The chips are falling, one by one, for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Monday's firing of defensive line coach Jim Washburn isn't especially surprising if you've been reading the tea leaves. Coach Andy Reid's 3-9 Eagles are in free fall, and this move was all about trust.
Washburn "had become a cancer" one Eagles assistant told Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Reid's terse publicly released statement on the firing talked about "trying to maximize the production of that position group," but Washburn openly was unhappy about last week's release of defensive end Jason Babin.
Tommy Brasher, the longtime Reid ally coaxed out of the abyss, will play the good soldier, but events in Philly resemble the crumbling of a once-powerful city-state.
Washburn never was Reid's guy. Neither was Babin. With his back against the wall on a sinking ship, Reid -- like a paranoid captain -- is trimming his remaining crew to those he trusts.
A sense of fear and wandering has bubbled up in Philly. Eight consecutive losses don't come down to the fault of one man -- they never do in the NFL -- and Reid is running out of people to point the finger at.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.