Column: Eagles Prove Everyone Wrong

Underdog, [uhn-der-dawg] noun. – a person who is expected to lose in a contest or conflict. (dictionary.com)

Prior to the 2017 NFL season, outside of Eagles fans, little to no one believed the Eagles (who finished last season dead last in the division at 7-9) would win the NFC East, let alone claim the best record in the NFL. After Carson Wentz (Aka Prince Harry), who was the leading candidate for the MVP award until he tore his ACL in week 13, little-to-no one, outside of Eagles fans, believed they still had a chance at the Super Bowl. Despite having the best regular season record in the NFL, the second-ranked defense and home field advantage in the divisional and conference championship rounds – the Eagles were Vegas underdogs in all three of their playoff games. Despite being seen as the underdogs throughout the entire season, the Eagles came out as the top dog – or well, bird.

It was only fitting that the underdogs were quarterbacked by an underdog, Nick Foles – aka Napoleon Dynamite.

Foles, who is a Liberty University Online graduate student with hopes of becoming a youth pastor, started the season as a backup. Before week 13 Foles had thrown four passes all year long, and before this season Foles had played in two of his last 20 games. But that didn’t stop him from completing 28 of his 43 passes for 373 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception.

Foles also caught a 1-yard touchdown pass, making him the first player in NFL history to throw and catch a touchdown in the Super Bowl. This Cinderella story performance was more than enough to land Foles the Super Bowl LII MVP award.

The last quarterback to start the season as a backup and then go on to win the Super Bowl was, wait for it … Tom Brady. Having the word “backup” associated with Tom Brady is a testament as to how long ago that was – 16 years to be exact.

But Foles’ underdog story doesn’t stop there. Foles was drafted by the Eagles in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft. He eventually became the starter and in 2013 he had one of the best seasons in NFL history for a quarterback, as he finished the season with 27 touchdown passes and just two interceptions, giving him a QB rating of 119 – the third highest in NFL history. The following year, Foles broke his collarbone early on in the season, which began the derailment of his career.

In March 2015, Foles was traded to the team formerly known as the St. Louis Rams. In his first 11 starts for the Rams, Foles threw 10 interceptions compared to just seven touchdowns, and he lost his starting job to Case Keenum – the same Keenum who quarterbacked the Vikings whom Foles and the Eagles toppled 38-7 in the NFC championship game. In the 2016 NFL draft, the Rams took quarterback Jared Goff first overall, which prompted Foles to ask to be released, and he nearly walked away from the game of football.

“I wanted to retire from the NFL, and I really struggled,” Foles said in a devotional for the YouVersion Bible app in August of 2017. “I couldn’t pick up a football for about eight months. I had no love for the game, and it was tough.”

But Foles’ faith led him to continue his career on the field.

“I kept reading Scripture, I kept praying, I kept asking God — and so many of us ask God for signs, we ask God, ‘Hey, please just put it on the wall, like, I want to know,’ but that’s not how it works,” Foles said in the devotion.

“He’s not always going to do that. He was shaping me. He was bringing me down to my knees … At that moment, through that prayer, said, ‘Hey, just take a step of faith.”

Regardless if you’re a person of faith, we can all learn from Foles’ rollercoaster of a path.

For starters, in western culture we are guilty of craving instant-gratification, especially if we have tasted a certain level of success like Foles did in his early seasons. We want to see results, and we want to see them as of yesterday. But realistically, we may not see those results without putting in the countless hours of hard work, where your goal still seems drastically out of reach.

Second, if you are a person of faith, Foles’ story is a reminder to us all. At his low point in 2016, Foles was convicted by 2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

God’s grace is sufficient and he is sovereign over our failures. He is still good even in our lowest point, and he is with us every step of the way. He is progressively sanctifying us, and what we view as failure, God can and will use to bring himself glory.

P.S. Here are some of the best quotes from the Philadelphia police scanner broadcast which averaged over 40,000 viewers after the Eagles win.

“We have a large crowd throwing bottles and chanting Meek Mill.”

“We have a suspect in custody. He says he’s an off-duty cop.”

“Somebody lit their Christmas tree on fire over here on Broad Street.”

“We lost every single light pole on this street.”

“A guy in a four-wheeler just ran over a cop.”

“We got a couple hundred people on this light pole.”