Philadelphia Eagles Fistory

The Philadelphia Eagles are an American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League. The Eagles have won three NFL titles and made two Super Bowl appearances, losing both (in 1980 to the Oakland Raiders and 2004 to the New England Patriots).

The club was established in 1931 as a replacement for the bankrupt Frankford Yellow Jackets when a group led by Bert Bellsecured the rights to a NFL franchise in Philadelphia. Heretofore, Bell, Chuck Bednarik, Bob Brown, Reggie White, Steve Van Buren, Tommy McDonald, Greasy Neale, Pete Pihos, Sonny Jurgensen, and Norm Van Brocklin have been inducted to the Pro Football 

1985–93

In 1985, Tose was forced to sell the Eagles to Norman Braman and Ed Leibowitz, highly successful automobile dealers from Florida, for a reported $65 million (equal to $142,529,394 today) to pay off his more than $25 million (equal to $54,818,998 today) in gambling debts at Atlantic City casinos.

Philadelphia football struggled through the Marion Campbell years of the mid-1980s and was marked by a malaise in fan participation. However, in the 1985 Supplemental draft, the Eagles acquired the rights to Memphis Showboats' elite pass rusher Reggie White. In 1986, the arrival of head coach Buddy Ryan and his fiery attitude rejuvenated team performance and ignited the fan base, but the Eagles failed to win a playoff game during Ryan's tenure. Possibly the worst of these losses was the so-called Fog Bowl in 1988 against the Chicago Bears, which happened to be Ryan's former team that he helped lead to a Super Bowl XX victory as defensive coordinator. Ryan was fired on January 7, 1991 after an upset home playoff loss to the Redskins. Offensive coordinator Rich Kotite was promoted to head coach three days later.

Kotite did lead the Eagles to one playoff victory against the New Orleans Saints during the 1992 season, yet his contract was not renewed after a disappointing 1994 seasonin which the Eagles went 7–9, losing their last seven games after starting the season 7–2. From 1988 to 1996, the Eagles qualified for the playoffs during 6 out of those 9 seasons, but they won the NFC East only once, in 1988. Among the team's offensive stars during that period were quarterback Randall Cunningham, tight end Keith Jackson, and running back Herschel Walker. But the "Gang Green" defense is possibly what defined the team, led by Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, Seth Joyner, Wes Hopkins, Mike Golic, Byron Evans, Eric Allen, Andre Waters and Mark McMillian.

Lurie era (1994–present)

Jeffrey Lurie bought the Eagles on May 6, 1994 from then-owner Norman Braman for an estimated $185 million. The club is now estimated to be the 11th most valuable sports team, worth $1.12 billion, as valuated in 2011 by Forbes.^[9]

In 1999, the Eagles hired head coach Andy Reid and drafted quarterback Donovan McNabb. From 1999 until 2004 the team continually improved, returning to the playoffs in 2000. Moreover, the Eagles played in four consecutive conference championship games between 2001 and 2004. After losing the conference championship in 2001 to the St. Louis Rams, in 2002 to the eventual Super Bowl champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers and in 2003 to the Carolina Panthers, the Eagles advanced to Super Bowl XXXIX at the end of the 2004 season, where they lost to the New England Patriots, 24–21. The Eagles have never won a title in the Super Bowl era.

The team took a step back in 2005 with a 6–10 record. In 2006, the team earned its fifth NFC East title under Coach Reid and in 2008, the team won their 500th game.

On January 11, 2009, the team defeated the defending Super Bowl Champions and the 2008 NFC East champion New York Giants 23–11 en route to their 5th NFC Championship Game in 8 years and 5th in the 10 years the Eagles have been coached by Andy Reid. In the 2008 NFC Championship Game, the Eagles lost to the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 32–25. As of the conclusion of the 2012 season, during the Lurie era, the Eagles are 1–4 in conference championship games and 0–1 in Super Bowls.

On August 13, 2009, the Eagles signed quarterback Michael Vick.^[11] On December 6, 2009, Andy Reid became only the 5th coach in NFL history to win 100 or more games with a single team in a single decade. The other four are Tom Landry, Don Shula, Tony Dungy, and Bill Belichick, all Super Bowl winners.^[12] With a record of 11–5 in 2009, the Eagles landed the sixth seed for the NFC playoffs. In the wild-card playoffs, the Eagles played against the Dallas Cowboys for the second consecutive week and lost 34–14.

On April 4, 2010, the team traded long-time starting quarterback Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins in exchange for draft picks.^[13] Kevin Kolb was immediately named the starter, but after suffering a concussion in week 1 against the Packers, Vick took over as the starter. Vick led the Eagles to its sixth NFC East division title in ten seasons. With a record of 10–6 the Eagles clinched the 3rd seed and had to play a wild-card playoff game. During the 2011 wild-card game, the Eagles faced off against the eventual Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers and lost 21–16.

The 2011 season for the Eagles was a major disappointment, as they only managed to finish 8–8 and did not qualify for the playoffs, although they did win the last 4 games of the season. Because of several free agent acquisitions, Vince Young, a back up quarterback, stated that the Eagles were a Dream Team. The Philadelphia fan base and faithful never did concur with the comment as some national outlets may comment. Many Eagles fans believe that Vince Young saying that the Eagles were a 'Dream Team' is the reason that the Eagles had such a horrible season.

Eagles fans had high expectations going into the 2012 season. The Eagles started off winning three out of their four first games, but that changed when they lost the next eight games, and were eliminated from the playoff hunt. They only won one out of their last four games. After a loss to the New York Giants on December 30, 2012, Andy Reidwas fired after fourteen seasons with the team.^[14] On January 16, 2013, the Eagles brought in University of Oregon head coach Chip Kelly to succeed Reid as head coach after a 4–12 season.

The Philadelphia Eagles named Michael Vick starting quarterback going into the 2013 season with much promise running Chip Kelly's fast paced spread offense.

The 2013 season has proved more successful for the Eagles. A hamstring injury took Michael Vick out, but his backup, Nick Foles, led the team to a 10-6 regular season record, and its seventh NFC East division title in 13 seasons. Before throwing his first interception in Week 14, Foles threw 19 touchdowns, which was just one shy of the all time NFL record of consecutive touchdowns without an interception to start a season, set earlier in the season by Peyton Manning. Foles also tied Manning for most touchdown passes in a single-game with 7 against the Oakland Raiders which also made him the youngest player in history to throw that many touchdowns in a game. Foles finished the regular season with 27 touchdown passes and only 2 interceptions giving him the best TD-INTO ratio in NFL history. He also finished with a 119.0 passer rating, third highest in league history only behind Aaron Rodgers in 2011 and Peyton Manning in 2004. He was also only the second quarterback in NFL history to have a game in which he topped 400 passing yards and a perfect passer rating. LeSean McCoy finished his Pro Bowl season as the league's top rusher with 1,607 rushing yards (also a franchise record) and 2,146 total yards from scrimmage, also best in the NFL. As a whole, the Eagles offense scored 51 touchdowns, most in franchise history passing the previous season high set back in 1948.