Let's get the pope jokes out of the way right up front.
Pope Francis is getting here just in time to perform last rites on Chip Kelly and the Eagles.
Actually, things aren't that bad. Yet.
But I don't think it's a reach to point out that no one expected the Eagles to be 0-2 at this point.
And it's not only that.
It's the way they've gone about it. The Eagles looked like they just weren't ready last week when they failed to show up for the first half Monday night against the Falcons. But a very good second half from Sam Bradford and the offense had most thinking they had shaken off the doldrums and would be firing on all cylinders in the home opener against the Cowboys.
Wrong.
Chip Kelly's team looked lifeless in a thoroughly dispiriting 20-10 loss to the hated guys with those stars on the helmet.
And the truth is it wasn't that close.
The Eagles now only repeated their first-half struggles of opening week, they managed to look even worse.
In the off-season, Chip Kelly won a power struggle and took complete control over the Eagles roster and personnel moves. Then he went about breaking up a team that went 10-6 his first two years and put it back together, largely by casting off those who didn't hit his "culture" and adding free agents.
The result has been evident the first two weeks of the season.
The Eagles look like a bunch of guys who were just introduced to each other.
It was Kelly's decision to allow Todd Herremans to walk, then balk when Evan Mathis wanted more money. The result? Kelly has a doughnut offense, one with a huge hole in the middle, with Allen Barbre and Andrew Garner.
The backbone of Kelly's up-tempo offensive philosophy is the ability to control the line of scrimmage and run the football.
The Eagles have not done that now in the first two weeks of the season. They started badly against the Falcons and got even worse yesterday.
DeMarco Murray, brought in by Kelly after he dispatched the Eagles all-time leading rusher LeSean McCoy, and hailed for his 'north-south' rushing style, scratched out 2 yards on 13 carries. Murray didn't go north-south. He didn't go anywhere, as the Cowboys mimicked the Falcons in dominating the line of scrimmage and disrupting the Birds' offense.
Bradford looked like he regressed in Week Two, appearing antsy in the pocket and uncharacteristically inaccurate on his throws.
The Cowboys arrived without their best weapon, wide receiver Dez Bryant, then watched QB Tony Romo grimace his way to the locker room with a broken collarbone.
Didn't much matter.
The Eagles offense was going nowhere.
Starting a season 0-2 does not necessarily doom the Eagles' season.
But Kelly at this point has more questions than answers. The fans have questions, too, such as why Kelly insisted on tearing apart a team that went 10-6.
Kelly says he will have to look at the film. He should burn it instead.
Pope Francis is getting here just in time. Too bad he's not bringing St. Jude with him.
You know him, the patron saint of Eagles fans, and hopeless cases.
Oh-and-two.
Chip Kelly is about to find out what Andy Reid did. That arrogant act plays OK when you're 10-6 and making the playoffs. It's a lot more difficult to swallow when you're 0-2 and looking God-awful in the process.
Time's yours, Chip.
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