While i watched the two conference championship games this past weekend, it became painfully obvious what separated the teams headed to Miami and those heading home: consistency at the quarterback position.
As I watched Peyton Manning systematically disassemble the incredibly tough Jets defense with pinpoint accuracy and his trademark general-like ability to manage the game, it hit me, the Philadelphia Eagles will never win a Superbowl with Donovan McNabb.
It hurts me to say it, it truly does. The Eagles drafted McNabb when I was still in junior high. He was the first Eagles quarterback I saw establish a sense of quality and continuity at that position. I watched McNabb mature as I did, through high school and through college. 11 seasons later, I've earned a high school diploma and a bachelors degree, but my beloved Eagles have still yet to win a Superbowl.
I have always been one of McNabb's steadfast supporters. When many fans called for his head after a string of defeats in NFC title games and ultimately the Superbowl, I blamed the organization for not providing an array of weapons that other successful quarterbacks had at their disposal. In more recent years, when cries for Kevin Kolb began to grow in frequency and intensity, I blamed head coach Andy Reid for relying to heavily on Donovan's arm and not dedicating enough of the game plan to running the football. The point is, after every untimely end to another Eagles' season, I never saw McNabb as the main source of the team's shortcomings. But this season, things were different. After watching two consecutive dismal performances against a top division rival, it became clear the team is in need of some significant changes.
This year, it wasn't the team's lack of weapons that made the offense look so inept against the Cowboys two weeks in a row. It wasn't even an inability to run the ball. For two straight weeks, it was Donovan McNabb's inaccuracy that prevented the offense from establishing any sort of rhythm. McNabb's struggles with short to mid-range passes have been well documented, and continue to be his greatest weakness. However in those two games Donovan also struggled mightily with the deep ball, what has been his greatest strength, eliminating the quick-score threat that carried the team all season. The team didn't just look bad, they looked downright awful. So bad, in fact, that they had national broadcasters and analysts asking if the Dallas defense might be be the best in the playoffs. A week later, Brett Favre and company showed just how premature those questions were.
So why did the Eagles, who arguably have just as many offensive weapons as the Vikings, struggle so mightily where Minnesota succeeded so easily?
It's been the story of this postseason, and has been for many others as well. Consistency at quarterback. The Colts have it. The Saints have it. Up until that last disastrous play, the Vikings had it. Even the Jets, with their inexperienced rookie quarterback, had it.
Donovan McNabb has been many things for this team. He has won playoff games, division titles, gone to a Superbowl, and set nearly every franchise passing record, but he has been anything but consistent. For every great victory, there is an equally disappointing defeat. For every dazzling touchdown throw, there are five would-be-completions in the dirt. If anything, he is the poster child of inconsistency. He teases you, tortures you even, with brief flashes of what could be, only to fall apart when you count on him most.
For nearly a decade Eagles fans have been forced to cope with a string of nearly identical season-ending losses. All-too brief glimpses of success are followed by the anguish of inevitable defeat. And each year we convince ourselves that the necessary pieces are in place, that a handful of plays in the opposite direction and glory would be ours. The belief that next year will be different...
But that line of thinking has only, and only will, get the team so far. Maybe it will be another early postseason exit, or perhaps another NFC title game appearance. Donovan McNabb has been the greatest quarterback this team has had, and maybe will have, for many years. But the unfortunate truth is that he has only been consistent in his failing to to bring about the one thing this city truly desires...a Superbowl parade down Broad Street.
