My greatest fear about the Eagles’ 2020 season

For some, your worst fear has been realized: the Philadelphia Eagles are a bad football team. They’re actually THE worst team in the NFL by DVOA standards.

But is the way this season is unfolding actually the worst case scenario for the Birds?

I mean, it’s obviously not preferable. Ideally the Eagles would be 2-0 and Carson Wentz would be looking like an early MVP candidate.

That’s just not the reality, though.

Even if the Eagles do manage to rally from such a poor start, which can’t be ruled out, their ceiling is likely limited. They’ve made the playoffs just three out of the 17 years they’ve started 0-2. They’ve won exactly one playoff game during a season that began with two straight losses.

With that in mind, my worst fear about the 2020 Eagles isn’t that they’ll continue to lose and be a bad team. It’s that they’ll rally to around an 8-8 record (give or take a game, 7-9 or 9-7) and maybe make the playoffs as a seventh seed before going one-and-done.

I just don’t know what change would be inspired by such a middling finish. I could see the Eagles talking themselves into running it back with most of the same core before going 9-7ish yet again in 2021. Basically stuck in a never-ending cycle of mediocrity.

I have reason to believe the Eagles haven’t been completely honest with themselves about how the past two seasons have gone. How they unconvincingly qualified for the postseason hasn’t mattered as much as the bottom line that they did make it. The feeling here is that’s dangerous and delusional results-over-process oriented thinking. And if the early 2020 season results are any indication, the proof is in the pudding: they clearly weren’t as close to contending as they thought they were.

So, it’s my belief that a wake-up call is in order. In the long run, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the 2020 team bottomed out and the organization realized that significant changes need to be made.

I realize that not everyone’s going to be on board with this line of thinking. And if you’re not, well, I can’t blame you. You’re not ready to give up after just two games and you want the Eagles to win every week. I totally get it. I’m not saying you have to share my opinion; I’m merely expressing mine.

I’m just not seeing it with this group. There are many on-field concerns to go along with bad juju off the field. Their realistic best case scenario in 2020 alone could be their worst-case scenario for the long-term.

I discussed this topic and even more in the latest BGN Radio podcast episode with my co-host Jimmy Kempski, who has never played quarterback in the NFL before. Other topics include:

• Jalen Reagor injury impact
• Ranking the job securities of Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson, and Carson Wentz
• Level of concern with Wentz and asking “How far off are we from seeing Jalen Hurts?”
• How the Eagles can beat the Cincinnati Bengals
• NFL picks against the spread in the NFC East
• And much more. [CLICK HERE] or listen below:

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