Eagles Week 16 Recap: The Worst Possible Result For The Eagles?

In short, the answer is no. Here are the bullets

• There is going to be a natural tendency to panic and say "OMG the Eagles lost to the Vikings starting Joe Webb this team is not worthy of the UFL!," but take a step back from the cliff for a second.  And even though I may highlight a few players who had a good game tonight (and there were), that does not and will not change the fact that this was a complete and utter turd of a football performance from the Eagles.  Absolutely lackluster.  Andy Reid's idiocy made things worse.  A turd is a turd and that was a turd and I will not pretend otherwise.  This was a shit show.  But, look at the big picture here.  If the Eagles were going to have a shit show, this was the week to do it.  And here's why.
• I delineated the playoff scenarios earlier and while they are all moot now for the Eagles, there is something to be said.  Every scenario that involved the Eagles moving up included in some way, shape, or form, getting help from other teams.  You can say you like the odds of Green Bay beating Chicago, but many people liked the odds of the Eagles beating the Vikings by two touchdowns.  Yeah, that did not happen, now did it.  But there was no guarantee of the bye.  Thanks to the blizzard, this game was postponed two days and the Eagles were looking at the prospect at playing 3 games in 12 days if the Bears beat the Packers and the crazy 3-way tie scenario did not shake out.  For any team, that is a lot.  But for an Eagles team as banged up as this one is, that may have been the death nail.  Now the Eagles can rest Vick, Jackson, and Samuel, all of whom seem to be bothered by injury, and the rest all of their starters in preparation for the playoffs.  So essentially, the Eagles starters have a bye after all.  But the trade off is the Eagles have to field a team of bodies (hello starting safety Colt Anderson!) against the Cowboys and will have to play on wildcard weekend.  If given the option of losing this game, resting starters Week 17, and getting the 3 seed or going all out and winning the last 2 games, not getting the necessary help, end up with the 3 seed, and play a 3rd game in 12 days with this being an elimination game, I'd take the scenario that unfolded tonight.  Of course, a bye in the playoffs is the ultimate goal, but if you can't have that, this really is the next best thing.  3 seed in the playoffs and you can rest your starters Week 17.  Not entirely awful, folks.
• The Eagles had 12 penalties against them tonight.  Yikes.
• DeSean Jackson was a non-factor in this game.
• Andy Reid made an awful decision to punt the ball on a 4th and 18 with 4:30 left, down by 10 points, and carrying only 2 timeouts.  Yeah, 4th and 18 is a longshot, but by punting the ball you essentially concede the game.  You can't expect incredibleness like that The Miracle At The New Meadowlands to happen every game.  It's a long shot, but the Eagles are a big play offense.  You have to be aggressive at some point when you are trailing, and Andy Reid showed no aggressiveness at all.  On the contrary, the Eagles were plenty aggressive against the Giants on Sunday.  But at the same token, the Eagles were not faced with one 4th down on their scoring drives in the 4th quarter of that game, so who knows how aggressive the Eagles would have been there.  But regardless, the onside kick when they that Cooper recovered was absolutely aggressive and going at it.  Same with the play-calling.  This performance, on the other hand, was lackadaisical.
• The Eagles defense yielded only 17 points.  Even though it is not great against a team starting Joe Webb, it still should have been enough against the Vikings.  But too many offensive mistakes cost the Eagles in this one.
• Joe Webb was not great, but he did not screw up, which given what happened Monday Night against the Bears, is quite the feat for him.
• After all the delays and postponements the Vikings have faced this year, no one would have been surprised if they tucked their tail for this game, just wanting to get out of this season.  Credit to them, they played a darn good football game.  If Leslie Frazier is not hired as the Minnesota Vikings head coach, they are seriously very dumb. 
• Eagles who had decent games:  Kurt Coleman (despite 1 missed tackle that set up the game-clinching drive), LeSean McCoy, Jamar Chaney (despite 1 missed coverage that hurt the Eagles, as a 7th round rookie and a back-up who has not played a lot until Bradley got hurt, I was impressed), Brent Celek.
• Eagles who had bad games:  Everyone else.
• Andy Reid just said at his press conference that his team did not deserve to rest against Dallas.  They may not deserve it, but they damn well need it.  If the 1st team offense (and defense for that matter) sees more than 2 series on Sunday against Dallas, it will be a crime against football. 
• The Minnesota Vikings have just defeated the Eagles for the first time in the Andy Reid era.  A team with Brett Favre on it has defeated the Eagles in Philadelphia for the first time ever.  So there's those meaningless records we can be ashamed of losing.
• Andy Reid is lashing out at a reporter, the Eagles played like shit (and angered fans) the Flyers played like shit (and angered fans), Jody Shelley is getting his goon on and cheap shotting people, commenters on Broad Street Hockey and Bleeding Green Nation are getting into fights and arguments.  I think what everyone needs is a night's sleep.  So with that, the win probability graph (advancednflstats.com) is posted below and on that note, I bid you good night.