Is a Loss ever Good?

Interesting question on the forum today. Was losing the Green Bay game in Week 1 a good thing? (The thinking being, the team will realize it needs to focus and perform and not take thing lightly). You know at this point I don't think so. The idea of a "good loss" is a nice salve, but in reality healthy losses (I don't think any losses are good) are few and far between. In 2004, I believe the Eagles suffered a healthy loss, when the Steelers schwacked them in Pittsburgh. 7-0, heads in the sky. POW. Punch in the nose - screw the head on straight for Super Bowl run. It helped.

Sunday's game is nothing like that. Over-confidence may have played a part. The annual slow-start by Andy Reid's teams another. But the Eagles lost because of a lack of execution on Offense, and an incredible lack on focus on the part of the Punt Return teams....That's it. I believe both problems are correctable, and I expect to see a much better performance on Monday Night Football this week versus the Washington Redskins.

Another view was shared expressing the feeling that "these sort of losses" (like the one dorked up to Green Bay) are becoming too commonplace. I think Phil Sheridan did a good article on it the other day (scroll down). Well today I got to thinking - are they?

I mean were losses in 2000-01-02 any less frustrating? We had some pretty good teams back then as well, did those Ls get chalked up simply because the Eagles were worse than the other team or because we beat ourselves? I dunno, but I think the early part of this decade is getting a little glossed over. You see, Philly fans had to deal with some wildly see-sawing Eagles teams (and expectations) in the 90s. From Buddy Ryan never quite getting over the hump to Richie-fucking-Kotite's (AUGH!) bumbling to Ray Rhodes promise and failure - the Birds fielded some really good and some really bad teams.

So when Andy Reid shows up and starts posting consistent double-digit win seasons did we become less critical of the Losses that were registered. And now 9 years into the Andy Reid Era in Philly (the most successful coaching era (total win-wise) in our history, are we now applying a level of scrutiny to Eagles losses that wasn't otherwise merited or applied in years past? I think its at least possible that this is the case.

And hey, you know what? The Birds can do my stress-level a world of fucking good by kicking the shit out the Redskins on Monday Night and putting Green Bay firmly in the rear-view mirror.