Let Us Bury the Eagles 2020 Season
With New Years Day right around the corner, it’s time to bury the 2020 season and the year as a whole for Eagles fans.
Obviously, the world has had a horrible year in 2020, and *hopefully,* 2021 is the start of returning to normalcy for everyone. But strictly as Eagles fans, 2020 has been awful, and we should leave it in 2020, even though there is another game left in the season.
The season is over. The Eagles are officially mathematically eliminated.
The first team to be eliminated from the worst division in football and one of the worst in football history.
So, let’s get it out of the way…let’s recap 2020, so we can be done with it forever.
Seattle at Home in the Postseason
The first game of 2020 was actually the end of the 2019 season. The Eagles finished the season winning four straight and winning the NFC East in New York during Week 17. The Eagles then hosted the Seahawks on January 5th, 2020. And thus starts the Eagles miserable 2020 year. Carson Wentz was concussed just eight plays into his playoff debut, and Josh McCown’s heroic play in relief came up short as the Eagles fell to Seattle 17-9.
Not a great start to 2020, but the future looked bright, and the Eagles were poised to build off their late-season success in the 2020 season.
The Draft
The Eagles had a weird 2020 draft. In the midst of a pandemic, the Eagles (and the rest of the NFL) worked remotely and virtually, making the draft process and the offseason difficult to conduct. But the Eagles seemed to have an advantage; the Birds were the only team in the division to bring back their coach and have most of the staff intact. The only real change was on the offensive side of the ball, where they fired Mike Groh after Pederson said he was safe, and then Pederson decided not to name a new offensive coordinator.
Even so, the Eagles had an advantage compared to the other NFC East teams because the core was still in place. But the draft was weird. The Eagles selected Jalen Reagor in the first round one pick ahead of Justin Jefferson, this pick was a head-scratcher at the time and the season showed why Jefferson was selected to the Pro Bowl Reagor had a very up and down season. Then in round two, the Eagles selected Jalen Hurts.
At the time, this was an even bigger head-scratcher and caused a minor quarterback controversy in the offseason, which spiraled into a considerable controversy during the season and ultimately saw Hurts taking over for Wentz in Week 13 and the remainder of the year.
The pick might end up being a great one if Hurts can take over the job and be a franchise quarterback, but ultimately, it was a weird draft in a weird year.
The Season
This will be a quick recap. This season sucked, and it won’t be fun to look at again. The season started in Washington, and it started off hot. The Eagles led 17-0 in the first half, Wentz looked like he could be a potential MVP, Reagor looked like a deep threat, the defense looked stout, and the team looked to be picking up right where they left off in the 2019 regular season. Then the second half happened, Wentz threw two picks, the defense had a hard time stopping Dwayne Haskins, and the Eagles lost 27-17 to open the season.
Photo: DAVID MAIALETTI/Philadelphia Inquirer
The 2020 season only got worse from there. The Eagles got smoked at home by the Rams, then tied the Bengals after questionable coaching decisions in overtime by Doug Pederson. The Eagles finally got in the win column in San Fransisco and then followed up the win with losing winnable games at Pittsburgh and home against Baltimore (with the worst two-point conversion play of the season to end the game).
After wins against the Giants and Cowboys, the Eagles headed into the bye at 3-4-1 and had their destiny in their own hands, which turned out to be a bad thing for Eagles fans because it just left more time to get hurt over and over. The Eagles limped out of the bye, losing a must-win game against the Giants in New York, then lost another winnable game in Cleveland. Wentz and the offense looked bad, the defense was not great, and the special teams were horrible.
All three phases contributed to the Eagles’ woes as they headed into their most difficult stretch of the season.
Week 12 vs. Seattle Seahawks
Seattle came back to the Linc to add to the pain they started on January 5th and beat the Eagles 23-17.
Week 13 @ Green Bay Packers
Wentz and the offense had a terrible first half but had some flashes in the second half, which gave Eagles fans hope. However, the game in Green Bay turned out to be the breaking point for Wentz’s season. Wentz was pulled late in the game at Green Bay, and Jalen Hurts came in, providing a spark to the offense.
Week 14 vs. New Orleans Saints
Hurts then started the Week 14 game against New Orleans and defeated one of the best teams in the NFC. Hurts was great in the first half and did just enough in the second half to secure the win over the Taysom Hill-led Saints.
Hurts also did just enough to get Eagles fans excited and keep the playoff dreams alive in football’s worst division.
Week 15 @ Arizona Cardinals
Hurts then squared off with Kyler Murray in Arizona. In a shootout in the desert, Hurts threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns while running in another score.
It wasn’t enough as the Eagles defense could not contain DeAndre Hopkins or Kyler Murray and the Eagles fell to the Cardinals. But somehow, the playoffs were still within reach.
The Eagles needed to beat Dallas in Week 16 and get some help from Carolina to play Washington for the division in Week 17. Carolina did their part; the Eagles did not. After jumping out to a 14-3 lead in the first half, the Eagles were outscored 34-3 in the remainder of the game and were held scoreless in the second half. The defense was picked apart, and Hurts looked like a rookie.
And finally, the Eagles were officially eliminated from playoff contention at 4-10-1.
What is Next?
Now, we can’t really completely bury this season but let’s move on. Everyone is looking to point the finger and blame someone for this awful season. Is it Howie? Is it Doug? Is it Carson? It’s really everyone.
This season was an organizational failure. Let’s hope everyone gets better for next year. The Eagles need to decide on a quarterback that the Eagles are confident in for the whole season, and they need to draft well to help bolster a roster that desperately needs it.
We’re on to 2021; it can’t be worse…right?
Featured Image: DAVID MAIALETTI/Philadelphia Inquirer
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Categorized:Eagles