It’s amazing how much the outcome of a Super Bowl can ultimately swing a fan base’s emotions one way or another. If the Patriots had beaten the Eagles in Super Bowl LII, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia would have been able to leave New England on a high note, at the top of their game ready to tackle the next phase of their promising young NFL coaching careers. Instead, with the way that things played out in the crazy 41-33 victory by Philadelphia, McDaniels’ immediate future is in serious question while Patricia probably couldn’t have looked worse in his potential new suitor’s (the Detroit Lions) eyes. Win or lose, the Pats always bring a reality show’s worth of drama whenever they reach a Super Bowl.
Pro Football Talk reported on Sunday night (before the Super Bowl had even ended) that the foregone conclusion for weeks (McDaniels to the Colts as their new head coach) might not be such a layup anymore. In his postgame press conference, McDaniels obviously did nothing to indicate his intentions either way but what else did you expect him to say? The juicy reason for him to potentially leave Indy in the dust is that he would become the Patriots’ head coach in the event that Bill Belichick happened to retire sooner than most had expected. If the original plan stays in place and McDaniels departs for Andrew Luck and the Colts, it shouldn’t be too difficult to fill his place at least as long as Tom Brady is still the quarterback of the Pats. New England wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea is a name that’s been floated around during Super Bowl week as a possible replacement for McDaniels.
Since Detroit would be his first head coaching gig in the NFL, you have to feel bad for Patricia in the sense that his defense’s laughable outing against the Eagles most likely didn’t inspire much confidence in Detroit. New England has always been a team during this dynasty that was famous for its halftime adjustments both offensively and defensively. There was no such elixir in Minnesota as the Eagles scored 22 points in the first half and 19 in the second half on the way to their first Super Bowl win in franchise history. All of this can’t be blamed on Patricia of course since the lack of real talent and playmakers at his disposal was downright scary but come on. The Pats let a backup quarterback carve them up in embarrassing fashion and benching Malcolm Butler (which obviously was Belichick’s call, not Patricia’s) is something that they all have to wear from now until eternity. Greg Schiano, a close friend of Belichick, and the current defensive coordinator at Ohio State was the rumored new Pats defensive coordinator on Monday although they could likewise stay in house and promote linebackers coach Brian Flores who recently interviewed for the Cardinals head coaching job.
