🦅 That was offensive | Sports Daily Newsletter

Nick Sirianni caught some heat for resting his players in the regular-season finale. Some of them on the offensive side of the ball still seemed to be on pause at the worst possible time Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.

Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense had a chance to earn the winning touchdown in the two-minute drill against the 49ers. They got down to the 20-yard line. Then Hurts got sacked. Then he threw three straight incompletions and it was over. Banged-up San Francisco beat the odds and posted a 23-19 wild-card playoff victory that snuffed out any hopes of a second straight title for the Birds.

Face it, though: The offense had been wildly inconsistent for most of the season and Vic Fangio’s defense could only save the Eagles so many times. Kevin Patullo, the first-year offensive coordinator, will bear the blame for the lost season and probably will be fired soon, Marcus Hayes writes. The columnist also wonders whether this was malcontent receiver A.J. Brown’s last game with the Eagles as well.

Looking for a bright side here? Phillies pitchers and catchers will report to Clearwater, Fla., on Feb. 10.

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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Of course, it was more than just Patullo’s play-calling that cost the Eagles the game. The defense gave up explosive plays to San Francisco’s Demarcus Robinson, Jauan Jennings, and Christian McCaffrey — and yielded a touchdown on a trick play. Jake Elliott doinked an extra point. Center Cam Jurgens had another rough outing. In Jeff McLane’s grades for the game, though, the lowest is reserved for the coaching staff.

Hurts took his share of responsibility for the season-ending defeat. “I take ownership for not being able to put points on the board,” the quarterback said. “It all starts with me and ends with me. And so there’s a sense of a lot there that you can learn from.”

Elliott missed an extra point in the first quarter and it cost the Eagles, who would have needed only a field goal to tie it if he had not missed. The kicker was asked if he was thinking about his missed PAT while the Eagles had to try for a touchdown in the final minute.

“It’s a tough night to kick,” he said. “That’s not really what I’m thinking about during that moment in time. I’m thinking about that next kick.”

Fox’s coverage of the game caught an interesting sideline “discussion” between Sirianni and Brown as things got a little heated. “Emotions run high, especially in the playoffs,” the coach told sideline reporter Erin Andrews at halftime. ”Of course, after this game, we’ll go back to loving each other."

At least before the game, Birds fans were in playoff form. Former Eagle Darius Slay showed up to tailgate.

More coverage from Sunday’s game and the aftermath can be found here.

The Sixers have had problems closing out games and it burned them again Sunday night in a 116-115 overtime loss to the Raptors in Toronto. Tyrese Maxey scored a game-high 38 points, but the Sixers gave up a 7-0 run by Toronto in overtime that cost them the game.

Free-agent infielder Alex Bregman reached a five-year, $175 million agreement with the Cubs late Saturday night, which could make the competition to sign Bo Bichette even more intense. The former Toronto Blue Jays star has a Zoom call with the Phillies scheduled for Monday, a league source confirmed.

The Phillies are interested, but so are several other clubs. Of course, Alec Bohm would be traded if the Phils pulled off this signing — let alone what might happen with catcher J.T. Realmuto, who is still on the free-agent market. Our Scott Lauber looks at the teams that could threaten the Phillies’ chances of landing Bichette.

Flyers goalie Sam Ersson had a rough night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, giving up seven goals on 23 shots in a 7-2 loss Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Not all of the goals were his fault, of course, but the Swedish goalie knows he has plenty of things to clean up.

“Obviously, especially last night, it’s very tough, embarrassing to let in seven goals on your home ice,” Ersson said. “You feel like you kind of let down the team and the fans. Obviously, that’s not acceptable. Just got to be better.”

Jan. 12, 2002: Donovan McNabb passed for 194 yards and two touchdowns as the Eagles thumped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-9, in a wild-card playoff game at Veterans Stadium.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jeff McLane, Marcus Hayes, Olivia Reiner, Jeff Neiburg, Matt Breen, Gabriela Carroll, Ariel Simpson, Keith Pompey, Jackie Spiegel, Jonathan Tannenwald, Colin Schofield, Ellen Dunkel, and Sean McKeown.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading. It will be interesting to hear what comes out of the Eagles postmortem today. I’ll see you in Tuesday’s newsletter. — Jim