TAMPA, Fla. − One dreadful sequence of plays perfectly summarized an Eagles' collapse through the final seven games of the season, sending them into an offseason where anything is possible, including the end of Nick Sirianni's three-year tenure as head coach.

That's how devastating the Eagles' 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round was Monday night.

It was the Eagles' sixth loss in seven games, as the Eagles' 10-1 start turned into an 11-7 disaster. It was a meltdown both on offense and defense.

And now, the fallout begins.

Sirianni was asked if that will include him, and if he is concerned about his job status.

"I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking about the guys," Sirianni said. "All of the guys in that locker room, every single one of them, put their heart and soul into this. I'm not worried about me.

"Obviously, we didn't finish anywhere near where we wanted to finish. Again, my heat feels for these guys, and we're all taking it hard. And that's where my mind is."

But Sirianni will certainly have to answer for what transpired in the final three minutes of the third quarter, when the Eagles were down 16-9 and starting a possession at their 10 yard line.

That's when Kenny Gainwell tried reversing field and lost six yards back to the 4. The Eagles had a 3rd-and-6 from the 14 when Jalen Hurts tried escaping pressure and was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety.

That made it 18-9. Tampa Bay got the ball back on the free kick. And Trey Palmer caught a short pass on the sideline, escaped a tackle from James Bradberry, and sped past the defense for a 56-yard touchdown.

Just like that, the Eagles were down 25-9 with 1:19 left in the third quarter.

The game and the Eagles' season were all but over. Tampa Bay (10-8) will advance to play the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round next Sunday. The Eagles will head into an uncertain offseason.

It hardly mattered that star wide receiver A.J. Brown didn't play with a knee injury or that Hurts was playing with a dislocated finger.

Not when the entire team was in total disarray.

It soon became apparent that there was only one thing the Eagles could do, as left tackle Jordan Mailata put it.

"Just try to finish the game with pride," he said. "Try to go out there and keep putting your best foot forward. When you’re getting your ass whooped like that, there aren’t many positive emotions."

It only got worse in the fourth quarter. Darius Slay, who returned after missing four games to have arthroscopic knee surgery, suffered a leg injury that left him crumpled on the ground. He was taken off on a cart with 5:50 left, the Bucs facing a 3rd-and-7 from the Eagles' 23.

On the next play, Mayfield threw off his back foot to Delaware native Chris Godwin, a high, floating pass to the front of the end zone, with Avonte Maddox behind him. That made it 32-9 with 5:42 left.

Mayfield was 22-for-36 for 337 yards and 3 touchdowns. He would've easily gone over 400 yards but his receivers dropped a handful of passes on him. As it was, the Bucs had 426 yards of offense.

Hurts, meanwhile, was having some success throwing the ball. He finished 25-for-35 for 250 yards and a touchdown. DeVonta Smith had 8 catches for 148 yards.

It wasn't nearly enough.

"I think for us this year, I don't think we played well enough," Hurts said. "The identity, the consistency, the execution for us, the turnovers, everything, all of those come into play when you're talking about the opportunity to win championships.

"It's something we have to be able to learn from."

The Eagles couldn't have started much worse. They fell behind 13-0 early in the second quarter after being outgained 178-26 in the first quarter.

On the touchdown, the Bucs faced a 3rd-and-7 from the Eagles' 44 when quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a pass over the middle to David Moore. He was wide open because Eli Ricks ran into safety Avonte Maddox and fell down. Moore then continued down the sideline, and cut back to the middle and scored.

Just like that, the Eagles were down 10-0 with 5:47 left in the first quarter.

That was another fitting metaphor for the Eagles' late-season collapse.

Finally, the Eagles showed some life. The Bucs were threatening to stretch their lead to 17-0 as they had a first down at the Eagles' 33. Instead, Josh Sweat's sack on second down set up 3rd-and-18. For Sweat, it was his first sack since Nov. 5, a span of nine games.

More importantly, the Eagles held the Bucs to a field goal and a 13-0 deficit.

Hey, it was progress.

Then the Eagles came back with their first big play of the game, a slant pass from Hurts to Smith that he took for 31 yards to the Bucs' 44. A 12-yard Hurts to Smith pass had the Eagles at the 32.

The drive stalled there, and the Eagles settled for a 47-yard field goal from Jake Elliott, cutting the deficit to 13-3.

But the Eagles were still in it when Hurts threw deep to Smith for 55 yards down to the Bucs' 5. Dallas Goedert scored on the next play and the Eagles were within 16-9 with 3:06 left in the first half.

There was hope. The Eagles were getting the ball to start the second half.

It didn't last. The Eagles went 3-and-out on their first possession, couldn't score on their second, then completely self-combusted on their third.

Before long, the game ended, and so did the Eagles' season.

Will Sirianni's tenure end with it? He led the Eagles to the playoffs in each of his three seasons, including the Super Bowl last season.

But that doesn't matter much when a season of high expectations ends like this.

"It’s a production business," Bradberry said. "A lot of times when things don’t go too well, you look at the head guy first. But I think at the end of the day, it boils down to us as players, and we didn’t get the job done."

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Philadelphia Eagles collapse in NFL wild card loss to Buccaneers