Sunday was more than just a loss to the Commanders. A lot was at stake for the Eagles and they let it all slip through their fingers (literally).

First, the Eagles lost the game. We can use the Jalen Hurts injury excuse, and that’s certainly a valid one, but Hurts doesn’t play defense. The Eagles defense was beaten soundly in the 2^nd half Sunday. They seemed confused and reactive instead of dictating. They also did a bad job of getting Jayden Daniels to the ground both in the pocket and when he scrambled. Outside of forcing two 2^nd half turnovers, the defense failed to get Washington of the field. The Commanders scored touchdowns on three of their final four possessions.

Second, securing the first round bye and home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs is likely gone. It was a long shot going into the game given how Detroit has dominated the NFC North, but there was at least hope that a Week 18 Vikings-Lions showdown could result in the NFC playoffs going through the Linc. That dream is now dead. Only a Vikings loss in Week 17 and the Lions losing their last two would get the job done for the Eagles. (Outside of Detroit losing in the playoffs, of course.)

Third, Saquon Barkley’s chances of breaking the rushing record likely went out the window. Assuming the Eagles take care of business next week against Dallas, Week 18 will be a meaningless contest unless the aforementioned NFC North events all go perfectly. That means Barkley will likely sit. I know it’s a tough pill to swallow, but it just doesn’t make sense for a team with Super Bowl aspirations to expose a veteran offensive line and a running back on pace for 400 touches to unnecessary contact. If Barkley plays without the starting offensive line, I don’t see his day being all that productive. Granted, if Barkley goes off in Week 17 against the Cowboys and only needs ~50 or 60 yards, well then yes, I could see the offense playing a half to get that done. Hurts going down Sunday was a real killer to Barkley’s chances because the Eagles offensive line had Washington on the ropes early. A 200-yard day seemed likely. Unfortunately, once the offense lost Hurts it just became too easy for the defense to key in on Barkley and limit his effectiveness.

In addition to suffering through a loss, Eagles fans were forced to listen to a barrage of stupidity from national media members. Bill Barnwell was on SVP Sunday night talking about how the Eagles 2^nd half offense struggled, and how they’re not potent when unable to produce big plays. Uh, no duh, stupid. That’s what happens when your starting quarterback goes down. Turns out you probably want your starter out there for the offense to reach its full potential. Who knew? Barnwell wasn’t alone.

FOX’s crew was also real bad. They continually talked about how resilient Washington was and how it was an epic comeback from a big 1^st quarter deficit. Ummmmmm, do you think they were even aware the Eagles lost their starting quarterback? I’m not convinced they did. It wasn’t like the Eagles just collapsed. Imagine any offense without their starting quarterback. It’s rarely pretty.

Also, I get losing despite forcing five turnovers is a big miss. However, if your offense can’t do much, those turnovers don’t turn into points. Turnovers without points are just early punts. Please understand, I am not at all making excuses for the loss. I still think the Eagles should’ve won. They gave that game away. But for the football “experts” to discuss that game as if there weren’t a giant asterisk above it seemed foolish. I think I hated the discourse around the game as much as the Eagles defensive ineptitude.

Finally, as disappointing as the defense’s performance was yesterday, I’m not down on the Eagles at all. It was unlikely they were going to make a deep playoff run without a loss. Better lose now than later in January. However, giving Washington some confidence is certainly less than ideal, especially since they’ll likely be the Eagles 1^st round opponent.

The Eagles were due, though, and a lot of things fell apart on Sunday. The Hurts injury. The Devonta Smith drop (I don’t think anything on a football field shocked me more this season). The Barkley drop. Quinyon Mitchell surrendering a touchdown. The bizarre Chauncey Gardner-Johnson ejection. The bad penalties. The poor officiating. The inability to run the football after Hurts exited the game. It was a cluster all the way around.

Move on. Beat Dallas and prepare for the postseason.