The Philadelphia Eagles are not a competitive football team. They are not a good football team. The fanbase is divided between optimists and pessimists. The Optimistic group wants to believe that the Birds (after a probable loss to Seattle in two days) will run the table in the NFC East, including breaking their 4-game losing streak to the Dallas Cowboys that has stretched across three seasons, and squeeze into the playoffs with a 10-6 record. The Pessimists look for who to blame for this season. They see a team that has given away games like Halloween candy, shown zero signs of improvement (or life), and not only will probably lose to Dallas for a fifth-straight time, but aren’t even guaranteed to sweep a New York Giants team that has struggled but shown some inconsistent firepower on offense.

Me? I sympathize more with the pessimists. I think the Eagles probably finish 8-8. They’ll go 9-7 with some luck, and barring a hysterical collapse by Dallas (always a possibility), that’ll be, at best, a tie-breaker too short.

Whether you consider yourself an Optimist or Pessimist, we can all agree on the same thing: this was not how the season was supposed to go. Two years removed from the Super Bowl team, one that showed deep prowess in all three phases of the game, the Eagles have been lapped by their division rivals. If they continue their current trajectory, they may even look up and see New York ahead of them soon. What has happened this year was entirely foreseeable, and it’s been lambasted loudly and often by sportswriters and Twitter users alike.

So in this open letter, I want everything to be out there. I want to be very particular with my words, so there is no possibility for confusion.

The rest of this letter is for you, Howie.

First, I want to know who exactly to blame. Spending a 2nd round pick on J.J. Arcega-Whiteside has been disastrous. The wide receivers, as a whole, have been disastrous. Anyone who isn’t a straight-up dud has been oft-injured. Here is a list of every runningback in the NFL who would be our leading WR in yards:

Austin Ekeler, Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, James White, Alvin Kamara, Aaron Jones

So, who do I blame? Do I blame the coaches, for not only failing to extract any kind of exceptional play out of our receivers, but even worse, probably being an active detriment to them?

Do I blame the training and medical staff, for failing so spectacularly at keeping important players healthy?

Or do I blame you, Howie? You were the one who decided to take “the second coming of Alshon Jeffery“, then watched him haul in 3 passes through 10 games. You were the one who built a magnificent house of cards on quicksand with our aging core, then did little to nothing to prepare for the inevitability that is Career Arcs.

You will always be the first architect of a Super Bowl in our city’s history, and you’ll always have our appreciation for that. That goodwill has nearly ran out, though. Great teams win one Super Bowl. All-time teams put themselves in position to win more.

So please, heed this letter. Please let go of the nostalgia for 2017, and with it, the likes of Jason Peters, Darren Sproles, and Nelson Agholar. I promise, you can scour the 5th round of the NFL draft for adequate replacements for:

An offensive lineman who won’t play more than 10 games,
A runningback who hasn’t made a memorable play since week 3 of 2016,
And a profound loser who has now been in the league for 5 years, and been a contributor in 1 of them.

After you fire your offensive coordinator and wide-receivers coach (and if you’ve been watching the same games we are, you will), please don’t make the same mistake you did after the Super Bowl coaching staff moved on to higher jobs with other teams. Don’t hire internally without even interviewing outside candidates. That’s why we’ve ended up with Mike Groh, who was once fired by his own father, and Carson Walch, who believes Mack Hollins (whose season yardage total is matched by multiple WRs around the league in single games each week) has been a productive receiver.

Finally, please remember why you succeeded initially after reclaiming your GM duties following the firing of Chip Kelly. Remember what you know, and remember what you don’t know. Defer to others when it comes to evaluating college talent. You can try and create a patchwork contender with free agent signings but missing so badly with so many draft picks will be dogging you the whole time. Look at what the Cowboys have done. Look at the young, homegrown studs on that team. Michael Gallup, Leighton Vander Esche, and Jaylon Smith are absurd. All three would immediately be Philly’s best player at their respective positions. All of them are 24 or younger.

If you trust so little in your own scouting department, it sounds like you need a new scouting department. If they’re not to blame, then either take some accountability, or look at your coaches. Again, teams don’t just start playing like crap.

Scouts, GM, coaches, trainers – something is causing this. This season is a lost cause. I care more about Carson Wentz making it through uninjured more than winning any individual game and the borderline-impossible playoff odds that the Eagles currently face. Take these last six games and come to a conclusion about what you need to change.

April 23, 2020 is the date of the next NFL draft. You have 154 days. Then you’re on the clock. There won’t be any more excuses.