Could a loss to the Browns signal the end for Nick Sirianni?

There is simply no excuse to lose to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

Things should be different at Lincoln Financial Field when the 2-2 Eagles welcome the 1-4 Browns to Philly. On the heels of a Week 4 disgusting 33-16 loss to the Bucs in Tampa, the Birds received a desperately-needed early-season bye week to lick both their emotional and physical wounds.

Two of their biggest offensive playmakers are expected to return on Sunday. A.J. Brown’s hamstring is now 100% and Devonta Smith has cleared concussion protocol. Lane Johnson is also slated to return. And with the defense fully healthy as well, the Eagles enter their game Sunday against a moribund Cleveland team with all the advantages a team can muster.

They are healthy.

They are well rested.

They’ve had an extra week to prepare.

They are at home.

The Cleveland Browns are really bad.

How bad are they? ESPN’s weekly power rankings has them 30th out of 32 teams. NFL.com has them there, too.

On the other, the Browns’ sideline, there were hung heads and thousand-yard stares. That’s what happens when you score a season-low 13 points and allow a season-worst 34 to Washington, watching your $230 million quarterback sink deeper into the abyss. If you’re Kevin Stefanski, what do you do about Deshaun Watson? There aren’t a lot of quarterbacks who would thrive behind this offensive line right now, and backup Jameis Winston is not the most likely of franchise saviors, but the negative energy around this Cleveland team is palpable. The Browns are averaging a league-worst 3.8 yards per offensive play; next-worst is New England at 4.3. Watson isn’t the only issue, but he’s a big problem at the game’s most important position.

The Athletic ranks them dead last.

Deshaun Watson, who is actually outplaying his fantasy draft position if anybody cared (and nobody does), is 28th among starters in passer rating (74.8). Watson’s struggles are the biggest reason wide receiver Amari Cooper is only 114th in fantasy scoring (10.6 ppg) after being drafted 54th.

If ever the Eagles were presented with a get-well gift, it is this Sunday, against these Browns.

And if Nick Sirianni can’t find a way to get a victory, he should not be the head coach on Monday.

Yes, this is a must-win game for Nick Sirianni, in my mind. In fact, there is no excuse why this shouldn’t be the Birds’ first multiple-possession victory since their 31-17 win over the Dolphins almost a full calendar year ago, October 22, in Week 7. They have not won a game by 10 or more points since last September 25 against the Buccaneers in Tampa in Week 3 (25-11).

They are 8.5 point favorites as of Wednesday afternoon. If this team is as good as they think they are, this should be a blowout. It’s not unreasonable for Eagles fans to expect to see one on Sunday, either. This is, after all, supposed to be a Super Bowl contender.

An ugly win may not be enough to get the fanbase off Sirianni’s back anytime soon (and a blowout win would only quiet the whispers temporarily), but owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman wouldn’t fire him after a victory — not if they improve to 3-2, with a forgiving series of games against the Giants, Bengals and Jaguars over the next month.

But after the New York Jets fired their head coach, Robert Saleh, this week, it’s not unthinkable the Eagles could follow suit if they suffer another disastrous defeat to the Browns.

And yes, no matter what happens on Sunday, if the Eagles lose to Cleveland, it is an unmitigated disaster.

Fans, analysts, virtually everyone who has watched professional football over the last 12 months are calling for head coach Kevin Stefanski to replace DeShaun Watson as the starting QB.

Watson made his 17th start as a member of the Browns on Sunday in a 34-13 loss to the Washington Commanders, Cleveland’s third straight defeat. The loss was headlined by more struggles from Watson — his five straight games without 200 passing yards is the longest stretch of his career — protection issues and procedural penalties, including a delay of game on fourth down near the goal line that led a frustrated Watson to walk off the field and left coach Kevin Stefanski watching incredulously on the sideline.

The Browns are 9-8 in games Watson has started, but his stats and performance have paled in comparison to his time with the Texans, when he made three Pro Bowls and was regarded as one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks. His 34.3 total QBR ranks 32nd of 34 qualified passers (his 67.7 QBR in Houston ranked third).

Their defense is middle-of-the-pack in yards allowed per game (326.0, 13th), but rank just behind the Eagles in points allowed per game (24.2, 23rd – Eagles are 24.0, 22nd). Offensively, it’s a disaster. They’re averaging just 15.8 points per game, 3rd-worst in the league, and they’re second-to-last in EPA/Play (-0.20) and dead last in success rate (34.1%).

There is no world in which the Eagles shouldn’t destroy this team.

Many analysts perceive the Jets’ decision to fire Saleh as a panic move and, in a way, it is. They should have fired him over the summer if they were this unsure, and clearly you don’t fire someone in Week 5 if it wasn’t already cooking in your brain somewhere. The parallels from there to here are easy to decipher. After much deliberation, the Eagles decided to stick with Sirianni last winter but brought in established coordinators to take some of his decision-making and influence away, a questionable decision in the moment that could reach a fever pitch should he and the Birds fall to 2-3.

Roseman and Lurie believe they’ve crafted a championship-caliber roster. On offense, that remains true, provided the $50 million quarterback can stop turning over the football. Defensively, it’s a bit ugly right now, and conversations about Vic Fangio and his scheme will be raised if that ship isn’t righted soon. If the worst case scenario were to go down at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, the front office would absolutely be justified in believing a change at head coach could rescue a 2-3 season on a talented team that still had 12 more games left to go in a seemingly wide-open NFC.

They have Kellen Moore in-house already. A switch to the offensive coordinator would not be a sea change for this roster, nor would handing the keys to Fangio, although that scenario is far less likely.

All this is moot if the Eagles win on Sunday, which they should, and by a lot.

Which makes this as close to a must-win game for Nick Sirianni that a head coach can have in early October.

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