Everyone has a competitive spirit, some more than others.
The adrenaline rush, the personal gain of being on top. It’s something that everyone obtains at some point or another, but truly only a few understand.
As historic UCLA football coach Russell ‘Red’ Sanders once said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
A point that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has made abundantly clear.
Winning?
With the recent three-game skid the Eagles have endured, it’s a term that seems to be lost around Broad Street right now.
Yet what also seems to be lost is that in this league, winning isn’t easy. It’s why there’s only one undefeated team in the history of this league.
It’s why the only other team to even come close to reaching that level of success fell just one game short of that goal. It’s why the Eagles lost the Super Bowl just one year ago and honestly, despite how successful this year’s version of the Eagles have been up to this point, it’s why they’ve reached the point of the tunnel where there’s no return.
The point of no return, however, isn’t a bad thing. Especially when you consider you’re talking about a team with 10 wins that has clinched a playoff spot. At the same time, this team has a lot of problems — problems that extend beyond offensive and defensive playcalling.
Beyond potential flaws on a roster built by a man rightfully (but possibly prematurely) placed upon an untouchable throne. You see, these Philadelphia Eagles have what I like to call: a success problem. And I mean when your head coach and quarterback have made the playoffs in each of their three seasons at the helm and have an overall record of 32-12 together, maybe that’s not such a bad problem to have.
Success, however, goes beyond the achievements of one season.
Success is built upon consistency and longevity. Something that Philadelphia has certainly done a good job building towards, but what the Eagles are currently experiencing is the same thing that has plagued many other Super Bowl winners and losers for that matter.
This is what I call: continuation fatigue, better known as complacency; something that exists in multiple facets of life.
Putting in the work to initially reach the point of success you want is hard enough but how do you continue to strive towards and maintain those goals when the masses continuously tell you how good you are?
As I’ve said before, Philadelphia was born as the hunters, they were never supposed to be the hunted.
So, how does a football team that can’t even tell you the identity of themselves respond when their backs are against the walls? I’m sure if you’ve watched the Eagles offense this season that statement resonates with you just a little bit more.
You see, it goes beyond the fact that the 1971 Dallas Cowboys, 1972 Miami Dolphins, and 2018 New England Patriots are the only teams in history to follow a Super Bowl loss with another Super Bowl appearance the following season. Adding to that, of the last 18 quarterbacks who lost their first Super Bowl appearance, none have returned.
The odds were already stacked against the Eagles, so they could ill afford to lose sight of the task at hand, especially with how talented this team is.
On one hand, you can say the Eagles aren’t and haven’t played their best football but they’re a 10-win team who has just about everything in front of them. On the other, you could look at them as a team that has eeked out victories all season in part due to the sheer amount of talent on their roster but hasn’t proven to be worthy of the acknowledgment they’ve received.
This is an especially prevalent sentiment when you hear quarterback Jalen Hurts basically confirm your thoughts like he did in his statement following the loss to Seattle.
There are two things you can take from that statement if you’re on this football team; the fact that your quarterback, the guy who built his whole persona off of hard work, just told you that you as a team aren’t working hard enough. As well as the fact that he also presented an opportunity to embrace this challenge and be ‘one percent better every day’ as they say.
Despite recent developments, this season for the Eagles is by no means finished.
While the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC may no longer travel through Philadelphia, as these hunters have grown accustomed to, success comes in different forms.
So while this team may not be the same juggernaut that took center stage last season, a lot of good can be taken from what we’ve seen from this Eagles team this season.
They are a battle-tested group that’s proven they can win in multiple ways (trailing, on the road, in the elements, etc). Despite the offense not being able to top 20 points in any of its recent three games, the unit still ranks inside the top ten in points per game at 25.6 (7th in the league).
Even after the defensive struggles we’ve seen over the last handful of games, this is still the same unit that held the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, as well as the NFL’s two leaders in points per game in the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys (at least in the first meeting and outside of a pair of field goals in the second meeting) scoreless in the fourth quarter of their match-ups all being Eagles victories.
It’s a challenge that I’m embracing, I have embraced. You know as tough as these times are I still see light at the end of the tunnel. It’s just a matter of believing…”
Eagles Quarerback Jalen Hurts
So while the Eagles aren’t currently playing their best football, it’s okay. Honestly, they shouldn’t be until January. Every top team in the NFC has shown a sense of mortality at one point or another this season, whether it be the Lions month-long stretch that saw them struggle with the Chargers, Bears, and Packers, or the 49ers three-game losing streak caused by injuries.
The path to success isn’t always linear and as Philadelphia legend Benjamin Franklin once said without continual growth and progress, words such as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
It was never going to be easy for the Philadelphia Eagles, but that’s what makes success that much sweeter. The road to success for Philadelphia takes its next step on Christmas Day, as the Birds prepare to take on the division rival New York Giants.
A strong finish to the season could, not only go a long way in changing the perception currently surrounding this football team, but it could ultimately become a pivotal moment in a potentially deep playoff run for the Eagles.
Cover Image Credit: The Associated Press
The Philly Blitz 
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