It's always hard to duplicate, but you know, it's... everything was there in front of us," he told reporters. "And so, just gotta really, really, really improve from it, you know. Obviously we all could've executed better. But it takes everyone being honest with themselves on that and challenging themselves to grow from it."

There will be plenty of blame to go around for the Eagles' inability to even win a playoff game this year—many fans in Philadelphia were ready to fire offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo months ago, while A.J. Brown caught a case of the drops on Sunday—but Hurts' limitations as a passer also played a part.

While the 27-year-old finished with 3,224 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions on the season, completing 64.8 percent of his passes and taking 32 sacks, he was far less impactful as a runner than years past (421 yards, eight scores). His rushing yards were the fewest since his rookie season in 2020, when he only started four games.

The Eagles transitioned to a more run-heavy, conservative offense the past two years, hoping to lean on Saquon Barkley and an elite defense. But the run game wasn't as effective as last season—whether that's down to schematic deficiencies, injuries on the offensive line, defenses making adjustments or some combination of the three is up for debate—and when Hurts was asked to carry a larger load through the air he struggled at times, namely turning the ball over five times in a December overtime loss against the Los Angeles Chargers.

It all added up to a very talented offense struggling to consistently produce on a week-in, week-out basis. The Eagles were a slog to watch on that side of the ball, wasting a defense that played at a championship level for most of the season.

The Eagles still have a talented core and Howie Roseman is one of the more aggressive and respected executives in the sport, so the Eagles will likely field a highly talented roster again next season. But nothing will be more important than ensuring that they have a scheme in place to get the most out of that talent, Hurts included.