Maybe there's still hope for the Eagles coaching search

It's hard to feel great about the Philadelphia Eagles coaching search right now. After missing out on Ben McAdoo, four publicly known candidates remain, and none of them are really inspiring. There's certainly no consensus on a favorite pick. But maybe there's still some hope?

#Eagles fans need to be patient. Their three main options are all still coaching in the playoffs.

— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) January 14, 2016

Before we go further, allow me to note Allbright isn't necessarily the most notable source. For what it's worth, he did have some early intel on the Nick Foles. Still, take this tweet with a grain of salt.

There might be some truth to it. It's possible the Eagles haven't made a hire yet because their top candidate is still in the playoffs and therefore unable to be hired. That might suggest Doug Pederson is their guy.

But what about the other two potential names? No other coaches who are still in the playoffs have been linked to the Eagles. The Birds reportedly don't have any interviews lined up with new candidates, but could that change? Is Josh McDaniels in the mix? Sean McDermott? Todd Haley? Dave Toub? Matt Patricia? The Eagles have already had the opportunity to interview all these candidates by now, so it's possible they're just not interested, but maybe there's still time for things to change.

You can't rule out the element of surprise in these coaching searches. Think back to 2013 when the Eagles hired Chip Kelly. No one knew he was even still in the running. Everyone thought Kelly was staying in college and Gus Bradley was going to be the guy.

Then again, it's very possible the Eagles might just go with one of the four publicly known candidates. There are multiple reports suggesting Philadelphia's coaching search could be over soon. There's also a report about how the Eagles are strongly considering promoting from within, which means Shurmur or Staley could be realistic options.

Maybe there's still hope for the Eagles coaching search. Maybe there's not. At this point, I really don't know what to think, but I'm not very optimistic.