It's official. The nearly year-long celebration of the Eagles as Super Bowl champions is over.
The Birds will not have a repeat date with Roger Goodell declaring them champions. That much was cemented Sunday when they fell to the New Orleans Saints.
And you know what? It's OK.
There was a time when this would be heresy to me. I always took the Eagles as life and death.
But ever since the moment when the confetti started falling in U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis and Nick Foles hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, it's been ... well, different.
They won.
The seemingly inexorable pain of being an Eagles fan was over. It only took them a lifetime. I've been an Eagles fan all my life, a season ticket holder for years. I lived and died with them. I began to wonder if I was ever going to see them win a Super Bowl. It took 52 years for them to do it.
I created a front page that was intimately personal to me. It was led with a picture of Nick Foles holding the trophy and a single word: Phinally!
No, I did not do a reprise this Monday with another single word: Phutilely!
I opted for the three words I thought pretty much summed up everyone's feelings after watching that pass go through Alshon Jeffery's hands and of course right into the waiting grasp of a Saints defender.
The Big Queasy.
But they can't take away what the team accomplished last year.
They won.
We had a parade.
These Eagles now join the 2008 Phillies in that very special pantheon of Philly sports teams.
That doesn't mean I'm no longer interested. I'm still as big a fan as ever.
In fact, I have some thoughts on what this team needs to do about its QB dilemma.
That's right. It is the decision that will hang over this team in the offseason.
Doug Pederson made it clear yesterday. Carson Wentz is the team's QB going forward.
While everyone said the right thing, it's pretty clear Nick Foles will not be back.
It presents the ultimate awkward position for Wentz and the Eagles.
Wentz has now watched from the sidelines two straight years while Foles led the team into the playoffs.
Last year he was named Super Bowl MVP. This year he resurrected a dead team and drove them to a most unlikely playoff spot.
But it remains Wentz's team.
And he does not need Foles standing on the sideline and fans clamoring for him every time he misses an open receiver.
Wentz now has to deliver. On his own.
He has yet to win a playoff game.
Hell, he has yet to drive the team to a win late in a game. That's something Foles seemed to specialize in.
It might sound off, but here's what I'd like to see happen.
I'd like to see Foles sign with the Giants.
Yes, I know all about how you don't want to face him twice a year.
Actually, I think that's something Wentz needs. He needs to exorcise the demons that continue to lurk around the mystique of Nick Foles.
The easiest way to do that is head to head.
This is no knock on Foles. I love what he did and how he goes about his job.
But it remains Wentz's team.
Now he needs to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl of his own.
Comments