NEW ORLEANS — Nick Sirianni stood in his private locker room, taking temporary refuge from the revelry around him. About 20 feet away, in a much larger locker room, rap music blasted, champagne spilled and cigar smoke wafted through the air.
Nearly two hours after crushing the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, the Philadelphia Eagles were still awash in a full-throttle celebration. Sirianni, their polarizing head coach — a man known for being in the middle of passionate displays, and sometimes for pushing the extremes of his emotions — was strangely serene.
He wanted a cigar. He wanted a drink. At this point, still, he had neither.
What Sirianni did have was the deep satisfaction of knowing that he was now football’s version of a made man. For all the talk about his conspicuous outbursts, for all the speculation that he’s perpetually a bad loss away from losing his job, this 40-22 victory over Andy Reid — Andy Reid! — and the Chiefs validated his methods and vaulted him into a different realm.
Say what you must about the NFL’s most flagrant hothead-in-a-headset, but understand that he will now be called “Super Bowl champion Nick Sirianni” forevermore.
And in that little room, as he finally began to decompress in the wake of the Eagles’ dominant performance on the sport’s grandest stage, Sirianni became introspective about his rough edges — and the way they have come to define him.
“You know, this head coaching thing — I think people have an opinion of the way they think a head coach should be,” he said, maintaining eye contact as he spoke. “But you’ve got to be who you are. That doesn’t mean you try to not get better. That doesn’t mean I don’t try to check my emotions sometimes because I know that it’s one of my biggest strengths. But (it) also can be a hindrance as well.
“But I’m really thankful for the adversity and thankful for the criticism. Adversity makes you who you are, makes the team who it is, and I’m proud of that. I just didn’t conform to what people wanted me to be. I was true to myself of who I am, and I’ve been leading this way, really, since I’ve been in high school. And so, I’m grateful for the adversity. I’m grateful for the criticism.”
Give the man credit for self-awareness — and, yes, give him all the cigars and drinks he craves.
A few hours later, at a raging victory party at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, Sirianni joined many of his players in a raised VIP area near the stage inside a massive ballroom. The song being blared by the DJs — Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy” — didn’t seem to be dedicated to the fourth-year head coach.
But it should have been.
Whatever Sirianni thinks people want him to be, he has been around football long enough to know that becoming a Super Bowl-winning head coach supersedes all. The sight of the Eagles capturing their second Lombardi Trophy seven years after their thrilling triumph over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, and two years after a heartbreaking defeat to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII, was one that anyone associated with the franchise will forever cherish.
Nearly three quarters into Sunday’s game featuring a Kansas City team chasing history — an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl triumph — and a quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, approaching mythical status, the 65,719 fans at the Superdome (including President Trump) and hundreds of millions of TV and streaming viewers worldwide could scarcely believe their eyes.
The scoreboard read Eagles 34, Chiefs 0, and it was a fair representation of the massive gap between the two conference champions.
The Eagles defense, coordinated by esteemed strategist Vic Fangio, didn’t just contain Mahomes — it sucked the oxygen from his environment. The Chiefs managed just one first down in the first half, on their first play from scrimmage, and didn’t cross midfield until late in the third quarter.
Mahomes threw two interceptions, including a pick six to rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean, and was sacked six times with a lost fumble. Fangio’s defensive front was so good that he accomplished all of this without calling a single blitz. Future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce was held to 39 yards, and his megastar girlfriend Taylor Swift was denied the victory some conspiracy theorists swore was preordained.
Philly’s offense, coordinated by presumptive New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore, was also prolific, with quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Super Bowl MVP, overshadowing the team’s most luminous star, running back Saquon Barkley.
Sirianni’s involvement with X’s and O’s is far more limited; he gave up offensive play-calling duties during the 2021 season, his first as the Eagles’ coach. That’s one of the reasons his accomplishments — four playoff appearances in four seasons, two Super Bowl trips and a .701 winning percentage (including the postseason) — tend to be marginalized. Another is that his Gangsta GM, Howie Roseman, deservedly gets a lot of attention for Philly’s talented roster.
