The Silver Lining in Loss to Commanders is all That Undefeated Talk is Over

The loss is just like any other for the Eagles, and that is now about what they learned and how they will respond

PHILADELPHIA – Goodbye 17-0. Good riddance, too.

If there’s any silver lining to Monday’s first loss of the season, maybe it’s that. An undefeated season snatched away.

Not that the players will admit to thinking about it, but that didn’t stop anyone and everyone from asking about it.

“I don’t give a (bleep) about any of that,” said right tackle Lane Johnson. “I don’t care. My job is to play one play at a time, run block and pass block. All that other stuff is just distractions to me. I think for all of us.”

It was a distraction.

It was hard to ignore.

The Eagles basically sat around for the past month. They played two games in a span of four days and that was it.

Some of them were on SiriusXM NFL and were asked about being unbeaten.

Family and friends may have broached it, too.

“You want to win every game, but it’s the NFL. Every team in this league has really good players, really good offense, really good defense, really good special teams, so you have to be at your best every game to win,” said linebacker T.J. Edwards. “That wasn’t us (Monday). I think we’re excited to get back to work and get this thing fixed.”

The Eagles were far from their best.

Maybe they took this game for granted after having dominated the Commanders in Week 3. They certainly didn’t seem terribly motivated, even after they went up 14-7.

“This is the NFL,” said captain Darius Slay. “There’s a lot of teams, a lot of talent, anything can happen. These are grown men playing a professional game, so anything can happen. I’m glad it happened right now.

“Shoot, I don’t care about any 17-0. I was just trying to win the game, that’s all I’m thinking about, trying to be the best on the field.”

There is, of course, no silver lining to a loss within the division. The Eagles are now 2-1 inside the NFC East, where it really matters.

“It’s all about how you respond,” said WR A.J. Brown. “I know guys got long faces. Me personally, of course, I want to win, but now all this 17-0 (stuff) is over with. Now we’re going to wake up, and how are you going to respond?

“It’s all good. It’s a game that we love to play. Sometimes you get hit in the mouth, and how you respond. It comes with it.”

A big response on Sunday in Indianapolis is important now. Very important.

“That’s a fantasy being 17-0,” said Slay. “That’s tough to do … We gotta move on. I don’t want to listen to all that 17-0 (stuff). We gotta be better, execute better.”

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.