The Eagles have more wins than the Flyers, and history suggests somebody is getting fired

Last night, as I was totally watching the Flyers vs. Penguins game instead of the Sixers vs. Cavs game, I promise, I got to thinking about this tweet:

So, the Philadelphia Eagles have more wins than the Flyers.

— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) November 28, 2017

The Eagles are really good this year. 10-1 is the best record in the NFL, and our football team is absolutely in the Super Bowl conversation. That’s pretty cool. The Flyers … uh, not so much. As of this writing they are 8-9-7, losers of eight straight and holders of the fourth-worst point total in the NHL.

In thinking about this last night over an entire bottle of wine, I quickly realized just how hard it is even for a really good football team to have a better record than an NHL team this late in the season. Just the total number of games played makes it extremely difficult, and if it happens, it’s a sure sign that your hockey team is playing like utter shit.

It also means* they are probably going to miss the playoffs and fire somebody.

I clearly have nothing better to do, so I went back and looked at just how many times this has happened in the collective histories of the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Eagles. I used Thanksgiving as a nice festive break point, looking at both teams’ records on that date, going back to the Flyers’ first season in 1967.

The results? Aside from 2017, the Eagles have had a better record than the Flyers on Thanksgiving just five times in 51 years — and three of those (1994, 2004 and 2012) were because the NHL was in a work stoppage. The other two were 2014 and 1969. In 2006, the teams had the same number of wins at Thanksgiving.

Either during or after all three of those seasons, the Flyers underwent some major change in the front office or behind the bench. They also missed the playoffs in all three of those seasons.

2014

The Eagles were 9-3 at Thanksgiving and the Flyers were 8-13-3. The Eagles beat the Cowboys on the holiday that year, 33-10 … and then lost their next three games, ultimately finishing 10-6 and missing the playoffs.

The Flyers, in their first season with Ron Hextall as general manager and in the first year of six on Andrew MacDonald’s contract, were in the midst of a six-game losing streak at Thanksgiving. By season’s end, their 33-31-18 record earned them a sixth-place finish in the Metropolitan Division.

They fired head coach Craig Berube after the season.

2006

The Flyers and Eagles both sat with five wins at Thanksgiving, the Eagles at 5-5 and the Flyers at … woof, 5-17-3.

The Eagles fell to 5-6 in their Week 12 game a few days after Thanksgiving, but they rallied to win their final five games to finish 10-6. That gave them the NFC East title, and they beat the Giants in the wild card round before falling on the road to the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round.

Meanwhile, across the parking lot, this was the worst season in the history of Philadelphia’s hockey team — the only time they’ve ever finished a season as the worst team in the NHL.

There was a midseason coaching change, with John Stevens taking over for Ken Hitchcock, and midseason general manager change, with Paul Holmgren taking over for Bob Clarke.

(Also, a “fun” fact: if you count the playoff win against the New York Giants on January 7, 2007, the Flyers and Eagles actually had the same number of wins on that date as well — the Eagles at 11-6 and the Flyers at 11-31-4.)

1969

At Thanksgiving 1969, the Eagles, in their 37th season, were 4-5-1. The Flyers, in their third-ever season as a franchise, were 3-8-7.

The Birds went 0-4 after the holiday, finishing 4-9-1 and in last place — behind Dallas, Washington and New Orleans — in the NFL’s Capitol Division.

The Flyers finished their season with just 17 wins, and at 17-35-24, ranked fifth of six teams in the NHL’s West Division. On the bright side, it was Bobby Clarke’s rookie season and it was the first year the team ever played Kate Smith’s God Bless America before a game.

They fired general manager Bud Poile in December.

The Flyers and Eagles, as of Thanksgiving (1967-2017)