What Could Have Been: A Familiar Feeling This Time of Year for Eagles Fans

Larry Fitzgerald made Andy Reid's job more relaxing in the 30-21 victory as he caught five receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns. This headline would bring a great feeling to all Eagles fans for a game that was played in February right?

Unfortunately for Eagles fans, this headline can only be applied to the Pro Bowl that was played last Sunday in Honolulu, HI.

The conclusion of the Pro Bowl always brings a familiar feeling around for the Eagles and their fans. Since the head coach of each conference is determined based off which team loses in the conference championship game, one can't help but wonder what could have been considering Andy Reid has coached the NFC four times in the last eight years.

From 2002-2005, the Eagles appeared in four straight NFC Championship games. It took them four attempts before they made their second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

In the three previous seasons, there were always high expectations when it came to the Eagles winning the Super Bowl.

First, the Eagles went on the road to give Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, and the rest of the St. Louis Rams a run for their money. In the end, the Eagles fell just short by losing 29-24. Considering this was the first time Donovan McNabb and company made it this far under Andy Reid, all we could do was look forward to the following season.

When the Eagles made the NFC Championship game the following year against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it seemed impossible for the Eagles to lose. The Buccaneers had never won a road playoff game. They were 1-21 in games where the temperature was under 40 degrees and had never won a game when the temperature was under 30 degrees.

Unfortunately, statistics are never guaranteed, as the Buccaneers went on to win 27-10. For the second year in a row, the Eagles lost in the NFC Championship game and Andy Reid found himself coaching the Pro Bowl in Hawaii rather than the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

Even after defeating the Buccaneers earlier that season, the Eagles could only think of what could have been as they failed to defeat them when it mattered most.

Next season, the Eagles found themselves in a similar situation but with the Carolina Panthers. Once again, history appeared to be on the Eagles side since no team in NFL history had ever lost three straight conference championship games. Not to mention no team had ever lost back-to-back conference championship games at home.

Earlier that regular season, the Eagles went into Carolina and defeated the Panthers 25-16. Playing a team that they defeated earlier that season in a conference championship game at home seemed to be the perfect situation for them.

However, the Eagles fell just short of the Super Bowl for the third straight season as the Panthers went on to defeat the Eagles 13-3. Once again, Andy Reid found himself coaching the NFC squad in Hawaii instead of coaching his team in Houston.

When the Eagles advanced to the NFC Championship game against the Arizona Cardinals this season, one could not help but think about the Eagles previous experience in championship games. They may have ended their streak of three conference championship losses by defeating the Atlanta Falcons in 2005.

However, the situation seemed all too familiar for the Eagles.

Despite overcoming an 18-point deficit at halftime, the Eagles managed to blow a late lead by allowing the Arizona Cardinals to score on the final drive of this year's championship game. For the fourth time in eight seasons, the Eagles found themselves one game short of a chance at a Super Bowl.

As an Eagles fan, seeing Andy Reid on the sideline of Sunday's Pro Bowl game just reminded me of how close the Eagles were to another chance at winning the Super Bowl.

Considering this is the fourth time in the last eight years we have seen Andy Reid on the sidelines at the Pro Bowl, one can't help but get used to this familiar feeling that we wish would just go away.

Hopefully, this familiar feeling will not be around in the near future and we can celebrate a different type of feeling. Maybe we can experience the "I can't believe we just won the Super Bowl" type of feeling.