Throw in Sirianni’s penchant for losing his cool in front of the camera and, yes, he gets a lot of grief. Remember his high-profile verbal spat with San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw in 2023? Well, in 2024 alone, Sirianni has clashed with opposing fans, Eagles fans, one of his own players (star defensive tackle Jalen Carter) and one of the Eagles’ most beloved ex-players (Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz, a Super Bowl LII hero).
Have we mentioned that he has a bit of a short fuse?
And have we mentioned that, in the wake of this truly super Sunday, his popularity in the Philly locker room is more robust than the Eagles’ unparalleled offensive line?
“What Nick talked about, we all believed in the dream,” said another Super Bowl LII hero, veteran defensive end Brandon Graham, who returned from a torn triceps suffered 11 weeks ago to play against the Chiefs. “Everybody bought into it.”
Defensive line coach Clint Hurtt, a massive man who restrained an irate Sirianni from charging toward Carter during a mid-December game, said he and the head coach later had some laughs about the incident.
“There’s a brotherhood even in coaching,” Hurtt said, smiling. “We have each other’s back. But look — the players love him because of that emotion and because of the chip on his shoulder. That’s why the players play so hard for him. They see the way he puts himself into it, how much he cares, how authentic he is. It makes them want to fight for him, and it’s a big reason for our success.”
The Eagles’ postgame locker room celebration was one of the more charged in recent memory, with players dancing and bouncing and clutching the Lombardi Trophy, and the music at ear-splitting volume. It wasn’t subtle, and that was appropriate.
Yet, for the first 20 minutes or so, Sirianni wasn’t part of it, having been diverted to the interview podium after a lengthy on-field celebration. When he finally got to the locker room, he sought solace in his private area, changing into a grey Super Bowl champions T-shirt before initiating his search for a cigar and drink.
In the meantime, he talked about his regard for the just vanquished opponent — specifically lauding Reid, who followed a long, successful run as the Eagles’ coach with a remarkable Chiefs stint that has included three championships and five Super Bowl appearances in the past six seasons.
“That’s a great football team,” he said. “So much respect for them. Andy Reid, Bill Belichick, two best coaches ever to do this thing. So, it’s just an honor to be able to go against him. And I can’t tell you how much respect I have for him and all the things that he’s done with that team.
“We knew we had to play our best game on the last game of the year. And we played our best game, the last game of the year, against probably the best opponent we played all year.”
Thirteen months ago, the Eagles ended their 2024 season on a much darker note. A dismal, 32-9 playoff defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was their sixth defeat in seven games following a 10-1 start, and owner Jeffrey Lurie looked so miserable in his suite that it seemed like the whole operation might crater.
“Oh, I remember,” Lurie said amid the locker-room madness Sunday night. “It was a bad, bad feeling. But we found our way.”
There was a thought in NFL circles that Sirianni might be fired after that game, and there was even some speculation that an early playoff exit this season could provoke Lurie to make a coaching change. Last month, things got stressful in that regard late in a snowy, divisional-round game against the Los Angeles Rams. With the Rams trailing by six and facing a third-and-2 on the Philly 13 with 1:14 remaining, the Eagles were saved by Carter’s clutch sack of quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Was Sirianni’s job saved, too? We’ll never know, but the notion seems amusing three weeks later after blowout victories over the Commanders (in the NFC Championship Game) and the Chiefs. With only a season remaining on his contract, he’ll soon receive a massive extension, something Lurie essentially confirmed in the locker room.
At 3:20 a.m., as the victory party was shutting down — Sirianni was the last luminary to leave. Cigar in hand, he visited every remaining table, high-fiving attendees and posing for photos.
This was a night he’d surely never forget, nor should he. The man coached his talented team to a championship, defeating an icon, and it wasn’t subtle.
With Sirianni, it never is.
