Andy Reid Is Done

Only a couple of days after the Eagles were eliminated from the NFL playoffs, Andy Reid seemed to be pretty happy with the state of his team.

Before the season (in fact, way before the season, the day after the Eagles finally traded Donovan McNabb), Reid went so far as to say that he didn’t look at the upcoming campaign as rebuilding, even though he would be starting it with a novice quarterback named Kevin Kolb. You see, the Eagles are a gold standard franchise, and even with a new quarterback, their brilliance in the area of picking players, and drafting players, and putting them in their system, and in coaching, would carry them from the usual perception of starting all over.But only two days after the Eagles were eliminated from the NFL playoffs, that perception completely changed.

In fact, the head coach was down right giddy in patting himself and the organization on the back.

“Very few teams can retool the way that we retooled and still compete, put yourself in a position to compete for a championship, and we were able to do that,” Reid said. And it was just about at that time when I excused myself to the nearest bathroom to purge.

He went on to say this: “We came from a position that most people didn’t think we’d be able to do it at the beginning of the year, and that was to make it to the playoffs and to win the NFC East. My hat goes off to the effort of the coaches and the players.”

Oh my gosh. Doesn’t sound like the ol’ Andy Reid, where he would actually “take responsibility for that.”

See, here’s the reality of the situation. Yes, Eagles fans (and some commentators, including me) had lower expectations for this particular Birds season. I, in fact, said that I’d be okay with an 8-8 season. But the only reason for such a concession was that the Eagles were starting with a new quarterback, a green quarterback, and frankly, none of us really knew how good Kevin Kolb was. We’d seen him in a few games, some good, some average, some bad. But we had to allow for some kind of adjustment within the ranks considering that we were detaching from the Donovan McNabb brand. Once Michael Vick came into the picture, however, and played at an MVP level, and showed us that this Eagles team with Vick could possibly do something in the playoffs considering that the NFC was so wide open, our expectations changed. You can’t get to another level of expectation, then fritter that away, then try to con your fan base into thinking this was an overachieving year based on the expectations we had under Kolb. Does Andy Reid thing we’re that stupid?

(Note: He must think that because he made another fat joke the other day in an attempt to disarm us. Asked if winning a Super Bowl was important to him, the Eagles coach said, “To tell you I don’t want to win a Super Bowl — I like prime rib, and I’d love to win a Super Bowl. So I’m hungry for both, if you understand where I’m coming from.”)

Yeah, I understand. Dazzle us with a fat joke and we’ll let you off the hook. Is that the idea?

Well, I’m sick of the whole thing. For me, Andy Reid’s shelf life has expired. It happens to everyone in sports eventually. It happened with Donovan McNabb. We were just ready to turn the page. Things got stale. And the same thing has happened with Reid. I’m tired of the inferior game plans that succumb to the opponents who aren’t supposed to come into your home field and win a playoff game. I’m tired of the mistakes in picking personnel and drafting. I’m tired of the lack of sideline management and game day adjustments. I’m tired of the food jokes. I want out.

I loathe the attitudes of some Eagles fans who are afraid of the great unknown. The “be careful what you wish for” people, as if there is no one else on earth better than Andy Reid who can coach the Philadelphia Eagles. We thought the sky was going to fall when they traded McNabb, right? How did that work out? Folks, there’s ALWAYS someone else who can do the job. With enough due diligence, you can always find a Sean Payton, or a Mike Smith, or a Raheem Morris, who can build a program. No, the Eagles aren’t going to fire Andy Reid right now, but there had better be sentiment for turning the page if the Eagles don’t improve enough to get into a championship picture next year. That would be 13 years without a championship. Only two coaches have lasted at least that long without winning a title: Bill Cowher, who took 15 years before he won a Super Bowl (though Cowher DID take the Steelers to the big game in his fourth year at the helm), and Jeff Fisher. And I don’t know what the Titans are thinking keeping him around.

Now, are you ready for this stat? Take Cowher out of the picture, and all the coaches who have won Super Bowls have won them in an average of three years! Chuck Noll won in his sixth season with the Steelers. John Madden won in his eighth year with the Raiders. Everybody else won within four years!

How long do we have to wait without coming to the conclusion that Andy Reid might be a decent coach? We’re in it to win it.