There's really not much left to play for now. The Super Bowl? It's been clear for a couple months now this isn't a Super Bowl team. The playoffs? The Arizona game really ended any realistic shot the Eagles had of extending their season beyond 16 games. A winning record? They'd need to go 5-0 the rest of the way, and they haven't won three games in a row in more than a year.
So all that's left now is pride.
All that's left now for the 2011 Eagles is to prove that they give a damn. That they care. That they're willing to go out and play hard for 60 minutes over the next five weeks despite having nothing to play for.
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These first 11 games, four of them have gone our way, seven of them the result wasnt what we wanted, but the last five games, youre just going to see a team thats not going to give up," special teams ace Colt Anderson said.
You definitely learn what kind of team you have when things are going bad. Its easy when youre winning, tough when youre losing, and you see how guys handle things. But we have a great group of guys and were going to go to work every day.
The dog days start now.
The Eagles still have almost a third of the season left, starting with a nationally televised game in Seattle against the Seahawks Thursday night.
At 4-7, the Eagles arent mathematically out of the postseason hunt. But they are in every other way. Theyre 4-10 in their last 14 games, 1-8 in their last nine home games and 3-10 in their last 13 non-division games.
These last five games, theyll show the true character of this team, tight end Brent Celek said. Whenever youre facing adversity, whenever youre facing a tough situation where you dont know what the outcome is going to be, your true character comes out. Everybody can play when youre up and when things are going well. But when youre backed into a corner, when youre down, thats when your true character shows.
This is an unprecedented situation for the Andy Reid Eagles. Theyve had just two losing seasons since Reid replaced Ray Rhodes after the 1998 season.
In 1999, the Eagles were coming off a 3-13 disaster under Rhodes, and their 5-11 record was actually considered a success, especially two wins to end the season.
In 2005, the Eagles finished 6-10, but that team was torn apart both by Donovan McNabbs season-ending Week 9 injury and the Terrell Owens debacle. The Eagles were 4-4 and on their way to 4-5 when McNabb got hurt, and even though that was a big disappointment a year after the Super Bowl run, the Eagles were still in contention before Mike McMahon became the quarterback.
Every other year? The Eagles have finished .500 or better.
So far, effort hasnt been the problem. Until their blowout loss to the Patriots Sunday, the Eagles had led in the fourth quarter of nine of 10 games. They just havent played well or smart or disciplined.
But these next few weeks will be a real test for a team that began the season with Super Bowl dreams and is now one of the NFLs worst, tied with the Redskins for last place in the NFC East.
Effort on this team is never going to be a question, safety Kurt Coleman said. I knew that coming out of training camp. We were going to fight, and I remember when somebody asked me if this is a Dream Team, and I said, No, were just a team thats going to work hard every day. Its frustrating that were losing, but weve got to push through it and hopefully get to the light at the end of the tunnel.
Everythings easy when you win. Trials and tribulations, losing, it really defines your character and who you really are. For us, theres still a shot and thats how were approaching it. Were never going to give up, regardless of anything. Were going to continue to fight for ourselves, for our teammates, for the coaches, for the fans. Its tough. We dont like losing. We put a lot into this game. But were going to continue to get better and better.
These next five games arent just about intangibles like pride and character. Theyre also about building the 2012 Eagles. Whoever the head coach is, Andy Reid or somebody new, theyre going to study all the film -- early in the season, late in the season -- to figure out who deserves to stay next year.
Dog it now, and you might not even be in the NFL next year. Dog it now, and youre going to cost yourself a lot of money. So no matter how bad things get, theres always something to play for.
Buddy Ryan used to tell the story about watching film of Eric Allen playing for Arizona State during a huge blowout defeat late in a lost season. Ryan saw Allen chase a receiver who he wasnt covering 90 yards down the field while ASU trailed by 50 points. He figured if he saw that kind of effort in a lost cause, hed get a great effort all the time.
Were going to go out there and play hard, no matter what the situation is, linebacker Jamar Chaney said. This is something that everybody has a dream of playing. Were all blessed to be in this position, and I dont think any of my teammates are going to take it for granted and go through the motions.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.