NEW ORLEANS – An awkward introductory press conference, the misunderstood flower analogy, “unprofessional” emotion, and a tortured 2023 collapse.
It might seem strange on the day after a Super Bowl LIX blowout but just over 12 months ago there was real talk that Nick Sirianni wouldn’t be back as the Eagles’ head coach.
After the Eagles’ dominant 40-22 win over Kansas City in the big game, Sirianni’s got all the leverage in extension talks with Jeffrey Lurie.
The third-winningest coach of the Super Bowl era has now made two big games in three years and beaten a perceived dynasty into oblivion just two years after outplaying the Chiefs in a razor-thin 38-35 loss.
Sirianni and his team handed one of the greatest coaches of all time one of his worst losses and the Eagles coach traced it all back to the one real hiccup he’s had as a head coach, the strange 1-6 collapse that turned 10-1 to one-and-done at the end of the 2023 campaign.
"I look back on last year and how last year ended and I'm grateful,” Sirianni said Monday morning while showing off the Lombardi Trophy with Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts. “As crazy as this sounds, I'm grateful how last year ended because it shaped us to who we are today.
“The adversity of the beginning of the year and the adversity through the season, through injuries, through ups and downs, through everything.”
Sirianni has plenty of help.
Jeffrey Lurie has evolved into one of the best owners in sports and he correctly labeled Howie Roseman as a Hall of Fame GM after the Super Bowl.
Roseman gifted Sirianni a roster of stars and many of them outperformed expectations.
“You can’t be great without the greatness of others,” has become a mantra for Sirianni en route to becoming a Super Bowl-winning coach.
The Eagles coach needed the greatness of others to get over the hump but the others needed Sirianni’s greatness in cultivating a culture that went the distance.
The Eagles were “Tough, Detailed and Together” because Sirianni was steering the ship with that sentiment in mind.
The belief of this team was palpable in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. It was never about the Chiefs all the way to the Lombardi Trophy.
“We knew we had a group of guys that could do special things, but it was going to take day-in and day-out work,” said Sirianni. “It was just putting your head down and working.
“... It’s boring, but it’s truly just trying to get a little bit better each day. But that’s the thing that you’ll remember, is the daily grind of emptying the tank every week to try to win each week. We just doubled down on the things we knew to be true. We knew we had special players, we knew we had special coaches, we knew we had a special front office and special people in the building and our goal was to do it together and stick together and go.”
