Human Nature may Have Gotten Best of Eagles in Losing Two Straight

Perhaps the team got a bit complacent at 13-1 and becoming the first NFL team to clinch a berth in the postseason, though injuries have also played a role

PHILADELPHIA – This Eagles season was on the fast track to a Super Bowl.

Eight straight wins to start the season before a bump in the road against the Washington Commanders at home on a November Monday night.

Another five wins followed to reach 13 and, when they throttled the New York Giants, 48-22 in a Dec. 11 game that wasn’t even that close, they were one in away from becoming the first team in the NFL to wrap up a postseason bid.

That win came a week later in Chicago.

They haven’t won since.

Two losses followed when only one more win was needed to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Now, the Eagles are down to one crack at it.

Thy must beat the Giants at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday (4:25 p.m./CBS) to make it happen, otherwise head into the playoffs on a three-game losing streak and their season on life support as it would likely send Philly to Tampa for a wildcard game against Tom Brady and the Bucs.

So, what happened?

Human nature intervened as did injuries to quarterback Jalen Hurts and right tackle Lane Johnson.

And perhaps the Eagles got complacent.

“I think we were definitely looking too far forward and kind of lost track of being in the moment and taking advantage of the opportunity that we had at hand,” said CB James Bradberry. “So now we’re in this position and we can’t do anything about it. All we can do is prepare throughout this week and go out there and dominate and win the game.”

Asked to clarify that statement a bit as to whether he had the sense he and his teammates were looking too far ahead or if he was just reflecting on that, Bradberry said he was reflecting.

“You want to have confidence in yourself and the team," he said. "So, it’s hard to say that we were looking forward then because everybody was preparing like normal, everybody was in the right mindset.

“It was just some plays here and there that we let get away from us. Like I said, that’s in the past, we have to learn from it, and hopefully we apply what we learned this Sunday.”

Haason Reddick also mentioned the 'C' word.

“At times you get complacent,” he said. “It’s human nature, when things are going well they fall back, they get complacent … we got three losses now that should be three reminders or three lessons that should’ve already taught us that, ‘Hey, if we’re no locked in and focused on what we need to do we could very well lose.’

"I think each man knows that. It’s about going out there and getting it done now.”

Jason Kelce was asked about the prospect of complacency, and he said he hasn’t seen that.

He also touched on the fact that a couple key guys are down with injury as a factor.

“I’m not a psychology major, I don’t want to get into human nature stuff, but I think the reality is we’ve had a lot of things happen over the last couple weeks – injuries, different guys are playing,” said the center.

“We just have to keep working, keep improving, and we’re not obviously playing the way we want to right now. I’m not playing the way I want to right now, so I think this is a good week and a good opportunity to iron out a lot of these mistakes and get better going into the playoffs.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.