After a 13-13 overtime tie against Cincinnati and a 36-7 whipping absorbed vs. Baltimore where coach Andy Reid for the first time in 10 seasons benched quarterback Donovan McNabb, the Philadelphia Eagles were 5-5-1 and publicly ridiculed. Inside, Eagles ownership and management discussed rough questions, harsh choices.
Then the Eagles thrashed Arizona on Thanksgiving night. Nice salve. Then they won at the Giants. Better tonic. It all rolled toward a 44-6 thrashing of Dallas to end the regular season, an alignment of luck and wonder in games elsewhere that earned the Eagles the NFC's final playoff berth. Two playoff triumphs and here they are -- one victory shy of reaching Super Bowl XLIII.
Was Reid's decade-long tenure enough and was a change in order to bring back Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to replace him? Cut cords with McNabb and insert the incubating answer, Kevin Kolb? Keep Reid and dump McNabb? Dump Reid and keep McNabb? Dump 'em both? Stay the course? Blow it up?
Reid and McNabb were in an ugly fire.
Both men, in turn, helped set the Eagles wonderfully ablaze.
What they have accomplished is rare -- hosing down turmoil, working through differences, building a fresh reservoir of trust -- in a league where deep trouble and fiendish losing can spell disintegration. Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb remembered something that often goes awry in longtime relationships -- they needed each other.
No matter their many differences, they are much alike in their persistence, their drive to overcome tribulation. McNabb had done it through the years with his draft-day booing and his warm-cold relationship with Eagles fans, through his lone Super Bowl loss and the T.O. drama. Reid had done it with brutal criticism over his pass-first play-calling, with oh-so-close teams that ultimately failed, with the public drug and legal woes of his sons. There is a resounding chord that both men share when strike three appears inches away: They swing hard, they swing fast and they connect. It is a powerful trait.
First, McNabb had to find a way to get over his benching. A way to accept that Reid sent word of it by messenger. It was gut-wrenching for him. He listened to lessons learned from his parents: Stand tall. Be professional. Do not mock our name, your name. Be humble. Keep your peace. Keep your faith.
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Reid said at the time that often people have to take an inch backward to be able to move forward. For McNabb, this was a mile backward. McNabb would handle it. Reid would give him more savvy pass protection and more thump in the running game. They would find their way. And as important, so would the rest of the Eagles.
Because as much as McNabb has been a fixture with the Eagles, though Reid hand-picked him to be his voice, his orchestrator in the locker room and on the field, leaders are not selected. Leaders on a football team evolve. The players in an NFL locker room will follow who they choose to follow. And some Eagles players have long viewed McNabb as sort of one foot in, one foot out. With us but not really with us.
All of that changed with McNabb's benching.
Reid might have hoped to jumpstart his quarterback. Really, the move jumpstarted his team in a way that could not be duplicated.
Because the entire Eagles locker room for the first time unilaterally began to look at McNabb in a revealing light. First, they disagreed with the benching and felt deep empathy for their quarterback. Second, they all realized, if this can happen to him, what in the world can happen to me here?
They rallied around him. They gave more of themselves in games to boost him. Man for man a winning football mentality among the Eagles was accepted and spread -- all we have is each other.
The defense did more. The offense coalesced. The special teams responded. The Eagles' character in every corner rose to the forefront, with safety Brian Dawkins in every nook stoking it.
After the Cincinnati and Baltimore calamities, a taste of success against Arizona on Thanksgiving night became contagious. Now it is Arizona again for Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game. What symmetry for the Eagles. What karma.
I believe McNabb is as relaxed and confident and excited about playing football as he has ever been. He feels the energy, the buzz from his teammates. He feels it in a way directed toward him unlike any before. He knows that regardless of what happens with the Eagles in the future, he has once again shown this league that he is an elite, resourceful, resilient NFL quarterback worth pursuing. He knows that if the future does not pan out with the Eagles, his phone will ring and there will be knocks at his door. He sees the junk that is out there at starting quarterback in this league. He knows his counterpart in the NFC Championship Game, Kurt Warner, is 37 years old. He believes that if Warner can do what he is doing at his age, he is certain he can do the same or more over the next five years, considering he is 32.
Taking care of the present helps take care of the future for both Reid and McNabb. For all of the Eagles.
Among the Eagles, challenges led to strife. Strife led to reconciliation. Reconciliation led to unity. Unity led to a renewed purpose and result.
And a superseding mantra: All we have is each other.