Here’s how Eagles fans are reacting to getting bounced out of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Eagles 23-9, disgruntled Birds' fans took to social media to bemoan Nick Sirianni, spoof Jalen Hurts, and lionize Jason Kelce.
![Eagles fans Thomas Sprenger, sleeping and Cecilia Andiron both from south Jersey at Xfinity Live watching the Eagles Tampa Bay wild card playoff game during the second quarter, Monday, January 15, 2024.](https://www.inquirer.com/resizer/xraPHAK8vamL4q0N3SCG-5h781g=/760x507/smart/filters:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/O6U27WENQBFUBNLJSFKDMRDOK4.jpg)
The five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression — and, of course, making fun of the hometown football team on social media.
After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers bounced the Philadelphia Eagles out of the playoffs with a resounding 23-point loss, Birds fans took to social media to commiserate in the only way they know how: by slinging memes and reminding other fanbases that it is our job (and our job only) to punch down at the team.
There’s a lot to riff on.
» READ MORE: Eagles trounced by the Bucs 32-9 and crash out of the playoffs. What changes are coming next?
Monday night’s loss has thrust coach Nick Sirianni’s future with the organization into uncertainty, with even quarterback Jalen Hurts struggling to give a resounding endorsement. Confidence in Sirianni was already waning after the regular season, which the Eagles closed out with losses in five of their last six games.
If it were up to some Eagles fans, though, he’d already be out: A contingency showed up to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa with signs that read “Fire Sirianni.” Others showed up with paper bags over their heads in pre-planned embarrassment.
Over on X (formerly Twitter), Eagles fans joked about Sirianni’s reaction to his potential firing and promised to swag surf — a la Taylor Swift — when the door hits him on the way out.
There was also the matter of Hurts, whose stoic leadership style and unerring love of half-baked proverbs birthed a whole subgenre of jokes during Monday’s game.
“Jalen probably said ‘just because the plant isn’t wet didn’t mean we didn’t water it’ and Goedert snapped,” captioned one X account above a video of tight end Dallas Goedert having a testy sideline exchange with Hurts.
Others, meanwhile, have imagined that Hurts’ default response to criticism is an often ill-cited Marianne Williamson quote.
It wasn’t all jokes, though. As videos circulated of center Jason Kelce and his family crying on the sidelines all but confirmed his retirement, fans began rounding up his greatest moments — Super Bowl parade speech and flip flop-clad pre-game walks included.
“God please take away Jason Kelce’s pain and give it to screenwriters who kill dogs in movies,” wrote one X account.
Even Swifties got in on the melancholy.
Some made montages of Kelce’s career highlights set to Swift’s “Long Live,” a song that is as much about teamwork as it is about memorializing a bygone era.
All of this was, of course, punctuated by reminders that only Birds’ fans are allowed to criticize the team.
“Imagine being a Cowboys fan and thinking your mean Eagles tweets affect me,” read one post. “Lol I hate them more than you do.”
That’s the “one thing about Eagles fans,” tweeted 94 WIP host and Fox 29 sports anchor Devan Kaney. “You cannot hurt us as much as we’ve already hurt ourselves.”