Lurie was a more powerful messenger than the \u201cPositivity Rabbit\u201d<\/a> that appeared in the locker room at the team\u2019s training facility last week, and a far more authentic one.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 32 years, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever lost a game we were about to win, like on a missed field goal or a last-second catch or something like that,\u201d Lurie said, his eyes sparkling with childlike wonderment. \u201c(Brian) Dawkins would get a pick in the end zone, or something would happen and we\u2019d pull it out. Maybe I\u2019m not remembering something, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever happened (until now). I expected us to do it again. We were just a couple of plays away.\u201d<\/p>\n But if Philly fans were already in freakout mode following their previous debacle, a dispiriting 24-15 defeat to the Chicago Bears on Black Friday, Monday\u2019s misfire amplified the noise like a Jack White guitar solo.<\/p>\n The defending Super Bowl champs (8-5) have now failed to score more than 21 points for five consecutive games \u2014 their most impotent stretch in two decades. Their offense looks about as crisp as Timothy Ratliff after sampling his wife\u2019s lorazepam in \u201cWhite Lotus.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, many of the same players were part of an Eagles team that annihilated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX just 10 months ago. Even so, it\u2019s beginning to feel a lot like 2023.<\/p>\n In that surreal season, the Eagles started 10-1 before suffering a blowout home defeat to the San Francisco 49ers, a game best remembered for a sideline skirmish<\/a> between then-Niners linebacker Dre Greenlaw and the Eagles\u2019 longtime head of security, Dominic (Big Dom) DiSandro. From that point on, the season was a Big Bummer. The collapsing Eagles lost six of their final seven games, including a 32-9 thrashing by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n It was an inglorious end to a once promising campaign. This recent stretch of stench raises the question: Is this a bad sequel<\/a>?<\/p>\n After Monday\u2019s game, several Eagles players defiantly insisted that they\u2019re not repeating recent history.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d receiver DeVonta Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s nowhere close to 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n Star running back Saquon Barkley, who joined the Eagles as a free agent following that season, was similarly declarative.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people bring up 2023,\u201d Barkley said, shaking his head. \u201cI wasn\u2019t here. A lot of guys weren\u2019t here. And the guys who were here would be crazy not to learn from that. It may not make sense right now. \u2026 It doesn\u2019t make sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n On paper, it makes about as much sense as a fourth-string running back (A.J. Dillon, who last played on Oct. 9) taking it upon himself to change a team\u2019s vibes by bringing a large, blown-up Easter Bunny into the locker room. Talk about a deflating defeat: When reporters entered the locker room on Wednesday, the rabbit was gone, seemingly having been placed on waivers.<\/p>\n Then again, for all their success over the past decade (three Super Bowl appearances, two Lombardis), the Eagles habitually defy conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n Most teams look to their franchise quarterback for motivation and leadership. Jalen Hurts, amid all his accomplishments \u2014 including a Super Bowl MVP performance last February \u2014 isn\u2019t known as a \u201cconnector\u201d in the building. His frayed relationship with star receiver A.J. Brown became a conspicuous talking point<\/a> earlier this season when Brown voiced his frustrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Conversely Barkley, a first-team All-Pro in 2024, is regarded as a team leader; his 52-yard touchdown run off a faked tush push at the start of Monday\u2019s fourth quarter gave Philly\u2019s sideline a temporary jolt of adrenaline that proved to be unsustainable.<\/p>\n Nothing about the Eagles\u2019 offense has resembled the unit that steamrolled teams last January and February. Hurts (seven turnovers in his last two games, including an eye-popping five on Monday) has added ball security to a growing list of issues that includes an unwillingness to throw in-breaking, intermediate routes. Barkley, running behind a hobbled offensive line, is averaging 4.0 yards per carry, down from 5.8 in 2024. Brown and Smith have combined for just nine touchdown catches and have collectively caught only about two-thirds of the throws targeted their way.