Marcus Hayes: Nick Sirianni is at the doorstep of an Eagles dynasty with Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts and a dominant young defense

NEW ORLEANS — On the Art Museum steps on a frigid February afternoon, Doug Pederson promised 1 million freezing, faithful Eagles fans that this sort of celebration would be "The new norm." He was right. He was just seven years premature. And, even though he won Super Bowl LII, it turned out that Pederson was the wrong coach. And it turned out that Nick Sirianni was the right coach. Improbably. Incredibly. That's right. That guy. The guy who channeled Barney Fife in his historically awful introductory news conference in 2021. The guy who talked about Flower Power his first season, then had flowers thrown at him from the stands after a loss. The guy who taunted Eagles fans at home after Game 5 this season, then had to apologize for his arrogance. That guy. That guy's a Super Bowl champion. That guy, whose deal expires this time next year, is going to get a contract extension worth as much as $20 million per season. Sirianni just took the Eagles to a second Super Bowl in three years. They lost the first one by a field goal to the Kansas City Chiefs. They won the second Sunday night by six field goals. They led by 24 at halftime. They won, 40-22. They looked utterly unbeatable against the best AFC team since Tom Brady's New England Patriots. Maybe they are unbeatable. They've won 16 of 17 games, including the most important one. Maybe they're the NFC's version of the Chiefs, who have been in five of the last six Super Bowls. Maybe this time it really is the "New Norm" for the Eagles. Why not? Why not three or four more Super Bowls this decade? Top to bottom, they're built for it. Credit GM Howie Roseman, or owner Jeffrey Lurie, but neither one of them is in the locker room or on the sideline. Sirianni is. They buy the groceries. He makes the meal. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is 26 and under contract for four more seasons. The league's best running back, Saquon Barkley, is signed for two more years. On Sunday, he broke the single-season rushing record (playoffs included). There's no real reason he can't do it twice more. Why? Three of the five offensive linemen are under contract for at least two more seasons, and because A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, the league's best receiver tandem, can be Birds together through 2028. They each had a touchdown catch in Super Bowl LIX. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore is expected to stay in New Orleans and become the Saints head coach, but defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, now 66, doesn't want to be a head coach again, God bless him. Sunday night was a Vic Fangio fever dream. It was 24-0 at halftime. Zero. Zero points surrendered to the Greatest Coach. There was a pick-6, and another interception set up Hurts' touchdown pass to Brown. On the Chiefs' first possession, second-year defensive tackle Jalen Carter, the team's best defender, pressured Patrick Mahomes and forced a punt. Second-year edge rusher Nolan Smith pressured Mahomes and forced a punt on the Chiefs' second possession. Another Chiefs punt ended the third possession, and then on the fourth possession, Josh Sweat sacked Mahomes on first down. Rookie end Jalyx Hunt sacked him on second down. They were just getting started. Hunt flushed Mahomes again on third down. Mahomes rolled right, threw softly across his body, and rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean was there. He intercepted the pass, ran it back 38 yards through a collection of pliant Chiefs. Three players stood between DeJean and the goal line. He entered it on his feet. Moments later, second-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo dropped Isiah Pacheco for a 2-yard loss. Two plays later, on third down, Milton Williams sacked Mahomes and forced a fourth punt, and added a strip-sack in the fourth quarter. The Chiefs didn't punt the next time. Zack Baun made a diving interception on the Chiefs' first play, and Hurts found Brown for a TD. Third-year defensive tackle Jordan Davis sacked Mahomes on the first drive of the second half, and Sweat added another on the next play. Even kicker Jake Elliott has four more years left on his deal. He'd been inconsistent this season, but he made all eight of his kicks Sunday night. Flawless. OK, the Eagles weren't exactly flawless. It just felt that way. On third-and-10 from the Chiefs' 30 late in the first quarter, facing pressure from a blitz, Hurts floated a duck toward the right pylon, where Brown was covered by one player. But the pass was so short and so soft that Bryan Cook was able to undercut the route and pick it off, which cost the Eagles a field-goal try. It was an aberration. Hurts hadn't thrown an interception in nine games. By halftime, the only player in Midnight Green who hadn't mattered much was Barkley, the player who'd mattered most all season. The Chiefs forced Hurts to beat them. Barkley had 18 yards on his first nine rushes and finished with just 57 yards on 25 carries. Hurts obliged the Chiefs. He was 17-for-22 with 221 yards and two touchdowns with completions of 15, 20, 22, 22, 27 and 46 yards, the last one a touchdown to Smith that made it 34-0 late in the third quarter. He added 72 rushing yards on 11 runs, breaking his own Super Bowl record of 70 rushing yards by a quarterback, and he scored on a Tush Push to boot. Easiest MVP vote in years. Because Sirianni wasn't eligible. All he gets is a ring. He deserves it. It's been four long years, and it took a while for Sirianni to find his feet. If nothing else, he's adept at self-examination and self-deprecation. "I always find that people that are self-deprecating have an ingredient of leadership," Eagles owner Lurie said here Monday. After just seven games as a head coach in 2021, Sirianni surrendered play-calling to former OC Shane Steichen but remained the offense's architect. After Steichen left for the Indianapolis head coaching job, Sirianni took a larger role with new OC Brian Johnson, who he fired after last season. Moore signed on under the condition that Sirianni recuse himself from almost all offensive responsibilities. It worked. Sirianni left the defense to Fangio. He oversaw Moore's game plans and play-calling but added little. But then, that's what most of the best head coaches in history have done. They delegated. But Sirianni played a crucial role in turning Hurts' season around. From the start of the 2023 season through Game 4 of 2024, Hurts led the NFL in turnovers. Sirianni put Hurts in a "straitjacket" — Hurts' words — leaned on Barkley and trusted the defense. Hurts has turned the ball over four times in his 15 games since. The Eagles are 14-0 in the last 14 games Hurts both started and finished. The 14th was the sweetest.