If you listened closely enough, you may have heard the proverbial window of opportunity slam on the Eagles Sunday night.
It wasn’t a loud sound — it couldn’t compare to the pregame fireworks or the giddy crowd — but it made a whoosh as the Panthers ended the Eagles’ first post-McNabb scoring attempt with their fourth interception of the night.
The play was the knockout punch for a stunned team that may have witnessed its last shot at gridiron glory for a long, long time.
The NFL is a funny business: Salary caps, free agency and unsentimental front offices cause teams to reinvent themselves every few years, making repeated runs at championships more of the exception rather than the rule. Although the Eagles are slated to lose several key players to free agency this year, they are not necessarily doomed to toil in mediocrity — even after losing three straight NFC championship games.
What the Eagles have to fear the most, and what is likely to make another championship run impossibly difficult, is the emergence of other teams, other star players and other talented coaches.
Bill Parcells has transformed the Cowboys back into formidable opponents, and prominent head-coaching hires in New York and Washington only guarantee that the Eagles will play in a heavily competitive division in 2004.
What this means for those still sick over Sunday night’s devastating loss is that Birds fans may have to wait a few more years before the path is as clear for the Eagles to march (or stumble) to a Super Bowl appearance as it has been these past three years.
The disheartened can take solace, however, in the expertise of head coach Andy Reid, who somehow finds a way to get his team to win every year, regardless of how talented or untalented its personnel.
It was another good year to be an Eagles fan. We got to ride the exciting wave of a midseason win streak and an exciting overtime playoff victory.
Ultimately, though, we were damned to spend another year with the "what if?" monkey on our backs.
