The Eagles Finally Looked Like Super Bowl Champions

The Philadelphia Eagles’ playoff hopes were supposed to die last night against the Rams in Los Angeles. An eighth loss was a foregone conclusion. Until something very last year happened. Philadelphia went into the Coliseum, pushed the mighty Rams around, and left with playoff dreams flying high.

Nick Foles revived his role of super substitute and the defense found its championship fiber. The 13-point underdogs built up a 17-point advantage and held on for dear life. No one saw it coming. Like last year, after Carson Wentz went down with an injury late.

Overreaction? Maybe. Comparing apples to oranges? Maybe. But last night felt as though the Eagles remembered they were defending Super Bowl champions.

Foles completed 24 of his 31 passes for 270 yards and piloted a balanced offense that won the time of possession battle. Alshon Jeffery racked up 160 receiving yards and the team gained 111 on the ground.

The defense forced three turnovers and, once again, made Jared Goff look like Ryan Gosling in disguise. It all came together.

Is it too late? Did the Eagles make their bed already? Again, maybe.

They sit at 7-7, one game behind Dallas, who would win a tiebreaker. The best hope is to score a wild-card berth. Philly needs to beat Houston and Washington, and hope for Minnesota or Seattle to stumble.

And that’s just to get the No. 5 or 6 seed. Meaning they’d be rewarded with a trip on the road in the wildcard round and then probably to New Orleans or Los Angeles. We know they can win against the latter. The former will present an even bigger challenge.

But this morning, let’s not focus on the reality. Or the conventional wisdom. Let’s embrace the underdog mentality. Hell, Philadelphia does. They even have a statue for a fictional character because he was a scrappy overachiever.  Let’s instead focus on how, if it happened once, it could happen again.

The defending Super Bowl champions realized they could defend that title. Better late than never.