Philadelphia Eagles Fans Get an Unpleaseant Dose of Reality

The Philadelphia Eagles loss to the Green Bay Packers came as something of a reality check to Eagles fans.  Even with the previous week's somewhat embarrassing loss to the Vikings, fans were still talking about a Super Bowl run.  But Sunday's loss to the Packers not only ended the run before it began, but it also spoke volumes about the shortcomings of the Eagles and Michael Vick in particular.

The season had been, far and away, the best statistical season of Vick's career.  Nearly all his stats were better than at any other time in his NFL career.  But his old problems showed up again in the final two games.

Vick has always been an inaccurate and inconsistent passer.  The loss on Sunday was no exception.  Several plays went nowhere purely because Vick made bad throws to otherwise open receivers.  For the most part the errant throws were not forced by bad protection either.  One of the poor passes was a simple throw—a short little swing pass to LeSean McCoy coming out of the backfield—that fell nowhere near McCoy.  

Another of those bad throws, a pass thrown too high over the middle to Brent Celek, hung Celek out to dry and got him knocked out of the game.  And the final pass of the game was intercepted because Vick took far too long to read the defense.  It was a poor pass thrown way too late and too short.  Some of Vick's teammates felt they rushed that final play.  They had been calling for Vick to spike the ball and stop the clock prior to the interception, but Vick didn't listen.

So it's "one and done" for the Eagles.  Angry fans will certainly want to flame me for this article but the facts will still remain.  Michael Vick may have had his best season but it still resulted in an immediate first-round playoff loss. 

I admit I'm no Michael Vick fan.  The heinous brutality of his crime in killing dogs saw to that.  But, as far as his play on the football field, what good are improved regular season numbers, when he still can't get it done when it really matters?  Looking over Vick's career, one must suppose that this year was very likely a flash in the pan and next season will probably bring more of what we saw in the loss to the Packers.

With the Dallas Cowboys nowhere on the radar this year, and the Giants having a sub-par season as well, this was a golden opportunity for the Eagles.  But Vick and the Eagles just didn't get it done.