The Philadelphia Eagles were vying for the NFC’s top seed and a rematch with the San Francisco 49ers in the conference championship game not long ago. They are now hurtling toward a wild-card matchup that they could easily lose, despite the fact that their opponent is the 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Few teams have entered the playoffs in such a dire state in recent years as the Eagles.
Week 18 largely summarized the state of affairs in Philadelphia. With the division still on the line, the Eagles were getting pummeled by the then-five-win Giants and had already lost star wideout A.J. Brown and quarterback Jalen Hurts before calling it quits.
The Eagles’ defense has been a disaster all season, prompting a coaching change that put Matt Patricia in charge rather than Sean Desai, but now the offense has joined in.
The defense was always expected to be the side of the ball that would struggle the most because it had significantly more turnover than last year’s group. The offense was mostly intact, but the defense was intentionally transitioning at multiple starting positions, so there was always the possibility of greater variance. They have also lost important, dependable pieces since that time.
