We've all seen it. Teams win a Super Bowl, hit the banquet circuit, celebrate for a few weeks, celebrate for a few more weeks, players miss a workout here and there, miss a few more and when all of a sudden the football season arrives, they're just not ready.
There's a reason nobody has repeated since the 2003 and 2004 Patriots and no NFC team has repeated since the 1992 and 1993 Cowboys.
Every team says it wants to go back. Very few actually continue doing the things that got them there in the first place.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said Wednesday part of his message to his players on locker clean-out day was to enjoy the moment, enjoy the celebration, but keep an eye on the big picture.
Pederson wants this to be a dynasty. Not a one-time thing.
"As you know, the nature of the business is you can't keep everybody, that's just the way it goes," Pederson said. "But the ones that are here? My mindset is to be back to do it again and to keep doing it and keep doing it."
The Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 Sunday night in Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis, the franchise's first championship in 57 years.
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The Eagles' first two Super Bowl appearances were exciting but didn't lead to any sort of sustained success. After the loss to the Raiders in 1980, they didn't win another playoff game until 1992. And after losing to the Patriots in 2004, they went 33-30-1 over the next four years.
Pederson wants the wait for the championship to be a little bit shorter than 57 years.
And he wanted to make sure his players understood what it will take for that happen before they head off in 53 separate directions after the parade on Thursday.
"These guys are well deserving of everything that they are going to be exposed to in the next coming weeks, coming months," Pederson said.
"And there's a side of success that's not the glamorous side, and it's the side that's … 'Who's going to hold out in OTAs? Who's going to want the next big contract? Who's going to miss this or that for an endorsement deal or an autograph signing? It's the not-so-glamorous side of success.
"And that was a little bit of the messaging this morning to the guys. I told them, 'If you want, get used to this. This is the new norm in Philadelphia. Hopefully playing into February every year. It's the new norm so get used to it. Short offseasons. So let's do that.'
"The guys that want to be part of that, they'll do that. The guys that want to be here, and I think everybody does want to be here."
Pederson said it's a lesson that he needs to follow as well.
"I hold myself accountable," he said. "I'm just like the players. I can't accept every deal that's out there. I can't agree to every speaking engagement out there because my goal is to win another one, and if my time is spent doing other things then that's not the focus, and that's where we're at right now as a team."
