Chip Kelly, Eagles Still a Long Way from Owning the NFC

Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks might not ultimately cost the Philadelphia Eagles in the standings. They still lead the NFC East by way of the tiebreaker, they get to host the second-place Dallas Cowboys next week and their remaining schedule is much easier than their division rival's.

But even if the Eagles win the division and even if they land a first-round bye, the 24-14 loss represents Philadelphia's inability to make what would have been a statement. 

The Seahawks are the defending Super Bowl champions. They look to be peaking at the right time, having entered this week with back-to-back 19-3 victories over strong division rivals. But they had to travel three time zones Sunday to take on a Philly team that had a little extra time to prepare and had won nine straight regular-season home games dating back to last November. 

And yet, Seattle controlled the clock for a ridiculous 42 minutes while out-gaining the Eagles 440-139 in a decisive double-digit victory at Lincoln Financial Field. 

Last year around this time, the Eagles had to prove that despite a new head coach and a weak start to the season, they were a playoff-caliber team. And they did exactly that when they steamrolled NFC playoff contenders Detroit and Chicago in December victories at home. 

This year, the Eagles and their fans are expecting more. And with a chance to prove that this time they're a Super Bowl team with a big performance against a Super Bowl-caliber opponent at home to kick off December, they fell flat on their face. 

In terms of total yardage, it was the offense's worst performance of the Chip Kelly era, which now spans 30 regular-season and playoff games. And it wasn't even close, the New York Post's Bart Hubbuch: 

"

The 139 yards today were the fewest by a Chip Kelly offense in his six seasons as an NFL & NCAA head coach.

— Bart Hubbuch (@BartHubbuch) December 8, 2014"

In fact, based on that metric, it was their worst offensive performance in seven years and their worst home showing since they accumulated only 79 net yards against the Giants at Veterans Stadium in 1983. 

Date	Opponent	Yards
October 9, 2005	Cowboys	129
Sunday	Seahawks	139
December 24, 2005	Cardinals	189
September 30, 2007	Giants	190
December 5, 2005	Seahawks	190

The Eagles converted just two of 11 third downs and had only nine first downs in total in a performance that would have looked a lot worse had they not forced a couple turnovers on defense while holding Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in check most of the day.

It marked only the second time this century Philly had fewer than 10 first downs in an entire game.

Seattle's defense is great. Probably the best in the league. But that's no excuse for a performance this shabby, even with your backup quarterback. Kelly was brought in as an offensive mastermind. He's not expected to slap the Seahawks around—nobody can do that—but he and his talented offense have to be able to accomplish more in a spot like that. 

If the Eagles want to make a run at their first Super Bowl, they'll have to beat teams like Seattle in conditions like these. 

And for those of you who say this is just one bad game, consider that they lost to the contending Green Bay Packers in November, the contending Arizona Cardinals in October and the contending San Francisco 49ers in September. This is becoming a trend.  

But getting back to the game at hand, true contenders don't lose home games on extra rest in the final month of the season, regardless of the opponent. And that's why the Eagles still must prove that they deserve to be considered a Super Bowl threat.

Unfortunately, they won't have another chance to beat a team of Seattle's caliber again until January at the earliest. And that's if they're lucky. They play Dallas again next Sunday in what isn't technically a must-win game, but losing back to back at the Linc in December would be concerning, if not heartbreaking. Beyond that, they finish up with the lowly Washington Redskins and New York Giants. 

The Eagles should be favored in all three of those games, regardless of whether Mark Sanchez or Nick Foles is at quarterback. But because they failed to deliver in Week 14, we won't know whether the Eagles are ready to make a run until that run is supposed to get under way on the first weekend of January. 

That's far from ideal. 

And if anybody is thinking this can be pinned on Sanchez and that the return of Foles will clear everything up, consider that the defense allowed the Seahawks to convert three third downs with 13 or more yards to go. 

That's happened far too often this season. 

Team	Total
Eagles	12
Titans	7
Saints	6
Buccaneers	6

Throw in that running backs LeSean McCoy and Darren Sproles averaged just 2.4 yards on their 21 carries, and it was an all-around terrible performance in a big spot. 

And that's really the key. This is about timing. I know that whole thing about "peaking at the right time" is a cliche, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. The Seahawks have been here and done this. They're peaking at the right time, and they made the Eagles their December victims on Sunday. 

That doesn't bode well for what's to come in Philadelphia. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.