Well, if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan, you had to know this was coming. It is, after all, an ‘Overaction Monday’. If the Super Bowl doesn’t do anything else for the fans of the 30 teams who aren’t participating (and the fans of the team who was the runner-up), it most certainly does this. It forces 31 fan bases to ponder the same notion.
It makes us all think about how far away our teams are, and it forces us to accept certain realities about the NFL squad we cheer for. Now, if you’re a Birds fan, doesn’t that sound like part of your thought process on the Monday following football’s biggest game?
Here’s what all of this looks like if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan.
If you’re a Birds fan, or even if you’re not, here’s some of what football’s most loyal fan base is thinking about today. We don’t have the offense to compete. We don’t have the defense to compete. We have to develop a quarterback to the elite level. heck, we may not even have the right coach.
Now pause. Draw a circle around that last point for a second. During the NFL Playoffs, before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were actually seen as the visiting team in the Super Bowl, a game that was played in their home stadium, here’s what happened.
They won three consecutive road games as their defensive coordinator, Todd Bowles, trotted his unit out onto the playing field to take the measure of the Washington Football Team in the Wild Card Round. Then, in consecutive weeks, his unit made average men out of three signal-callers who are shoo-ins for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
They forced Drew Brees and company into four turnovers en route to a 30-20 victory. One week later, the NFL’s MVP crashed and burned as the Bucs beat Aaron Rodgers and company by a 31-26 margin. Two weeks after that, versus a team and offense that quite a few NFL pundits gave Tampa no shot in stopping, Bowles’ unit limited Patrick Mahomes and company to nine points.
That isn’t anything to sneeze at if you’re an NFL fan. If you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan though, it might send your thought process in another direction.
Did the Philadelphia Eagles pick the wrong guy?
We’ve long known of Todd Bowles’ defensive genius. He wasn’t quite there yet when he was with Philly, but he was respected for his ability. Remember, he was Philly’s secondary coach in 2012 before adding the title of interim defensive coordinator to his plate following the firing of Juan Castillo.
Bowles has been an interim head coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2011 and the head coach of the New York Jets from 2015 to 2018. Philly interviewed him for their vacant head coaching position in January following the parting of ways with Doug Pederson, but when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, they went with Nick Sirianni.
Following an amazing run by the Bucs to their second Vince Lombardi Trophy, a nice run that was largely spearheaded by the play of Bowles’ defense, don’t be surprised if you hear a few questions about whether or not Philly got the right guy. Sure, there’s the thing about the Birds wanting an offensive coach and all, but come on. What would you give to have Philly’s defense look like Tampa’s? The debate table is open.