The Philadelphia Eagles briefly interviewed Mike McCoy for their head coaching job. At the time, the Eagles looked ready to bring in a new offensive mastermind to fix Andy Reid’s flawed approach. But now that Philadelphia is targeting defensive mastermind Gus Bradley, it didn’t blink an eye when McCoy signed with the San Diego Chargers on Jan. 15, according to the Associated Press.
Instead of going all the way to the East Coast to be a head coach, McCoy is staying put in his own division. The now-former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator became a hot coaching candidate when they went 13-3 and brought Peyton Manning back to an MVP-level. Ironically, the Broncos really took off after coming back from a 24-0 deficit to beat the Chargers on Oct. 15.
After that, Denver didn’t lose again until the postseason, while San Diego stumbled towards its third straight season without a playoff berth. The Chargers are actually a lot like the Eagles, in that they knocked on the door of a championship for years, kept collapsing in the playoffs despite brilliant regular seasons, and finally sunk to mediocrity in the final years of their coach’s reign.
Norv Turner didn’t even reach the Super Bowl with the Chargers, whereas Andy Reid did get one conference title with the Eagles back in 2004-05. But unlike Philadelphia, San Diego at least has a certified No. 1 quarterback in Philip Rivers for McCoy to revive.
The Eagles thought for a while that McCoy could revive their own stagnant offense, as they talked to him on Jan. 6 before the Broncos started their playoff plans. Yet they spent more time trying to woo Chip Kelly that weekend, which ultimately didn’t pan out.
McCoy wasn’t expected to be available again for several weeks, since the Broncos were supposed to go to the AFC title game at the very least. By the time Denver was upset by the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 12, Philadelphia turned to Bradley and went away from the notion of an offensive-centric coach.
The Eagles may find out soon enough if that was a winning strategy, depending on Bradley’s final decision. However, McCoy has already made his decision and the Chargers already have their ideal coach, which is more than what the Eagles can say for now.
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