By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
With Sunday's loss to the Ravens, 27-26, the Eagles fell to 5-9 on the season with losses in five straight games and nine of their last 11 games. Just two games remain on a once promising season that fell apart rapidly.
On their way to nine losses, the Eagles suffered defeats by margins of one point twice, five points twice, six points, seven points, 11 points, 14 points and 18 points.
In the box score, these are close losses. And in reality, these are close losses. But don't look at them with a sense that the Eagles are close.
With every loss, no matter how big or small the margin, the Eagles did something to show how far off they are from being a contender.
When the Eagles lost in Week 5, it was a slow start that did them in. That was also the first time Carson Wentz was tasked with a potential tying or winning drive. He went for the home run and failed. It was his first career interception. It was going to happen sooner or later.
Similarly, the Eagles lost in Week 6 due to a slow start and struggles offensively.
In Week 8, the Eagles led the Cowboys, projected to be the NFC favorite entering the playoffs, 23-13 with 14 minutes remaining in the game and couldn't close it out. They lost in overtime.
The next week against the Giants, another upstart team in the NFC this season, the Eagles fell behind early, but found themselves 17 yards from a game-winning touchdown. Jordan Matthews never got into position to catch Wentz's pass for the endzone on fourth down. The Eagles lost by five.
Two weeks later, the Eagles couldn't keep up with the Seahawks, falling by 11. They lost by 14 to the Packers a week later, again because they could not keep up. Then against the lowly Bengals, they suffered their worst defeat of the season by 18 points.
Against Washington in Week 14, the Eagles led at the half, fell behind by eight after three quarters and took a one-point lead with 4:59 to play. A touchdown with 1:53 remaining sealed their fate, a five-point loss.
And then finally, there was Sunday's loss in Baltimore, another game they chased for its entirety until the final drive, when Wentz ran the ball in to put the Eagles one point away from a tie and two from the win. They opted to go for two. It failed.
By this point in the season, after so many close losses, there was nothing left to lose by going for two. But given their track record and lack of success this season, did you really think they were going to make it?
The Eagles have come close to winning so many games, so much so that if they hold off Dallas, complete the pass against the Giants for the game-winning touchdown, don't allow the late touchdown to Washington or complete the two-point conversion in Baltimore, their record could suddenly go from 5-9 to 9-5, just like that.
But this is what inexperience brings you. This is what a rookie coach, a rookie quarterback and an overall lack of weapons gets you.
That being said, the valuable experience that Doug Pederson, Carson Wentz and the Eagles are getting doesn't provide as much hope as it seems. The Eagles still need to build around Wentz, something that is going to take more than one offseason to complete. They need Pederson to grow as a head coach.
That can start for the Eagles as soon as Thursday night when they are back on the field, but in reality, we won't know much about the growth of this team until the offseason is complete and the Eagles take the field again next September.
