The NFL’s premier teams no longer include the Philadelphia Eagles, who are in free fall.
Following a 10-1 start, the reigning NFC champions appeared to be headed back to the Super Bowl. However, a three-game losing streak has eliminated them from the running for the title.
A significant portion of the December NFL story is around teams battling to make the playoffs; yet, the end of the regular season presents an excellent opportunity for the few remaining Super Bowl contenders to improve and set themselves apart.
Despite having lost their previous two games, one of those contenders, the Philadelphia Eagles, had a chance to defeat the Seahawks on Monday in Seattle. All they had to do was stop Seattle from scoring four points and travelling 92 yards in under two minutes.
Even while they can find fault with almost anything, Eagles supporters probably wouldn’t have gone too crazy if Philadelphia had pulled off an incredible triumph. Ultimately, Drew Lock, the backup quarterback for Seattle, had only started two games in the previous two seasons.
In addition, the struggling Eagles defence, led for the first time on Monday by assistant and former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia, a protégé of Bill Belichick, did appear to be much better than it had been in the team’s crushing defeats to Dallas and San Francisco.
Guess what, though? With 28 seconds remaining, Lock completed 10 plays to get Seattle those 92 yards. He found wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had slipped past the seasoned Eagles CB James Bradberry, in one-on-one coverage, and completed a 29-yard touchdown pass in the pouring rain.
Seattle was ahead 20–17 after the TD. After leading the Eagles, who still had two timeouts, to within around 20 yards of what would have been a game-winning field goal try, Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts threw an interception. Hurts winced, removing his helmet.
Hurts said, “I didn’t do my job well enough,” during a news conference after the game. However, Hurts wasn’t the only one who performed poorly—that was just the polite thing to say.
The Seahawks (7-7) are thus still very much in the running for the postseason. Their 72-year-old coach, Pete Carroll, is still able to boast to people that in his seven years as the Seahawks’ coach, he had never lost to the Eagles. Philadelphia would have been in a foul temper anyhow.
While upsets sometimes occur during the playoffs, December is when the best players come to the fore, discovering a new gear. Last year, Philadelphia had lost two of their final three regular-season games; also, quarterback Brock Purdy’s injury cast doubt on the team’s triumph over the 49ers in the NFC title game, at least in the eyes of San Francisco supporters.
However, this was a devastating defeat for the Eagles, who had high hopes of winning back after giving Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs a thrilling game in the previous Super Bowl. Though nothing is certain right now, the Eagles (10-4) should still win their next three games.
