Nick Sirianni’s decision to take two points after the Eagles’ late touchdown came under the microscope after the Eagles’ 24–15 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Trailing 24–9, AJ Brown caught a slant 4-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts, cutting the Eagles’ deficit to nine points with three minutes, 10 seconds remaining. The Eagles could have gotten an extra point to make it a one-score game and waited to go for two on their next possession if Vic Fangio’s defense had held out.
At that point, the Eagles had all three timeouts, plus they scored a touchdown before the two-minute warning.
” Read more: Eagles grade: Jalen Hurts has two turnovers; defense spring vs bear run
However, Sirianni immediately opted to go for two. The decision did not go in the Eagles’ favor. Facing pressure, Hurts broke out of the pocket and threw an incomplete pass to Saquon Barkley in the back of the end zone. Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze recovered the ensuing onside kick, beginning a nearly two-minute drive for the Bears on offense.
The Eagles used all three of their timeouts to stop the Bears’ drive clock. By the time the Eagles got the ball back on their own 30-yard line, they only had 1:12 left in regulation. Hurts had to fumble the ball twice on the drive to stop the clock, driving it to the Bears’ 34 before the Eagles settled for Jake Elliott’s missed 52-yard field goal attempt.
After the game, Sirianni defended his decision to take two runs in that scenario.
“Obviously, we had to get one at some point,” Sirianni said. “We had to get a two-point conversion at one point. I studied it a lot in my nine notes. I’m always going for two in that scenario, so I followed the plan that … again, I don’t try to do anything in situational football.
“Now, the idea behind it is you want to know exactly what you need right there. If you go down by seven, obviously it’s a one-score game. If you go down by eight, I know it’s a one-score game as well. That’s what we do in that scenario.”
Sirianni said: “I’ll always go back and look at things and reconsider them. If we got it there were potentially three timeouts to be able to get it there. Obviously, we weren’t in that particular case, but at some point, you’re going to need it and I always want to know what I need going forward.”
” Read more: Hayes: Nick Sirianni, Kevin Pattulo struggle as Eagles lose again due to poor focus, fundamentals
Fox Sports color commentator and former Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen defended Sirianni’s decision in a post on X. He pointed to the analysis that led to that decision, which said a team that trailed by 15 points would need three points to make up the difference at halftime. He argued that the chances of scoring eight points on one possession were not high.
Olsen reiterated what Sirianni said in his post-game comments – the sooner a team figures out how many possessions they need to erase the deficit, the better.
CBS analyst and former All-Pro defensive end JJ Watt responded to Olsen’s post and played devil’s advocate. Although he agreed with the analytical reasoning, he also said that it could affect the team’s mentality knowing that they are down by one point instead of two.
two minute warning
Sirianni’s decision to go for two wasn’t the only situational decision to raise eyebrows.
The Eagles started their fourth possession of the game at their own 35-yard line with a 1-yard play-action pass to Brown on an out-breaking route. The 28-year-old receiver was flagged inbounds, however, with about 40 seconds left until the two-minute warning in the first half.
Rather than try to start another play before the clock struck two minutes, Sirianni decided to stop the game clock. Again, he defended his decision and expressed his displeasure with the claim that he was not pushing to score.
“We had three timeouts, the ball at the (36-yard-line),” Sirianni said. “We had plenty of time to go and score a touchdown and get a last down with the football, so we gained a yard on a completion with 2:37 left. Then took it to the two-minute warning and we were going to the ball after that.”
<a href=