Man, what a sad, sad way to end a football game: McNabb injured, defense impotent on the deep ball, and a late lead change when it seemed all was going Philly’s way. Damn, that sucked. I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel on the season, but the way things are going, I think it’s pretty unlikely that Philly will make the playoffs. Heck, they might not even get out of the cellar in the East, which is shocking to say the least.

The most interesting thing about this situation is that one of my coworkers, a fantasy football guru, mentioned to me in August, right before the season started, that the loser of the Super Bowl hasn’t made the playoffs the following season for the past 5 or so seasons. That’s a bit depressing…

The story line tomorrow will likely be about Terrell Owens and the fact that he was missing from the game. Perhaps someone will dig him up in Atlanta and get him to critique McNabb’s performance on camera. Unfortunately, Owens will have a point even though that point will further reinforce the fact that the team is better off without TO.

See, the biggest problems with the Eagles of old was the lack of good receivers. Pinkston and Mitchell were pretty much the worst 1 and 2 receivers in the league. Getting TO was the answer to that problem. Unfortunately, getting TO allowed the fans and the team to ignore the other glaring problems that plague the Eagles. There are several important ones, but by far the most important is to figure out what happens to the Eagles under 2 minutes. Half of the problem seems to be poor clock management which start at the head coach and goes down. It’s the stupid punt coverage at the end of this game where the players waited for the ball to roll that one extra yard instead of pouncing on it quickly to stop the clock. It’s the complete lack of urgency in the Super Bowl or in several other games this year. The other half is McNabb. It’s McNabb’s consistent brain freezes on critical throws late in games that have directly lead to the most painful postseason and regular season losses.

For this is the painful truth: Donovan McNabb has a problem leading comebacks. He must sort those out if he wants to win the big game. The fans need to acknowledge this and, more importantly, the team must acknowledge this. All the other problems fall second to this. Don’t get me wrong. I love watching McNabb, I love rooting for the guy, and think he truly is one of the great quarterbacks in the game. When he’s settled, even the greatest pass rush won’t prevent him from simply destroying the other team. But he’s not the same in critical game situations. It needs to get fixed or else his legacy will be the guy that couldn’t hack it under pressure.

This may seem pretty harsh, but I think it needs to be said. The other problems facing the team are simply cyclical… Yeah, the defense isn’t that strong. The line is thin, the corners exposed too often, and the running game needs help. Perhaps we need that other playmaker on offense. These can all be fixed year over year. McNabb, though, is a franchise guy. He’s nearly the perfect QB for this team. He just needs to work this out. And the only way the team will is if the team acknowledges it and we talk about it. Because ignoring it will bring us yet another late game interception.