The Rise and Fall of the Eagles

January 23rd, 2005:

Today, at Philadelphia’s Lincoln field, the hometown Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons for the NFC Championship. The weather, a major factor in the game, was snowy, windy and cold for the duration of the game – as was the Atlanta offence. Michael Vick, who previously led the Falcons to a 47 to 10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was held to only 162 yards and was sacked on four different occasions. Donovan McNabb, on the other hand, passed for two touchdowns to Chad Lewis – who, while catching the second touchdown, injured his foot and was forced to leave the game.

The Eagles will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.

This, as it would turn out, was the peak of 2005 for the Eagles, who now have a 5-7 record after their ghastly loss on Monday night. This has been a tough year for the NFC Champions, who went 13-3 during the regular season and winning by at least 13 points in each playoff game – without Terrell Owens, their of their key players. When February 6th came around, it looked as if the Eagles would have a great shot at winning the Super Bowl, even if they faced the New England Patriots.

It was a long road to get that far, though, for the Eagles. They had to suffer through losing season after losing season in the late 1990s before they hired head coach Andy Reid and drafted quarterback Donovan McNabb. This led to a fantastic 2000 season, where they made their first playoff appearance since 1996 and finished second in the NFC East. After demolishing Tampa Bay in the first round, they lost to the New York Giants in the next round.

2001 wasn’t much more successful for the Eagles: after finishing first in the NFC East and posting an 11-5 record, they made their way to the NFC Championship by destroying Tampa Bay (31 – 9) and the Chicago Bears (33 –19), but lost to the eventual champions, the St. Louis Rams by less then a touchdown. Clearly, something was missing from the Eagles lineup. They had proved that they could score, but their defence proved to be lacking in key games.

By the next year’s playoffs, though, their defence had picked up considerably. Playing against the Atlanta Falcons, they had three sacks on Michael Vick and were able to hold one of the NFL’s powerhouse offences to only two field goals. Again, however, they lost in the NFC finals, to a much-improved (and eventual Super Bowl winning) Tampa Bay.

In 2003, the story was the same – yet again. After their infamous ‘4th and 26’ play (a 28 yard reception on a fourth down play that led to the game-tying field goal) and barely winning over Green Bay in overtime, they once again lost in the NFC championship; this time to Carolina. This was the third year in a row that they had lost in that game and the second year in a row that they had gone into the playoffs as a #1 seed.

It was on that fateful game in January 2005 that they were finally able to win the Championship, finally making it to the Super Bowl. They had all the keys to winning the game: While the Patriots had a secondary was injury-prone, the Eagles had one the top passing games in the NFL, thanks to the combo of Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens – who was set to make his comeback after missing the playoffs with a broken ankle. It was Donovan, however, that was one of the factors in the loss that year. Despite passing for three touchdowns, he was sacked four times and intercepted three times – the final one coming on the Eagles last drive at the end of the game.

Going by their past merits, the 2005 season looked to be good for the Eagles: They had been on top of the NFC for a number of years now, they had a massive passing game and a defence to match. But, like many of the other teams that lost in the Super Bowl in recent years, they fell apart in the regular season. From the off-field antics of Terrell Owens (which started even before the season did) to McNabb’s decision to play despite his sports hernia, the Eagles offence was not as powerful as it had been the year before; and their defence was much of the same. It was on another Monday night game, this time at home against the Dallas Cowboys.

The game started off well for the Eagles: at halftime they were ahead by a touchdown; at the end of the third quarter, the lead had jumped to 10 points – all without Terrell Owens, who had just been suspended for ‘conduct detrimental to the team’. But in the fourth quarter, Dallas came back and won the game while McNabb took a huge sack and aggravated his hernia, causing him to leave the game – and ended his season.

Since that night, the new starting quarterback, Mike McMahon, has been less then successful, winning only one game out of the three that he has so far started.

So it was on another Monday night, this time in early December, that the Eagles hit their lowest point in years: a 42 to nothing loss against the Seattle Seahawks at home, in the midst of a snowstorm, no less. This season has been a disaster for the once-mighty Eagles: and it’s not the fault of any one person. From the actions of Terrell Owens (his preseason shenanigans, his treatment of Donovan McNabb in the press, his fights with the team in the locker room), the coaching of Andy Reid (who has been almost unable to establish a running game in his tenure as coach or his knee-jerk reaction to Owens’s outbursts) to the intangible factors that worked against the Eagles this season (Donovan McNabb’s injuries, the collapse of their defence), this is a year to forget in Philly, as one of their only sports success stories in recent years falls apart.

So, what’s next for Philly? They undoubtedly want to rid themselves of Owens (and already there are rumors of either the Denver Broncos or the Dallas Cowboys acquiring him as soon as the season ends) and Andy Reid’s job is on the line. Donovan McNabb is set to resume his career as soon as the next season starts, but will he still be as effective as he used to be? We’ve all seen what happened to Steve ‘Air’ McNair after his injury-plagued seasons in 2003 and 2004. The easy answer, at least at this time, is that the Eagles will have to retool their offence: their pass-heavy scheme has barely, if at all, worked for them in the playoffs and with the loss of Terrell Owens, as well as the potential loss of Donovan McNabb’s passing skills, will only hurt them if they continue down that path.