Andy Reid Has Spoiled Eagles Fans

Philadelphia.

It's hard to argue that the city has the very best fans in the entire country. Unfortunately, the teams have not always played up to the enthusiasm of the fans. Yet again and again, they continue to hold out hope and root year after year after year.

Philadelphia has not been the title-town that some other cities have been over the years. Cities like New York and Boston have many titles to boast of and continue to rack up the trophies and accolades.

But for Philadelphia, there had been a 25-year drought of a professional sports title that had the city hungry for a win.

Enter the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies.

In a very competitive NL East, the Fightin' Phils finally pulled away in the last week of the year to take the NL East and earn their spot in the playoffs for two consecutive years, the first time since 1981. They made the best of it by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in five games to take the World Series.

Philadelphia was complete—at least for a little while.

After a run at the NBA finals with then-leader Allen Iverson, the 76ers have fallen out of title contention in many fans' eyes. The Flyers made a spirited Cinderella-type run to the Eastern Conference Finals last year but fell to the cross-state rival Pittsburgh Penguins.

Not much is expected out of the NBA or NHL area of Philadelphia. Even with the Flyers' successes last year, it's widely assumed it was merely riding momentum that far just to be handily beaten by the Penguins. Big-name free agent acquisitions by the Sixers have some fans hoping, but not for too much.

The Philadelphia Eagles, however, are a different story.

After years of mediocrity, the Eagles have been one of the more successful franchises this decade.

Once Ray Rhodes was all but run out of town, Jeffrie Lurie went out and found himself a relatively unknown coach. He had several people interview for the job and even had an offer from former coach Dick Vermeil to come out of retirement for the Eagles job.

But Lurie, knowing that was a short-term solution, turned him down and continued his search for a coach that would bring an attitude and continuity to the Philadelphia Eagles.

He found him on the Green Bay coaching staff.

A man who was the quarterbacks coach of eventual Hall-of-Fame quarterback Brett Favre and served under the tutelage of eventual Hall-of-Fame head coach Mike Holmgren.

Enter Andy Reid.

A move that perplexed many. Not many fans could wrap their minds around how you could pass up a proven coach like Dick Vermeil for a guy who never even had the title of coordinator.

The skeptics would soon be eating their words.

Reid came in for the '99 season, and his first move was to draft a new face of the franchise.

Paul Tagliabue came to the podium, and with the only voice that should ever announce draft picks, proclaimed to all the Eagles fans in attendance: "With the second pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select, out of the University of Syracuse, quarterback Donovan McNabb"

BOOOOOO!!!

An eruption from the fans. But why? What could possibly be wrong with drafting a quarterback in a year that was supposed to rival the 1983 class for quarterbacks?

A Heisman-winning running back by the name of Ricky Williams was still on the board at the time and was a hot name amongst Eagles fans everywhere.

Older fans who were around to watch O.J. Simpson play college football, and who saw the Eagles end a miserable season with two consecutive wins to miss out on the O.J. lottery, were having flashbacks of passing up a Hall-of-Fame running back.

But McNabb, in his never-ending class, came out on stage, grabbed his number one Eagles jersey, and smiled for the camera. A smile that would become familiar with Eagles fans over the next decade.

Thus began Andy Reid's love-hate relationship with the City of Brotherly Love.

To this point, 10 weeks into the 2008 season, Reid's 10th, the Eagles are 101-66, with an 8-6 playoff record.

This number is much higher than any other coach in Eagles' history.

Greasy Neale, a coach considered by many to be the best that Philadelphia has ever seen, only accumulated 66 wins for his career, while posting a 3-1 playoff record.

The only coach besides Neale and Reid to have a winning playoff record?

Buck Shaw, who took the Eagles to their last championship in 1960, only had a 1-0 record in the playoffs with a 20-16-1 overall record.

Even Dick Vermeil could only accumulate a 3-4 record in the playoffs and a less-than-stellar 57-51 win-loss record in his seven-year stint as the head man for the Eagles. He was also the only coach, other than Reid, to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl. But, like Reid, he came up short in 1980 to Jim Plunkett and the Raiders.

Here is a list of all the Eagles coaches since their inception in 1933, along with career and playoff records, courtesy of philadelphiaeagles.com.

Eagles Head Coaching Records
Head Coach	Years	Record	Playoffs
Lud Wray	1933-35	9-21-1	0-0
Bert Bell	1936-40	10-44-2	0-0
Greasy Neale	1941-50	66-44-5	3-1
Walt Kiesling (a)	1943	---	---
Bo McMillin (b)	1951	2-0-0	0-0
Wayne Millner (c)	1951	2-8-0	0-0
Jim Trimble	1952-55	25-20-3	0-0
Hugh Devore	1956-57	7-16-1	0-0
Buck Shaw	1958-60	20-16-1	1-0
Nick Skorich (d)	1961-63	15-24-3	0-0
Joe Kuharich (d)	1964-68	28-41-1	0-0
Jerry Williams	1969-71	7-22-2	0-0
Ed Khayat (e)	1971-72	8-15-2	0-0
Mike McCormack	1973-75	16-25-1	0-0
Dick Vermeil	1976-82	57-51-0	3-4
Marion Campbell	1983-85	17-29-1	0-0
Fred Bruney (f)	1985	1-0-0	0-0
Buddy Ryan	1986-90	43-38-1	0-3
Rich Kotite	1991-94	37-29-0	1-1
Ray Rhodes	1995-98	30-36-1	1-2
Andy Reid	1999-	101-66	8-6

Note: Record includes playoff games

(a) Neale and Kiesling co-coached the Steagles in 1943 and their 5-4-1 record is reflected in Neale's totals
(b) retired due to illness after second game in 1951
(c) succeeded McMillin for last 10 games in 1951
(d) record includes one loss in Playoff Bowl
(e) succeeded Williams after first three games in 1971
(f) suceeded Campbell for last game in 1985

The point of all of this is to show Philadelphia fans that things are really not all that bad in the Reid era. He has brought the Eagles back to respectability. He has given Philadelphia unprecedented success in this new era of the NFL.

Division titles: 5

NFC Title Appearances: 4

NFC Championships: 1

Super Bowl Appearance: 1 (L 21-24)

Reid and the Eagles have been praised as been one of the best, well-run franchises with him at the helm. The Eagles have become a model to look at for a winning formula.

Granted, the past couple years are not what Philly fans have become accustomed to. But in the end, is it or has it really been that bad with Reid leading the way? Can you honestly not respect the man for what he has done and have faith that he will do it again?

As a final point, Eagles fans, do not let your spoiled ways cloud your judgment of Andy Reid. He is one of the best coaches in the NFL today, one of the best of all-time, and certainly the best to ever come through Philadelphia.

Be happy with the enormous gift Mr. Lurie has continued to give Eagles fans over the past decade.

Bottom Line: Appreciate all Andy has done and will do in the future.

And, if all of that doesn't help, at least you're not a Detroit Lions fan.