18 years… Which is the total of time that elapsed between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ very first Tremendous Bowl win and their second. The Philadelphia Eagles share a related tale. Just after they came up small versus the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV, it took them 24 years to get again, but as opposed to the Bucs, they hoped to avenge a loss.
3 straight losses in the NFC Championship Video game contributed to Philly’s drought among Tremendous Bowl appearances. They’d yet again tumble brief in the NFL’s most important sport on February 6th of 2005 in Tremendous Bowl XXXIX, but 13 yrs later, their 3rd endeavor at soccer immortality proved fruitful. You could say the 3rd time was the attraction.
In Super Bowl LII, the Birds conquered what might be the finest dynasty in all of athletics, the evil empire regarded as the New England Patriots. They have not received a lot more than ten games in any of the 4 seasons that have followed, but here’s what’s even much more interesting. They’ve made the playoffs three situations in that 4-12 months span.
On Sunday, Philadelphia looks to win their very first playoff recreation because beating the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card Round of the 2018 season’s postseason on January 6th of 2019, and glimpse who they are matched up with, Tom Brady and the Bucs.
It’s that exact Bucs franchise that beat them in the last recreation at Veteran’s Stadium to progress to Super Bowl XXXVIII (and win it). It’s the similar Brady they beat pretty much four decades back in Minnesota.
The Buccaneers look to be privy to a concept the Eagles have not nonetheless discovered.
The previously mentioned story serves as a lesson that everyone can learn from, no matter of whether or not we’re conversing about football or your possess occupations. Absolutely nothing is guaranteed. You have to seize times when they appear. That looks to be some thing the Bucs have acquired and the Eagles haven’t. Let’s dig into that concept for a second.
Tony Dungy (Image by Greg Crisp/Getty Pictures)
Do you recall that Bucs team that conquer the Birds to get to their 1st Super Bowl? They had misplaced to Philadelphia in 2000 in the course of the Wild Card Round by a 21-3 margin. A 12 months later on, for the duration of the subsequent Wild Card Round, the beating Philly administered was even worse (31-9). It was, at that instant, that Tampa made a decision that they experienced adequate.
They fired the best coach that they at any time had (Tony Dungy), and they hired Jon Gruden. The subsequent time they saw Philly in the playoffs, it was the upcoming NFC Championship Recreation. The Bucs bought their revenge. The Eagles last match at Veteran’s Stadium resulted in a loss, and Tampa punched their ticket to a Super Bowl a lot of considered Philly would be playing in.
Quite a few moons later, the Buccaneers all over again faced a choice, 1 involving their to start with-round draft selection in 2015, the very first-in general range in that year’s draft, Jameis Winston. The Bucs all over again decided that remaining competitive was more critical to them than remaining at ease.
Tampa elected to enable Winston to wander in absolutely free company when introducing Tom Brady. The intention was a straightforward one… Acquire a Tremendous Bowl (which they did). In the meantime, the Eagles have approved mediocrity to some extent.
Of course, they are in the playoffs. Indeed, Howie Roseman will maintain his occupation for yet another period, but that ‘new norm’ that we ended up promised hardly ever arrived, or possibly it has.
Regrettably, the ‘new norm’ on the other hand isn’t about actively playing video games late into January with the opportunity of generating another visual appearance in a different Super Bowl. The new normalcy with the Eagles group is scraping by with a favorable timetable down the extend and hoping for nine wins while scarcely generating one more postseason.
That is the definition of mediocrity, anything the Eagles have become significantly way too relaxed with accepting. Occur on… Are we genuinely likely to position our hopes in striving to change it on down the stretch versus some poor groups each and every season? Is that not what the Eagles are performing?
The Bucs identified the courage to say ‘we want far more and having to the Wild Card Match isn’t enough’. The Bucs had the courage to sacrifice some of the foreseeable future for a quarterback who might not have considerably for a longer time to perform.
Until the Eagles start off considering along the strains of ‘Howie Roseman isn’t performing a great plenty of job’, ‘nine wins is not heading to minimize it’, and ‘should we take a Russell Wilson or an Aaron Rodgers if we have a shot at having him?’ mediocrity will continue in Philadelphia with the Eagles.
That is not to say that Jalen Hurts simply cannot be a franchise quarterback. Which is simply to state that we never have to wait until finally 15 yrs from now to make a decision that we want to acquire one more Super Bowl.
