There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles this season. In the offseason, it seemed that Chip Kelly was assembling "his team" and that the players he was acquiring were going to take the Eagles franchise to a new height.
The preseason started and all was well with Chip’s squad. They went 3-1 and outscored their opponents, 139-71.
All seemed well in Philadelphia and most fans believed they were about to experience the peak of Chip Kelly’s prolific offense. There’s just one thing everybody forgot. It was preseason football they were watching.
What awaited the Eagles was nothing short of a disaster.
Now as Chip Kelly and his Eagles head into Week 13, they hold a 4-7 record, having lost three games in a row. On top of that, they are preparing to play arguably the best team in the league, the New England Patriots. Things are not looking good for the Eagles, even though they are only one game back from first place in the NFC East.
When analyzing the team's season so far, it's difficult to tell what will happen. Philadelphia has been so inconsistent, it's hard to fathom what would become of a postseason run, even if they win the division. As bad as the Eagles have been, they still have time to turn it around.
It won’t be easy, considering they have teams like the Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals still left on their schedule. Not to mention, they have back-to-back divisional games set for their last two games in the regular season.
It may be a tough question, but would the Eagles be better off losing out the rest of their season, in order to receive a higher draft position?
It’s clear to see that the Eagles have some alarming holes on both offense and defense. Kelly tried to address those positions through the free agency market, but, considering the way the season ended up this year, it might be a better idea to look for talent through the draft. For one thing, Philadelphia desperately needs to acquire better offensive linemen.
The past two years, Philadelphia’s offensive line has been a plethora of different combinations of linemen due to injuries. The current backups have failed to step up their game and show that they can be trusted to protect their quarterback.
Sam Bradford may not have been what Chip Kelly was hoping he would be this season, but it’s fair to say he didn’t get a consistent enough effort from his offensive line.
The Eagles don’t have many options at this point in the season, but then again, there’s always next year…again.
Dan Ketler is a contributing writer for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @ketler11.
