The Philadelphia Eagles look like a cursed team after their start to the 2026 NFL season. Philly is now on a four-game losing streak after losing 25-14 against Carolina on Sunday. The Eagles did not have Jalen Hurts, who could miss the rest of the season due to blood clots. They certainly missed their franchise quarterback, as the offense could not get rolling without him.
Now the Eagles face completely falling apart after losing so many players so far this season. If they cannot get back on track quickly, the situation will only get worse.
But who is to blame for Philadelphia's latest defeat? And are there any lessons the team can learn before their next game?
Here are the Eagles figures most to blame for the team's latest dud against the Panthers in Week 6.
Tanner McKee is not talented enough to replace Jalen Hurts
The obvious place to start is the quarterback position. This is less of a critique of McKee as a player and more a diagnosis that backup-level quarterback play hurt the Eagles on Sunday.
McKee acknowledged that he needs to play better when talking with reporters after the game.
“First thoughts, my team needs me to be better,” McKee said, per Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I need to be better. I am so much better. And I'm looking forward to learning everything and becoming the player that I know I am, the player that I can prove that I am. A lot of things obviously that were frustrating fall on me. A lot of things we've got to get fixed as an offense for sure.”
On paper, McKee's stats don't look all that bad. He went 26-of-45 for 215 passing yards with one touchdown. But the young quarterback was also sacked three times and was constantly under pressure.
McKee made a handful of mistakes that kept Philly's offense from getting into a rhythm. That's not to say that McKee should have won this game, but he certainly could've played better.
Philly's offensive line, coaching did not bring out the best in McKee
If there is blame to hand out on the offensive side of the ball, it would go to the offensive line.
The Eagles could not control the line of scrimmage against the Panthers. That kept their run game stuck in the mud and put McKee in danger throughout the whole game.
Former Eagles player LeSean McCoy explained how the Panthers kept the pressure on throughout the game.
“We cannot pick up the blitz at all. We couldn't do nothing with the blitz. And they blitzed us all day,” McCoy said via Speakeasy. “You got a quarterback that's young, right, that's a backup. We're going to put the game in his hands, we're going to blitz him. There were so many plays where they didn't give him a chance. Dropping passes, not making adjustments as coaches. We just did so much, and it's really embarrassing.”
Again, this is a situation where the individual players aren't necessarily 100% to blame. The Eagles have significantly shuffled the deck on their offensive line this season and have a patchwork group of guys. It shouldn't be surprising that they lack chemistry as a unit.
That said, Philly's coaching staff deserves blame for not designing a game plan designed around those deficiencies. Everyone needs to play better, but they need better marching orders too.
Article Continues BelowThe Eagles made too many mistakes that kept the Panthers in the game
It is no secret that Philadelphia is behind the eight ball right now as an organization. Philly's high volume of injuries make it quite difficult to actually win a game. That becomes even harder when the Eagles keep making silly mistakes.
The Eagles made a number of boneheaded mistakes in this game that kept the Panthers alive. For much of the middle of this game, neither team looked like they wanted to win. But whenever Carolina got too close to falling part, Philly always seemed to hand them a present.
One example is Jordan Davis' roughing the passer penalty. Davis blasted Young after already completing a pass to Tetairoa McMillan for a first down. The penalty advanced Carolina half the distance to the goal. One play later, Young connected with Tommy Tremble for a touchdown. That is the perfect example because it shows that Philly was getting beat as a defense. However, their lack of discipline made the situation even worse.
All told, the Eagles committed 11 penalties for 84 yards in Week 6. What's crazy is that the Panthers made even more mistakes, committing 13 penalties for 149 yards. But the Eagles shot themselves in the foot so much that they couldn't capitalize on their opponent's mistakes.
Head coach Nick Sirianni needs to tighten up his team's execution in a hurry. Otherwise, the season could spin out of control in a hurry.