Philly's Dream Officially Dies

By - Kris Fletcher

The Philadelphia Eagles put an end to all the "Dream Team" talk well over a month ago.

Now, they can put an end to any playoff talk as well.

With their postseason hopes already on life support, the Eagles got pounded at home by the New England Patriots yesterday 38-20, in a game that was nowhere near as close as the final score would lead you to believe.

Photo by: Patrick McDermott

In Philly's defense, they aren't the first team that Brady and company have taken to the proverbial woodshed, and they certainly won't be the last.

However, there's little doubt that this Eagles squad is one of the most underachieving groups in NFL history.

I mean, this was everyone's fashionable pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl this year, and for good reason. With the cast of stars they signed in the offseason, the sky appeared to be the limit.

Just finishing at .500 seems like a long shot now.

Philadelphia has a host of things they could use as an excuse for their miserable showing this season. Injuries, a shorten minicamp, things of that nature. But those things would be just that - EXCUSES. No one wants to hear them. They've had the same problems that all thirty-one other NFL teams have had to deal with, so it's not like they were somehow given an unfair handicap at some point.

Actually, maybe they were.

See, the words expectations and potential can carry a lot of weight. Weight that, when put on the wrong shoulders, can be entirely too much to bare.

Photo by: Al Bello

Hence is the case with the Eagles.

All year long, Philadelphia has been a soul with no body. No true identity. Who is the real leader of this team? Michael Vick? LeSean McCoy? DeSean Jackson (Lol)? The correct answer is: None of the above.

Therein lies the problem.

It's kind of hard to place the burden of expectations and potential on someone's shoulders when you have no idea whose shoulders to put them on.

That takes us to Andy Reid, the pilot of this plane going down in flames with no parachutes.

I've honestly always liked Reid, mainly because I think he's a pretty straight shooter. Also because his players always seem to stick by him through think and thin. Still, there comes a time when a person wears out their welcome at a particular place, and Reid's time is now.

Photo by: Getty Images

Any second-rate coach could have guided the Eagles to a 4-7 record. Even worse, they're 1-5 at home. It's like they turned into the Miami Dolphins overnight. So, when you have no clear-cut leader to place at least some of the blame on, it all falls on the head coach, and in this particular case, rightfully so. Reid was the one who orchestrated all the moves Philly made in the offseason, and he's the one who hasn't upheld his end of the bargain, which is win games.

Part of me kind of feels sorry for Eagles fans. While they have a reputation for being unloyal, I think they're actually loyal to a fault. They just never want to truly embrass a team that always manages to let them down in the end (cue sad music).

Having said that, I can't feel too bad for them, seeing as how my team was the one that put the final nail in their coffin yesterday.

Better luck next year guys. After all, it's always sunny in Philadelphia, right?