Once a team reaches the rare territory of being discussed as a dynasty, the football public inevitably grows tired of all the winning and begins to root for that team’s downfall.
In this century, it happened with Tom Brady’s Patriots and Patrick Mahomes’s Chiefs. But there’s already Eagles fatigue, and they’re, maybe, a Lombardi Trophy away from entering the dynasty conversation.
It’s not precisely the constant winning Jalen Hurts & Co. have done since 2022 that has turned off fans who don’t typically support the “Birds.” It’s their ugly brand of football. I can appreciate the physicality and the willingness to do whatever it takes to win, but I can also see why many view it as boring football. Luckily, we’re probably not getting Eagles vs. Chiefs III in this season’s Super Bowl matchup—Kansas City has a daunting hole to climb out of after dropping to 5–5.
But we should prepare for a third Super Bowl appearance in four years from Philadelphia. The Eagles started the week by beating the Packers by three points on Monday night and ended it by defeating the Lions, 16–9, in a game that wasn’t that close Sunday night.
If Philadelphia (8–2) reaches the big game again, the spotlight for two weeks will be on Hurts’s and A.J. Brown’s rocky relationship, a never-ending storyline that’s not even good enough to make the daytime TV soap opera lineup. I couldn’t care less about what Brown has to say on Twitch about his usage in Philadelphia’s offense, not when his team is in a position to take the No. 1 seed in the NFC and capture back-to-back NFC East titles, which hasn’t happened in that division since 2004. Brown’s stats aren’t pretty, but the Eagles just beat two playoff contenders in a span of six days and gave Jordan Love and Jared Goff two of their worst performances of the season.
If we need fresh storylines from Philadelphia, let’s talk more about the new-look defense for coach Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The Broncos’ defense is viewed as the established elite unit. The Seahawks’ defense is the trendy unit receiving praise from the analytics community. The Packers’ defense got a ton of respect after the arrival of Micah Parsons.
But the league’s best defense might reside in Philadelphia. Put aside the statistics for the entire season and focus on what this unit did this past week, with the addition of edge rusher Jaelan Phillips and the return of edge rusher Nolan Smith Jr. There’s depth in all three phases of this defense. The Eagles run three deep at the interior of the defensive line with Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Moro Ojomo, and at linebacker with Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean and rookie Jihaad Campbell. The secondary is set with cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
Sure, the Lions got reckless with five failed fourth downs Sunday night, but the Eagles’ defense batted down passes, applied pressure and didn’t allow any easy passes for Goff, who went 14-of-37 for 255 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery was held to a combined 66 yards on the ground (Gibbs had 107 receiving yards). On Monday, Love went 20-of-36 for 176 yards and no touchdowns against this defense.
While the majority hyped up the NFC West showdown between the Rams and Seahawks, the boring Eagles just frustrated the two best teams in the NFC North and didn’t even crack 300 total yards. Also, the Eagles hold the No. 1 seed tiebreaker over the Rams because they already beat them earlier this season in one of the rare games when the passing attack was in sync.
Eventually, the Eagles are going to need Brown and Hurts to get on the same page, which they attempted to do Sunday night, with Brown recording seven catches for 49 yards on 11 targets. And, yes, the Eagles got a break when the officials called a weak defensive pass interference on Lions cornerback Rock Ya-Sin while covering Brown in the final minutes. But let’s be real: Goff and his offense weren’t going to do anything against this stout Philly defense.
The Eagles will likely have another deep playoff run, even with an inconsistent offense, because they beat up teams physically and mentally with the tush push, and now they’re armed with probably the best defense in football. If the Eagles do make it to Santa Clara for Super Bowl LX, let’s avoid the dull drama between Brown and Hurts and focus more on the conversation about this team possibly being a dynasty.
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