The Eagles should hire Frank Reich to save their season

Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson with Jalen Hurts during the loss to the Cowboys.

Blame the defense all you like, but since the bye week the Eagles have averaged 6.5 points in the first halves of those four games. They’ve scored two touchdowns in the last eight quarters of their games’ first halves.

This team was built to win by scoring points. It’s got a $100 million wide receiver and a $255 million quarterback, but after nine weeks of dominance A.J. Brown is a shadow of himself and Jalen Hurts has fallen out of MVP consideration. Teams blanket Brown and confuse Hurts.

Former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich (left) talking with former head coach Doug Pederson during practice on Jan. 18, 2018.

Eagles coaches seem to have no answers. They’ve adjusted at halftime, and they’ve pulled off some great comebacks in the last 30 minutes, but the coaching staff is getting embarrassed in the first 30 minutes, and the six days that precede them. The game plans stink.

The answer:

Frank Reich.

Has seen it all and done it all. He’s been there and he’s done that.

Hire Reich as a consultant and you save the season. The Eagles don’t have to fire first-year offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, and BJ can even keep calling plays … as long as Reich gets a headset on Sunday.

Reich has a magnificent mind and a minuscule ego. He didn’t work out as a head coach in Indianapolis, where he was fired after last season, or Carolina, where he was fired two weeks ago. Then again, both are dysfunctional franchises with impossible owners. With the exception of 2018 before Andrew Luck abruptly retired, Reich never had a viable quarterback at either place. Don’t judge him too harshly by failures in places where Vince Lombardi would have failed.

Remember: Reich coached Carson Wentz to peak performance in Philadelphia. Just imagine what he could do with a mature, intelligent professional like Hurts. Reich won a Super Bowl with Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith, and Nelson Agholor. Just imagine what he could do with Brown and DeVonta Smith.

This wouldn’t just fit like a glove, it would fit like a surgical glove. Reich mentored Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni for three years with the Chargers, then three more with the Colts. Sirianni runs a variation of Reich’s offense. No one knows better than Reich what Sirianni likes to do on offense.

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Reich also has coached the Eagles’ best offensive players, center Jason Kelce and tackle Lane Johnson. He worked brilliantly with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.

Sirianni was asked about adding Reich two weeks ago, after the Eagles stumbled to start games against the Chiefs and Bills. He didn’t say no.

“A lot of times [it’s] familiarity with the person. So that’s what goes into that quite often, is the familiarity with the coach, the relationship with the coach,” Sirianni said then. “But I’m not there yet.”

His team proceeded to score 12 points and no touchdowns in the next two first halves.

Are we there yet?

Frankly, the Eagles should’ve hired Reich last week. There’s no good reason to keep a brilliant offensive mind away from this team; it’s not like there’s a surplus of genius.

Sirianni will be asked again Tuesday about Reich. His answer should be either:

“Yes, Frank is now part of our staff” or “Frank is not part of our staff because he declined our offer.”

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It’s a ticklish situation, but if Sirianni is squeamish, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie should step in and make the call. After all, it was Lurie who decided to hire Sirianni. He also decided that Brian Johnson would be the best mentor for Hurts. He also hired Doug Pederson, who won a Super Bowl, and Andy Reid, currently the best coach in the league. If there’s anything we’ve learned, it’s that’s Lurie is pretty good at evaluating coaching talent.

Lurie also considers Reich one of the best people in the NFL. What’s not to like?

There is no time to waste. Four games remain, the first one Monday night in Seattle, against a desperate team in a terrifying place to play. The Eagles are 10-3 and tied atop the NFC with the 49ers and Cowboys, with Dallas sharing the NFC East lead with them as well.

All of it could be wasted. The window is closing.

Kelce’s 36, with one foot out the door. Brandon Graham’s 35. Lane Johnson, 33. Fletcher Cox, 32. So is Darius Slay, and James Bradberry is 30, and both are teetering on the cliff all cornerbacks eventually fall over.

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Worse, they’re wasting a year of ascending Hurts and prime Brown and Smith. Hurts is fine but the receivers are growing ever more frustrated, and neither is exactly a full-blown diva, but every once in a while you know Sirianni has to slip them a Snickers.

In the first nine games, Brown averaged 7.4 catches and 111.7 yards with six touchdown catches. He has averaged 5.8 catches and 63.3 yards with one TD in the last four games. Hurts’ passer rating in the first nine games was 97.0. It’s 84.9 since.

The Eagles are a talented team that plays dumb, undisciplined football, and they’re at their worst in the game’s early stages. They’ve beaten the Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, and Dolphins, but with a raggedy offense that is as predictable as the four seasons and as creative as a kindergarten art class.

Adding Reich might hurt Brian Johnson’s feelings and make Sirianni insecure, but that’s too bad. They can go to therapy together after the season. Maybe they can take the Lombardi Trophy with them.

And Reich can give them a ride.

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