Eagles’ collapse concludes with listless playoff loss to Buccaneers

The fifth-seeded Eagles head home weeks sooner than they had once expected. They gave a sloppy performance Monday in which they missed tackles on defense, failed to get moving on offense and even were stopped on their trademark push-the-quarterback sneak with Jalen Hurts on a two-point conversion attempt. They failed in their bid to become the fourth NFL team ever to win a Super Bowl the season after losing a Super Bowl.

For much of this season, the Eagles were well positioned to try to pull that off. They got off to a 10-1 start and were the team to beat leaguewide entering the stretch run of the regular season.

But then things fell apart. The Eagles lost five of their final six regular season games. They were overtaken by the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East and were relegated to a wild-card spot in the playoffs. Hurts played through injuries. The defense came undone, even after Coach Nick Sirianni handed play-calling duties to Matt Patricia in what amounted to a demotion for coordinator Sean Desai. There has been speculation that Sirianni’s job could be less than secure.

The Eagles were unable to steady themselves Monday, playing on the road and without injured wide receiver A.J. Brown. In recent weeks, they rarely resembled the team that pushed the Kansas City Chiefs to the limit in a near miss defeat in the Super Bowl last February. Now their opportunities to return to that level are exhausted, at least for this season.

Hurts played Monday with a dislocated finger on his right hand. He reportedly planned to wear a glove on that hand during the game, then ditched that plan and took the field without it.

Dom DiSandro, the Eagles’ chief security officer, was back on their sideline Monday night. The NFL had banned him from being on the sideline, while allowing him to perform his other duties, for the final five games of the regular season. That came after DiSandro was involved in a confrontation with San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw on the sideline during a game Dec. 3. The league allowed DiSandro to return to the sideline for the postseason.

The Buccaneers won their third straight NFC South title, albeit with a modest record of 9-8, in the season after quarterback Tom Brady retired for the second time. Baker Mayfield took over as the quarterback and has played well, creating a decision for the Buccaneers on whether to re-sign him in the offseason. But first, they have more postseason football to play.

Mayfield played with ankle and rib injuries Monday yet threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns. He threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver David Moore, who wove his way through the Eagles secondary after making the catch, as the Buccaneers jumped to first-half leads of 13-0 and 16-3. Hurts threw a touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Goedert but was stopped on the sneak on a two-point conversion attempt from the 1-yard line following a Buccaneers penalty on the extra point.

The Buccaneers added a third-quarter safety, followed by a 56-yard touchdown catch-and-run by speedy rookie wideout Trey Palmer. Sirianni took three points off the board when the Buccaneers were penalized for being offside on an Eagles field goal. But the Eagles failed on the ensuing fourth-and-five attempt from the Tampa 17-yard line. Mayfield finished with a 23-yard scoring lob to wideout Chris Godwin.

— Mark Maske

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