Dream...What?

Nick Creegan

Philadelphia's so-called “Dream Team” is starting to look like a nightmare. 

Once viewed as the Super Bowl favorite in many people's eyes, the high-profiled Eagles now sit in last place in the NFC East. They have been on a free-fall for three straight weeks, and their fall does not seem to be slowing. 

Going into yesterday's game, the Birds had lost two straight, including their home opener.

The worst part about these first two losses was that the Eagles held leads going into the fourth quarter, and Sunday proved to be the same.

It was yet-another embarrassing meltdown for the Eagles as they gave up a 20-point lead in the second half at home to the San Francisco 49ers — which was the franchise's biggest blown lead since the Eagles blew a 21-point lead in 1999 against the Arizona Cardinals. 

The only Eagle who's living up to expectations is Michael Vick — injured hand and all. He threw for a career-high 416 yards and two touchdowns; he also rushed for 76 yards. Vick's stellar performance was wasted by these floundering pigeons. Vick would set up rookie kicker Alex Henery with big plays, including the 61-yard bomb to DeSean Jackson, and Henery failed to come through, missing a field goal from 39 yards out. LeSean McCoy, who was the leading NFL rusher in yards going into Week 3, rushed for only 18 yards on nine carries. 

In the last three weeks, Vick and the Eagles have been owned in the fourth quarter. They have been outscored 36-0  and have turned the ball over three times. Their “shutdown” secondary has not been able to force one turnover in any of those fourth quarters. 

The Eagles defense is proving to be a weak link of “star” athletes who are not playing good football. They're playing downright awful. The interior defense is continuing to get exposed. It has given up the most yards in the league on runs of the middle and 6.2 yards per rush, and the defense is allowing the third-most rushing yards per game in the league (139.5 yards). 

Are the Eagles defensive backs going to learn how to tackle? 

Will the linebackers get faster and more alert? 

The Eagles have 12 games left to do so, or they can kiss the division title, and maybe even they playoffs, goodbye.

They have come back from early-season deficits before and still ended up with a winning record, such as when they were 0-2 in 2003 and finished 12-4. The problem with this year's team is it hasn't proved itself in situations like this yet. There are many new faces that have never played together, and they are under more pressure than some Eagles teams have faced in the past. There has to be a point where these talented players get sick of losing games they were expected to win and actually feel embarrassed enough to take action.

Coach Andy Reid and his coaching staff are not free from blame here either, but they aren't the ones out on the field missing tackles, missing field goals and fumbling. There is enough talent on both sides of the ball to turn the season around, but Philly better find that sense of urgency -- and fast. 

Unfortunately, signing big-name free agents does not guarantee a championship for a team.

Just ask Dwayne Wade.