<\/p>\n \n The gaudy numbers have gone away for Eagles receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. (Kevin Jairaj \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n First-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, elevated to his position after Kellen Moore left to become the New Orleans Saints\u2019 head coach following last February\u2019s Super Bowl, has absorbed a healthy share of criticism, with coach Nick Sirianni becoming more involved in game planning. Following the Bears game, some foolish fans egged Patullo\u2019s house<\/a>, seemingly without the Easter Bunny\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n Two years ago, the Eagles\u2019 offense was a mess, too \u2014 with embattled offensive coordinator Brian Johnson playing the role of Patullo. Back then, however, the team\u2019s defensive deficiencies were equally glaring. In mid-December 2023, senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia became that unit\u2019s primary play caller, replacing defensive coordinator Sean Desai. The slide continued, and both coordinators were gone at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n In retrospect, the staff upheaval that occurred following Philly\u2019s narrow defeat to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII had taken a toll: With offensive coordinator Shane Steichen (Indianapolis Colts) and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon (Arizona Cardinals) having departed for head coaching opportunities, their respective replacements were one-and-done temps in the wake of the 2023 meltdown.<\/p>\n After that season, the Eagles brought in Vic Fangio, one of the most renowned defensive strategists of his generation, with predictably great results. Fangio, 67, remains entrenched as the team\u2019s defensive coordinator, which is a major reason so many players and others in the organization are confident they can forestall another freefall.<\/p>\n \u201cNah \u2014 this ain\u2019t no crash at the end,\u201d said 37-year-old defensive end Brandon Graham, who came out of retirement<\/a> to rejoin the Eagles in October. \u201cIt\u2019s just the way it\u2019s going right now. We\u2019ll get it right. I\u2019m not worried at all. We\u2019ve still got Vic. Back then, we lost (coordinators) on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t 2023. We\u2019re definitely gonna get it right. I just know that how we handle this right now is key. Let people talk. While they keep talking, we\u2019ll just keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Nick Sirianni\u2019s Eagles team hasn\u2019t topped 21 points in five straight games, starting with a win in Green Bay. (Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n To be sure, people\u00a0will keep talking. The Eagles have an engaged and notoriously alarmist fan base and are subject to the NFL\u2019s most aggressive and discerning local media coverage. To be clear, however, the growing frustration that has seeped into the locker room and infiltrated the sideline on game day isn\u2019t simply the product of outside noise.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the same thing every week,\u201d Smith said long after Monday\u2019s game in a near-empty visitors\u2019 locker room at SoFi. \u201cWe\u2019re doing some good s\u2014, but we shoot ourselves in the foot. Nobody\u2019s doing anything to stop us. We\u2019re stopping ourselves every time. We get something going and we just start doing some dumb s\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n Two years ago, once things began to unravel, the Eagles couldn\u2019t stop the downward spiral. This time, beginning with Sunday\u2019s home game against the 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders, their challenge is to do so amid growing cynicism.<\/p>\n With a game-and-a-half lead over the Dallas Cowboys (6-6-1) in the NFC East and a favorable schedule \u2014 after the Raiders, Philly has two games against the 3-10 Washington Commanders sandwiched around a road clash with the 9-4 Buffalo Bills \u2014 a turnaround seems feasible. As in 2023, however, the Eagles will ultimately be judged by what happens in the postseason, assuming they even get there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know we have the talent,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cWe know we have the coaches. We\u2019re training. We\u2019re working hard, doing all the little things right. But it\u2019s not transitioning to the football field (in games). It doesn\u2019t make sense right now. But we\u2019ve got to keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ll do so in an environment that one front-office executive called a \u201cpressure-cooker\u201d \u2014 with some very accomplished authority figures attempting to meet a relentlessly high standard.<\/p>\n Sirianni, for all his emotional outbursts and perceived flaws, proved to be a masterful tone-setter<\/a> in guiding the Eagles to a championship, earning a massive contract extension<\/a> in May. General manager Howie Roseman is one of the sport\u2019s most adept and fearless acquirers of talent<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Eagles](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27664990-scaled.jpg\")
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