It was by far the most disappointing season Jeff Lurie has ever been around.
Dismal, Lurie said.
Unfathomable.
Ludicrous.
Inexcusable.
Just not dismal enough, not unfathomable, ludicrous or inexcusable enough for Lurie to fire Andy Reid.
Lurie revealed Tuesday, as widely expected, that Reid will return in 2012 for a 14th season as head coach of the Eagles, despite a 2011 collapse that saw the Eagles go from the preseason Super Bowl favorite of many experts to a non-playoff embarrassment.
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"This season was without question the most disappointing season since Ive owned the team, said Lurie, who bought the Eagles from Norman Braman in 1994. There is no way that anybody in this room, and certainly myself, could have imagined sitting here with the season already ended.
Its not only unacceptable, its very, very disappointing and anyone who in my mind doesnt feel both the disappointment and anger is just not getting what were all about.
Its completely unacceptable to be 8-8 and watching these teams play (in the postseason) starting next week. Its incredibly, incredibly disappointing.
Reid is under contract for two more years, through 2013. Lurie said he has no current plans to extend Reids contract.
So 2012 would seem to be Reids final chance. The Eagles most likely must make a deep playoff run for him to save his job.
If I didnt think that next year would be substantially better, then Id be standing up here announcing a coaching change or other changes, Lurie said. Thats not what I thinks going to happen.
Reid, who replaced Ray Rhodes after the 1998 season, is the NFLs longest-tenured head coach.
Lurie met with the Philly media Tuesday in a packed NovaCare Complex auditorium, three days after the Eagles finished the season with a fourth consecutive win to finish 8-8, but missed the playoffs for only the third time since 2000.
Theres no legitimate excuse, Lurie said. This team is too talented. This team was poised to succeed in a really big way, and theres just no excuse to be 8-8 when youre an improved team on the field, theoretically, from the team that was defending the NFC East last year. Theres was just no legitimate excuse.
Lurie made it clear that he doesnt see the four wins that ended the season as any sign that the Eagles have turned a corner. He correctly pointed out that the teams the Eagles beat -- the Dolphins, Jets, Cowboys and Redskins -- are not exactly the elite of the NFL.
We werent playing Green Bay, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and some of the best teams in the league, he said. We proved we could dominate the last four games of the year against teams that werent that competitive.
There are no legitimate excuses in my mind for this team to take that long to jell and come together. I think theres a lot of optimism to be gotten from that jelling, from the schemes finally working, from the players being utilized and reaching some of their potential. There is a lot of good will and optimism and confidence coming forward, but to think there are any legitimate excuses for taking that long to come together I think is misplaced.
Lurie said he spent the last several weeks analyzing Reids performance before determining that the winningest coach in franchise history deserves at least one more chance to bring the Eagles their first championship in more than half a century.
Lurie said he examined Reids long-term track record, his short-term results and intangibles and then asked himself if he believed Reid gives the Eagles the best chance to win a Super Bowl.
My answer to those questions is yes, he said. Thats why I want to see our team coached by Andy Reid next year and I cant wait to see that team play. I wish it was next week. Theres no doubt in my mind if our focus is on trying to win a championship next year, the best coach for that is Andy. We owe as a franchise to Philadelphia the singular pursuit of winning a championship and that is the rationale for it all.
Thats why I want Andy back and thats why amidst all the anger and frustration Im really excited about this team.
Ive been around the players every year and this is a special group. Its a talented group, and its a group that we brought in a lot of good players and the payoff wasnt this year but the payoff has a chance to come soon and be really great.
Reid is one of 23 coaches in NFL history with at least 10 years experience and a .600 winning percentage. But hes among only five in that group that hasnt won an NFL Championship or Super Bowl.
Only Marty Schottenheimer, Bud Grant and Chuck Knox have reached the playoffs more than Reid without winning a championship.
Reid has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as the playoff wins have dried up and his most successful years -- 2001 through 2004 -- have faded into the distant past.
In Reids first six years as head coach, the Eagles went 64-32 with four NFC East titles, seven playoff wins, four trips to the NFC Championship Game and one Super Bowl appearance.
In the last seven years, the Eagles are 62-49-1 with three NFC East titles, three playoff wins, one trip to the NFC Championship Game and no Super Bowl appearances.
The last three seasons have ended with wild-card losses to the Cowboys and Packers and this year a four-game winning streak that wasnt enough to give the Eagles a playoff berth or winning record.
Lurie said the Eagles recent success, though not approaching the franchises success from 2000 through 2004, was still good enough to help tip the scales in Reids favor.
Since 2008, theres only been one team that made the playoffs more than the Eagles and thats the Ravens, Lurie said. Then you go back to 2006, no team has made the playoffs in the NFC more than the Eagles. So youve got to be in the tournament to win the Super Bowl. Thats the singular goal.
But its hard enough to get into the playoffs, and this coach and his staff have a superb record of getting to the tournament.
How did the Eagles take such a huge step backwards this past season?
Too much change, too soon, in an off-season without minicamps or OTA, Lurie believes.
I think there was a miscalculation in terms of implementing big scheme changes in a lockout situation, he said. I would have thought we would have been able to during the abbreviated training camp and preseason adapt to some of those schematic changes. They were bold changes. But clearly the team was not jelling and maximizing those scheme changes the first half of the year.
I think we saw tremendous benefits in the two lines, offensive and defensive, as the season went on, and we will benefit from that as we go forward. But the first half of the season, its just ridiculously unacceptable to have a fourth quarter lead and blow all those (five) games. And if we just blew one less game wed be playing Atlanta next week (in a wild-card game).
Just hearing talk about considering firing Reid was unprecedented. It wasnt that long ago that Lurie, meeting with reporters at the teams summer training camp at Lehigh University, called Reid the teams Coach for Life.
That changed to the point where Lurie went into his analysis of the Eagles season with an open mind, ready to make whatever decision he felt was the right one. Even if that meant firing Reid.
Im open to any possibility, he said. Theres no fear on my part with engaging in a change with a coaching search. Thats nothing that Im not afraid of.
But there is such a build up of understanding where this man comes from, what he has with the team at this moment in time and what the potential is for next year, that theres no need to kind of go to the brink and say, Yeah, theres a change thats about to be made. Not the case.
So there will be no head coach search in Philadelphia this winter.
But one more lost season like this past season and its safe bet that Luries message at his press conference next January will be a different one.
The last search was Andy, the most successful coach in Eagles history, coming from Green Bay and not even a coordinator at the time, Lurie said. It doesnt give me any sense of pause to do that again. Im sure, as everyone knows, every coach doesnt last forever. Well be doing that again.
Lurie would not comment on the future of embattled defensive coordinator Juan Castillo, saying all decisions on the coaching staff are up to Reid, who was not present at Luries press conference Tuesday.
One of the important things -- and its important in the locker room -- is for Andy to have the final say, Lurie said. I want our players to understand that hes responsible for selecting his staff.
If I had to tell Andy Reid what to do for offensive or defensive coordinator or something like that? Ive got the wrong coach. I would just have the wrong coach if I didnt trust his judgment. And if hes wrong? Circumstances happen. But I have faith that next year we will have a far superior year to this year, with great upside.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com