If we thought the vibes on the Eagles couldn’t get any worse, man were we wrong. Because as bad as thing were after the 49ers, Cowboys, and Seahawks losses, they are way worse after the debacle that was the loss to the Cardinals. They let a 3-win team come into town, and embarrass them on defense. They failed to force a single punt and let them drive into or near the Red Zone on every single drive. Now they go into week 18 as the 5-seed, with little hope to improve their position.

What has gone wrong? It would be quicker to point out the things that have gone well. The Special Teams is great. Their O-Line is still elite. After that… yea it is hard to come up with anything else. Their defense is as bad as it gets. And while they may have talent on offense, the players aren’t executing, and the coaches aren’t doing a good job of maximizing their talent.

A once-promising season has imploded. They will be in the playoffs, but no one seems to have any confidence that they can win there, including the people on the team. The locker room seems to be falling apart, and the anonymous leaks have already begun speaking of discontent among the players toward the coaching staff.

After those other 3 losses, the people who write these Power Rankings were oddly optimistic still about the Eagles. With some even going at Eagles fans for nor being too negative. Which is weird because none of them had anything good to say about the Eagles when they were winning. But surely now, for the first time all year, Eagles fans and the National Media can all be on the same page, right?

Here is where the Eagles fell in the Week 18 Power Rankings:

• ESPN- 8 (Previously 5)

  “The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will be eligible for a new deal when the 2023 season comes to a close. The Eagles are usually proactive in extending core players early, knowing the price to retain them will only go up.”

  ESPN focused their power rankings on talking about the biggest offseason contract situation for each team. And yea, Devonta Smith is a big one. He is one of the few guys living up to his potential this year, and keeping him needs to be a priority. The problem is that will make it even harder to fix the issues they have on defense, and it will become imperative that they really start to hit on their draft picks in bring in some young and cheap talent.

  ESPN Power Rankings

• NFL.com- 9- (Previously 4)

  “Philly has now coughed up control of the NFC East and must face the reality of having to play on the road in the playoffs, barring something wacky happening in Week 18. Are the Eagles cooked? I won’t completely bail, but they’re very much on double-secret probation and might be irreparable. This isn’t exactly Constantinople falling, but it’s shocking, nonetheless.”

  It is hard to see the eagles figuring stuff now. They have been this way all year. They got away with it due to sheer talent and some luck early. But it caught up to them. If you can’t force a single punt from the Cardinals, you may just be a terrible defense. And this defense just does not have the talent to play at a playoff level, and the coaches are making it worse with decisions that make no sense.

  NFL.com Power Rankings

• The Athletic- 11 (Previously 7)

  “The Eagles have won 11 games this season and still can’t seem to help but panic. Their most recent abrupt move was to elevate Patricia to defensive play caller. On Sunday, the Eagles’ defensive success rate (40.8 percent) was their worst in a game since 2006.”

  Demoting Sean Desai didn’t work, because the DC was never the real problem. You can have the best scheme in the NFL, and if you don’t have the talent it still won’t work. That is not to say either Desai or Patricia did their job well. But it is hard to fairly judge them when they simply don’t have the players to run any type of scheme effectively.

  The Athletic’s Power Rankings

• Sports Illustrated- 8 (Previously 7)

  “I feel like the New York Giants are a terrible opponent for the Eagles in Week 18. Tyrod Taylor is serviceable enough to make some plays, and prepping for Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is like the Batman episodes with the Riddler. There is no telling what Martindale will cook up, and he is totally unafraid to let it rip.”

  Nothing that happens in week 18 matters much for them anyway. Even if they came out and finally had that perfect game (they won’t) it wont change their seeding, or how anyone feels about them. We have seen them for 16 games, and its clear the team just isn’t good enough. they are poorly coached on offense, and lack the talent on defense. Nothing is going to suddenly change for either of those issues.

  Sports Illustrated Power Rankings

• Yahoo Sports- 10 (Previously 6)

  “The Eagles blowing a 21-6 lead and losing to the Cardinals at home is the most damaging loss of the NFL season. Philly probably gave away the division with that loss. And the worst part is they were completely outplayed. The Cardinals outgained them 449 yards to 275. The game exposed how the bottom has fallen out for Philly. It’s hard to see them fixing all their issues, particularly a bad defense, this late in the season.”

  Yep, hard to argue with any of that. This team has given you no reason to be confident in them. And blowing this game may be the final nail in the coffin. They just aren’t good enough.

  Yahoo Sports Power Rankings

• CBS Sports- 9 (Previously 5)

  “They have major issues as they fell out of controlling their fate to win the NFC East by losing to the Cardinals. They have defensive issues in a big way.”

  Major issues could be the title of this teams year end wrap up video.

  CBS Power Rankings 

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