Vic Fangio held a team meeting to scold the Eagles defense — three days after they dominated in the Super Bowl
The Birds were up by 34 points over the Chiefs with three minutes left before allowing a couple of late scores. That didn’t sit well with Fangio.
Vic Fangio painted his masterpiece in Super Bowl LIX. The Eagles kept the high-powered Chiefs off the board for the entire first half, sacked Patrick Mahomes six times — the most sacks Mahomes has ever taken in a game — and led by 40-6 with three minutes to play.
The Birds won the game, but the Eagles defensive coordinator did not give his group a pass for the two touchdowns conceded in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, which pulled the score to 40-22.
In an interview with the Pete Takes podcast, rookie defensive end Jalyx Hunt said before the championship parade, Fangio made the defense stay behind and watch film of the game — several days after hoisting the second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
“On Thursday we came in for a team meeting, to just let everybody know how the parade was going to go,” Hunt said. “The offense dips out. Vic? ‘Oh no, defense, come here.’ He goes over — we have a checklist each game of what we need to do, and if you get a yes in those boxes, nine times out of 10, we win. … He circles the second half, and he says, ‘This is unacceptable. Unacceptable. Twenty-two points.’ We won! They didn’t score in the first half, we’re having a meeting after the Super Bowl. He wants perfection.”
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C.J. Gardner-Johnson confirmed on X that Fangio was not pleased in the meeting.
But Hunt still thinks Fangio is “the coolest.”
“We say he’s in the mob,” Hunt said. “He’s just a cool Italian guy. He started really opening up to us the more the season went on.”
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News of the post-Super Bowl meeting was music to the ears of legendary Eagles safety Brian Dawkins. He appeared to liken Fangio to former Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, who coached Dawkins before Johnson’s death in 2009.
“Win, lose, or draw, for a select few, missed assignments, alignments, tackles, and opportunities will NEVER be OK!!” Dawkins posted on X. “And WILL be called out, with extra volume!! Now, where do I remember this kind of heartfelt accountability from!! This is music to my ears for the potential of consistency to come!! Set the standard & no matter who is on the field, they all know what is expected!!”