Missing meaningful Eagles football

Yesterday, I spent time checking the scores of the KC/Oakland game and seeing what the Panthers were up to, generally checking out all the scores most relevant to the Eagles draft position.

But I'll tell you what I wasn't doing. Actually watching any of those games.

Because they stink. So do the Eagles and it's not fun to watch them. It's not fun to root for draft picks.

The Sunday night game between the 49ers & Pats was fun. The Redskins are fun! The freaking Redskins... It's fun to watch football when it's meaningful and for a large part of Andy Reid's tenure we have had that. At this point of the year we've been rooting for playoff berths, division titles, playoff seeding... That was fun.

What he have now is not and hasn't been for two years. And I'm sure some Chiefs or Dolphins fan might read this and sarcastically think "oh poor you, two whole years of losing, how do you cope!?"

But I think that illustrates exactly what has sustained Andy Reid here for so long and what will ultimately be his downfall. Not once in his career has he gone 2 straight seasons without a playoff appearance. He's only failed to make the playoffs in 4 of his 13 seasons prior to this one. In fact, until 2009 he hadn't even gone 2 straight years without not only making the postseason, but also winning a game.

That all changes now. He'll now have gone 2 straight years without a playoff appearances and 4 straight years without a win. Further, unlike the awful 2005 season, this isn't a roster that went to the Superbowl last year but just got bit by the injury bug. This is a roster that was 8-8 last season. This team is on a downward trend.

This is all reflected in the fanbase. Prime time games are half empty (if that). I remember back to 2006 when FOX was showed Eagles vs Cowboys nationally, it was the game where Terrell Owens was making his first appearance back in Philadelphia. FOX called it the "game of the year" and the Linc was as crazy as I'd ever seen it. It's all anyone talked about in the city the week up to and after the game.

The Eagles will host a divisional rival in the Redskins this weekend. Anyone care to guess what that will be like? Probably half empty with mostly Redskins fans on hand. It's going to be meaningful and fun for them. Not for us.

And I miss that.