Something about Sunday's 17-9 Eagles loss to the Seahawks felt worse than the final score, any ugly stat line or the soon-to-be debates as to the biggest issue with a 5-6 team.
Losses happen. Tough seasons happen, even to good franchises. Injuries can derail the best teams. But the way the 2019 season has unfolded has revealed a deeper Eagles crack than anticipated, and one that must be remedied as fast as possible: For the first time in years, this franchise lacks identity.
It's not Carson Wentz's future and upside. It's not Nick Foles rising up to save the day and lead his teammates to improbable victories. It's not Doug Pederson's ability to get the most out of what he has on offense while coaching aggressively at every moment. It's not depth. It's not home field. It's not excellence up front on both sides of the ball. It's not suddenly becoming a dominant defensive team and expecting that kind of performance to carry the franchise.
For the first time since the Eagles fired Chip Kelly, the franchise lacks a calling card we can believe in.
Wentz's regression (and there's no other way to describe it) isn't just alarming on Sunday afternoons. It's enough to keep the Eagles decision makers awake all week. Wentz has gone from very good, to good, to a mess overnight. He's certainly not as bad as we've seen over the last two weeks. But his future, one tied to the Eagles for years to come, is now unpredictable.
When Wentz was handed a contract with $107.9M in guarantees, he became the Eagles identity. The roster would turnover. Coaches would come and go. The team's offensive and defensive philosophy identity could evolve. But Wentz would be the foundation to build it all upon.
At least that was the idea.
Wentz looks, to put it mildly, lost. Inaccuracies have become magnified. Mechanics are poor. Decision making is suspect. Body language is poor. Adding to the worry: Wentz has never looked quite like the athlete he did in 2017 since suffering a major knee injury. The NFL is full of young, athletic quarterbacks that dance, move and avoid pass rushers before making plays on the run. That was Wentz in 2017. This player no longer makes those plays happen on a consistent basis.
All quarterbacks go through ups and downs. In a vacuum, it would be easy to excuse this as just a slump for a talented quarterback. If the Eagles had something else to lean on, Wentz's issues could be pushed to the back burner for now.
Unfortunately, the other tenants that made the Eagles feel like a long-term NFC power are rapidly disappearing.
Pederson looks unable to mesh aggressiveness and emotional intelligence with a disjointed a depleted roster.
This team has now lost home games in back-to-back weeks for the first time in Pederson's coaching era. Sunday's ugly performance vs. Seattle marked Philadelphia's third home loss of the season. From 2016-2018, the Eagles lost a total of six games at home.
Depth is a shell of what is was two years ago, a season that likely gave us unreasonable expectations for future injury-plagued campaigns. Instead of players stepping up, injuries are lamented. Excuses now feel like a new norm.
Line play is fine, but far from excellent on a week-to-week basis. When leaks happen (blocking assignments missed, gaps not filled), results are haunting in close games.
The defense, while currently on a hot streak and the best unit on the team at the moment, isn't built to last and suddenly become the backbone of the franchise in 2020 and beyond.
Then, of course, there's Foles. In back-to-back seasons, the franchise was infused with new, out-of-nowhere life and energy heading into the biggest games of the season. Wins ensued. Fans believed. That feeling has disappeared, and won't return until the status quo changes.
Every great NFL franchise has an identity it can lean on. In today's game, that typically means the quarterback that was given the keys to the kingdom. In Philadelphia, it's Wentz. A return to MVP-caliber play would be a cure-all for most ailments. Heck, even consistently good play is enough to create an identity around.
Blaming everything on a quarterback is too simplistic. But ignoring the truth is worse: The feeling around this football team won't change until we feel like there's something strong to count on each week. It has to become Wentz, or else this franchise is headed for NFL purgatory.
