Five Big-Picture Takeaways From Eagles Week 4 Loss to Redskins

The Eagles rounded out a particularly disheartening first quarter of the 2015 season in losing fashion Sunday, falling to the Washington Redskins by a 23-20 final. The defeat marked their second within the division and their third against an NFC opponent. The Super Bowl prognostications and preseason hype seem ages away, given where the team currently sits. Cellar dwellars in the league’s softest decision is not a position that inspires hope for the immediate future of the 2015 Eagles.

Sunday’s loss featured much of the same for the Eagles. Inconsistency, sloppy play, and untimely incidents allowed a less-talented Washington team to build a substantial early lead and manage a 4th quarter comeback in the same game. There was no apparent momentum gained from the team’s week three win over the Jets, but another less-than-fulfilling effort from a team running out of chances to ‘figure it out’. Considering their membership of one of the league’s most historical divisions, the Eagles have looked uninspired in the two NFC East games they’ve played to this point in 2015.

2015 is not the first time a Chip Kelly-led Eagles team will have their proverbial backs against the wall heading coming out of the quarter-pole of the season. In 2013, the Eagles managed a 10-6 record and a division title after a 1-3 start. Given the play of the rest of the division, a similar occurrence isn’t necessarily out of the question on paper. That being said, it’s difficult to envision a major run on the horizon unless significant changes take place. The 2015 Eagles can no longer wait for some sort of switch to flip and everything to work out all of a sudden. They’ve learned the hard way about where that type of approach gets them to this point: a 1-3 record and an avalanche of questions.

Here are five big-picture takeaways that stood out in Sunday’s game.