They’re running out of time. They might have already run out of time.
Not to mention hope.
After the first five losses, the Eagles always had a few things to fall back on. Unbeaten at home. Toughest part of the schedule. Still early in the season. Lots of football to go. Young team getting better.
After this one?
There were no rationalizations available. They knew they just got their butts kicked in their own stadium by a team that hadn't won in a month.
It was just a gloomy, quiet locker room full of players who seemed to realize that a season that began with such promise is ultimately headed nowhere.
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The Eagles, desperate for a win over the Packers at the Linc, instead lost a 27-13 clunker, falling to 5-6 with their sixth loss in the last eight games.
Mathematically? They’re still alive.
Realistically? This felt like a dagger.
“It’s tough,” Zach Ertz said. “In the NFL, you invest so much each week to win games, and we haven’t been able to do that lately.
“We still feel like we have a good team. That’s the most frustrating thing. If we were a bad team and getting blown out of these games, it would be one thing. But games are coming down to a possession here, a possession there, and we’re just not executing in those situations.”
But the cold truth is that the Packers scored on five of their six meaningful drives, outgained the Eagles by nearly 100 yards (387-292), converted 10 of 14 third downs, held the Eagles without a touchdown after their first drive and didn’t allow a sack or a turnover.
This wasn’t 45-17 but it felt like a blowout. The Eagles just didn’t compete.
Aaron Rodgers picked apart an overmatched Eagles secondary, becoming only the third opposing quarterback ever to throw for 300 yards and complete at least 75 percent of his passes with two or more TD passes and no interceptions against the Eagles in Philadelphia.
The Eagles were just as ineffective on offense, following a game-opening 81-yard touchdown drive with just two field goals the rest of the way.
“It's far from over, but we understand that for the next five weeks, we're going to need every ounce of what everybody has,” Malcolm Jenkins said. “And we'll see what guys are made of. I think Doug (Pederson) did a good job of relaying that message that we'll see for the next five weeks: Who really wants to be here, who is really investing everything they have into this team? That's coaches and players.
“So right now we're just trying to stay the course. We've got a short week to get prepared for this road game. Obviously we haven't been that good on the road, so our preparation for this one is going to be paramount for us to get a victory.”
At 5-6, the Eagles’ playoff hopes are barely flickering. The Cowboys are running away with the division. The Giants are 8-3 and in terrific position for the first wild-card spot.
The Eagles’ only hope is the second wild card, and as of now, they’re trailing the Redskins (6-4-1), Buccaneers (6-5) and Packers (5-6), with the Saints also at 5-6.
If the Redskins go 3-2, they’ll get to 9-6-1 and the Eagles would have to go 5-0 to get ahead of them at 10-6.
Their margin for error is virtually nothing.
“You never know in this league,” linebacker Nigel Bradham said. “We go out and win five straight, we’ll be a 10-6 team. You never know. There’s always a possibility. But we can’t worry about any of that. We’ve just got to go out there and win.”
But they’ve done that only twice since Sept. 26.
“Look at the effort,” Pederson said. “I think you might look at wins and losses. I’ve got to look at the potential of the football team and the guys that we have.
“Are we there yet? No. Are we heading in the right direction? Yes. Again, it might not show up right now in wins and losses, but I see that potential. I see that there is no quit in this team. Everybody’s fighting to the end. That’s a sign that things are heading in the right direction.”
Since that 3-0 start, only the Browns and 49ers have fewer wins than the Eagles. Both are winless since Week 4.
For a team loaded with young players, the losing can become toxic. When an entire team forgets how to win, it’s all over.
“When we hit adversity, it’s not the end of the world,” Chris Maragos said. “You have to embrace adversity. Whether we go down early in a game or they go down and score on the opening drive, or if we go 3-and-out, or we’re not getting it done on kickoff returns, whatever it might be, we’ve got to continue to push through and embrace that adversity and learn how to work through it.
“Because this league’s tough. It’s the littlest of things that make the biggest difference, so we have to find ways to learn when those things are happening. We have to make sure we keep doing that.”
The Eagles have a short week and a trip to Cincinnati Saturday to face the 3-7-1 Bengals on Sunday. Then it’s the Redskins here, the Ravens in Baltimore and the Giants and Cowboys at home to finish up.
“Zero margin for error,” Ertz said. “We’ve got to win every game the way the NFC is shaping up — especially the NFC East. Every team in our division is playing at a high level right now and lucky for us, we still play all three of them. So that’s something to look forward to.
“But we start with the Bengals, and for us, that’s a must-win.”
