Philadelphia Eagles championship teams
Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:49 pm
1949 is the greatest installment with me. It would have been nice if no rain and mud for the League Championship Game against that Rams passing attack. But didn't the Birds belt them, 38-14, early on?
Eagles at Wrigley for the title almost happened instead. The Bears beat Philly convincingly early on but it was in midst of the Bears' 3-3 start which involved they getting swept by the Rams. Halas's bunch would win the rest of their games but LA had too big a lead in the first place and held on by the narrowest possible margin, 8-2-2 to 9-3. That's simply the breaks, the way it was then, plus I'll bet on Philly in a rematch anyway.
Before last night, I did have 2017 as their '2nd-best' team ever. But even then I wondered if 1948 should have been instead? They sure reeked of being even better than their 9-2-1 record. After their 0-1-1 start which included a close opener loss at...the Cardinals, Their next eight games encases such a scary body-of-work which includes three 45-0 blow-outs! Their lopsided penultimate loss at the Boston Yanks foreshadowed Miami's weird debacle at the Colts in '73. Perhaps they're the slightly lesser 'twin' to next year's squad. A shame it snowed like it did along with Cards not having Christman under center. But I like to think they get their revenge even with reasonable weather and Paul playing against them.
Either way it is this, here, 2024 team who dismantled KC last night that gets the 2-spot now. I said in a thread last night that this is the best team so far this decade but, after further thought, that may be selling them quite short! Could this team possibly, just possibly, be better than...the '13 Seahawks thus the actual BEST so far this Century??
I will at least say this...this team is clearly qualified/'equipped' to travel back in time and see how they'd do vs some 20th Century champs! This isn't a case of a modern day limited-dimensional team that wouldn't even make the SB back in the old days. Defense, run-game, balance...they're sure the ingredients needed to begin to compare to such yesterdecade squads! SUCH an EXPLOSIVE team this was on both sides of the ball! Ripping apart a team in mid-(or END-of)-Dynasty on the Biggest Stage SUCH a Feather in their cap!
'13 Hawks & '24 Birds top-two, in any order, thus far this Century. How does that sound?
The '80 Eagles...losing to the Raiders decisively in arguably the most boring SB ever does dampen their legacy a bit though a team to still be forever respected. I certainly forever do. But I think that even if they would have beaten them as they did during the regular season, that they come up lacking a bit in the 'best Eagles team' sweepstakes. Nostalgia/old school aside, they simply weren't all that explosive with significant team-speed. Blue-collar, meat-and-potatoes, stout LB-heavy (Bill Bergey) defense, a Jaws(with a boost from...Sid Gillman)/Montgomery/Carmichael offense, Dick Vermeil at HC, but I think I'd still place this new '24 champ above them.
Same with 2004 had they gotten past NE; '24 would still be placed above. I hate to undermine the 1960 team that beat Vince, but they would probably be placed by me beneath '80 & '04 if both won their SBs.
Thoughts?
PS - speaking of Christman, his performance in Chicago's LCG win over Philly in '47 can very well be compared to Mahomes' pre-garbage-time stats from last night; only that Paul's team, in this case, actually won. And, of course, another similarity between the '47 LCG and last night was a player scoring a TD on his birthday; one in defeat, one in victory.
Eagles at Wrigley for the title almost happened instead. The Bears beat Philly convincingly early on but it was in midst of the Bears' 3-3 start which involved they getting swept by the Rams. Halas's bunch would win the rest of their games but LA had too big a lead in the first place and held on by the narrowest possible margin, 8-2-2 to 9-3. That's simply the breaks, the way it was then, plus I'll bet on Philly in a rematch anyway.
Before last night, I did have 2017 as their '2nd-best' team ever. But even then I wondered if 1948 should have been instead? They sure reeked of being even better than their 9-2-1 record. After their 0-1-1 start which included a close opener loss at...the Cardinals, Their next eight games encases such a scary body-of-work which includes three 45-0 blow-outs! Their lopsided penultimate loss at the Boston Yanks foreshadowed Miami's weird debacle at the Colts in '73. Perhaps they're the slightly lesser 'twin' to next year's squad. A shame it snowed like it did along with Cards not having Christman under center. But I like to think they get their revenge even with reasonable weather and Paul playing against them.
Either way it is this, here, 2024 team who dismantled KC last night that gets the 2-spot now. I said in a thread last night that this is the best team so far this decade but, after further thought, that may be selling them quite short! Could this team possibly, just possibly, be better than...the '13 Seahawks thus the actual BEST so far this Century??
I will at least say this...this team is clearly qualified/'equipped' to travel back in time and see how they'd do vs some 20th Century champs! This isn't a case of a modern day limited-dimensional team that wouldn't even make the SB back in the old days. Defense, run-game, balance...they're sure the ingredients needed to begin to compare to such yesterdecade squads! SUCH an EXPLOSIVE team this was on both sides of the ball! Ripping apart a team in mid-(or END-of)-Dynasty on the Biggest Stage SUCH a Feather in their cap!
'13 Hawks & '24 Birds top-two, in any order, thus far this Century. How does that sound?
The '80 Eagles...losing to the Raiders decisively in arguably the most boring SB ever does dampen their legacy a bit though a team to still be forever respected. I certainly forever do. But I think that even if they would have beaten them as they did during the regular season, that they come up lacking a bit in the 'best Eagles team' sweepstakes. Nostalgia/old school aside, they simply weren't all that explosive with significant team-speed. Blue-collar, meat-and-potatoes, stout LB-heavy (Bill Bergey) defense, a Jaws(with a boost from...Sid Gillman)/Montgomery/Carmichael offense, Dick Vermeil at HC, but I think I'd still place this new '24 champ above them.
Same with 2004 had they gotten past NE; '24 would still be placed above. I hate to undermine the 1960 team that beat Vince, but they would probably be placed by me beneath '80 & '04 if both won their SBs.
Thoughts?
PS - speaking of Christman, his performance in Chicago's LCG win over Philly in '47 can very well be compared to Mahomes' pre-garbage-time stats from last night; only that Paul's team, in this case, actually won. And, of course, another similarity between the '47 LCG and last night was a player scoring a TD on his birthday; one in defeat, one in victory.