PHILADELPHIA _ It's been two full seasons since the Eagles won the Super Bowl. The team has won one playoff game. It lost a home playoff game last season. It earned that playoff game by winning four straight NFC East games ... against three teams that immediately fired their coaches. Jason Garrett was one of the coaches who got fired, largely because the Clapper's Cowboys lost four of their last six games and gifted the division to Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman.
As the reigning division champion and the only team returning its coaching staff after the coronavirus pandemic cost the NFL its offseason, the Eagles enjoy a significant advantage over the rest of the division. Two playoff berths, one postseason win since the Super Bowl. Do the Birds need to reach the playoffs this season for the brain trust to be safe? If the Eagles miss the playoffs this season, would the Super Bowl title and the modest results from the last two seasons be good enough to guarantee the jobs of Pederson, the head coach, and Roseman, the general manager?
Maybe.
Should it be good enough?
Absolutely not.
The mistakes Pederson and Roseman have made since that Minnesota evening Feb. 4, 2017 have been numerous and onerous. Those errors wouldn't have warranted their removal if the Eagles had missed the playoffs last season, but those mistakes certainly warrant a change of one, or both, if the Eagles don't reach the 2020 postseason. They might even have to win a playoff game to keep their jobs.
Why is this a point of conversation? Because the Eagles have gone 9-7 in consecutive seasons thanks to 4-6 and 5-7 starts. They're a double-doink field-goal miss in Chicago from having zero playoff wins the past two seasons. The window to win in the NFL is never long, and the window is fast closing in Philadelphia.
Franchise quarterback Carson Wentz, 27, is in his fifth season, and he is in his prime, but he is fragile, and fragile players seldom grow more durable with age. All-Pro center Jason Kelce, 32, considers retirement after every season. Pro Bowl right guard Lane Johnson, Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz, and All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox will be 30 by the end of the season.
Remember how ageless the Phillies seemed when they won pennants in 2008 and 2009? Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie often carries Phillies owner John Middleton to road games, so Middleton serves as a reminder of how quickly a franchise can collapse. Lurie is 68. His patience wears thinner by the day, and the afterglow of Super Bowl LII is fading.
