Will the Real Philadelphia Eagles Please Stand Up!?

Here is a trivia question: How many NFL teams called the "Eagles" have played in Philadelphia since 2004?

The answer? Two. One amazingly dominant team that knocks off the NFL darling (and molly coddled) New York Giants, which we will call the "Good Eagles," and the other Eagles team?

One sad, underwhelmingly inept team that fights tooth and nail to eek out a tie against one of the worst teams in the NFL. We shall call this Eagles team the "Evil Twin."

This "tale of two teams" in Philadelphia isn't unique to this season alone, mind you. Oh no, this two-headed monster has reared its ugly mug(s) for four-years running.

It just seems that because the Good Eagles win so big, the Evil Twin Eagles seem to go unnoticed. Overrated? Possibly. Underperforming? Definitely. But of course, which team you see each Sunday all depends on which Sunday you choose to watch them play.

I, sadly, try to watch them every week so the great disparity of good and evil is quite apparent to me. Let's recap these last few years to see if we can pick up on a trend.

2005 season

Evil Eagles ruled this season. Win/loss record 6-10. Brad Childress leaves the team at the end of the 2004 season to coach the Vikings. He is replaced by Marty Mourning-wig. Apparently, Andy Reid was so impressed by Marty's 5-27 record with the Lions that he just HAD to get him on board the team to develop a very predictable, inconsistent, and underperforming offensive squad.

Marty really rose the occasion and accomplished all three tasks with amazing quickness. The self-destruction of this season was blamed on Terrell Owens' implosion and attempted suicides etc., but really, he was just a big fat distraction. Not in the way you were told in the sports press: "a distraction to the team, to the coaches" etc.

Rather, he was a smoke and mirrors "scapegoat" to distract the fans, from recognizing the real problem that lay in the fundamental operation of offense. Toward the end of the season, Andy Reid admitted to 'interfering' a bit too much and not allowing Marty to make the play calling.

He promised to turn more of the offense over to Marty. Phew! Thank God! Now we can see Mourning-wig's five-win-27-loss genius in all its glory. A couple other side notes here.

The Eagles were 26th in penalties this year, which is a sure sign of nothing other than poor preparation, and poor preparation is nothing other than poor coaching. And let's not forget,McNabb started the season playing like crap against the Falcons, then fantastic against the 49ers, then a couple games later, like crap against the Cowboys. Then, wouldn't you know it, injured for the final six games.

The truth is, he played like garbage for the four games leading up to this injury. People seemed to overlook that and would give the excuse, "This is just a different team without McNabb." No, it's just as inconsistent without him as it is WITH him. We just win half our games by three points instead of 30.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?