Eagles•More PHL•News•Unique Columns
Nick Sirianni isn’t the first young Eagles Head Coach that has taken the Eagles to a Super Bowl. And we have every reason to believe that he can do it again.
Fifty years ago — former UCLA Head Coach Dick Vermeil showed up for July Training Camp in 1976 in the middle of Philadelphia’s Bicentennial Celebration. As he took his new roster of Eagles to Widener University for long days in the sun that would begin the climb to on-field excellence — the celebratory planes filling the Philadelphia skies — a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle for most —did not interest the young Vermeil who was focused only on his team’s practice.
In less than three weeks — the Eagles will return to the Novacare Complex to begin anew — all while wiping away the memories of a disappointing last season that ended in an even more disappointing 2026 NFC Wildcard Playoff Game at the very same Lincoln Financial Field that is currently hosting FIFA Games.
And while Dick Vermeil’s 1976 Eagles and Nick Sirianni’s 2026 both started campaigns in the wake of amazing celebrations of the birth of our nation — there is a major difference. The Eagles of 1976 not only hadn’t seen a world championship since 1960 — they had barely seen a winning season.
The Eagles will begin Training Camp less than 24 months from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February of 2025. And (in case you live under a boulder) we not only know that these Eagles can win a Super Bowl. We also know that they can bounce-back from an underperforming year.
The Eagles followed up a down to the wire loss in Super Bowl LVII with a Wildcard Playoff loss to the Buccaneers in Tampa by a score of 32–9 in January of 2024. But the team got healthy, re-tooled in the 2025 NFL Draft including the selection of Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean — and hired new coordinators. The result — a World Championship in 2025.
Within four years — Dick Vermeil’s Eagles were in the 1980 NFC Championship Game. They hadn’t just had a good year — but an upward improvement taking them to one of the best teams in the NFC. The excitement culminated with a 42-yards Wilbert Montgomery run against the Cowboys at Veterans Stadium that the rival Cowboys never recovered from. The Eagles would lose Super Bowl XV to the Oakland Raiders that year. Within three years Dick Vermeil — exhausted from coaching — would resign.
It would take the Eagles 25 years to return to the Super Bowl.
For these Eagles — it might not take quite that long.
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Categorized:Eagles More PHL News Unique Columns
