The NFL makes no sense. Why should the Eagles?

The Eagles have nobody to blame but themselves. They fooled everyone into thinking that they were beyond this sort of thing. That they were operating on a different plane of existence. That they were something much better than your average, better-than-average professional football team.

Well, this is what happens when you live a lie. The easier you make it look, the uglier it gets when reality arrives. You lose three straight games, two to the NFL’s two hottest teams, a third in its toughest road stadium, and panic ensues. Everyone thinks the sky is falling. And not just because it is raining again.

You want to know what’s wrong with the Eagles? Nothing. Nothing is wrong with the Eagles. They are just like every other contender in this mediocre, egalitarian, godforsaken league. They are fallible. They are flawed. And they are most likely en route to a division title and the No. 2 overall playoff seed.

» READ MORE: The Eagles are flirting with dysfunction. Nick Sirianni needs to remind his team what makes it great.

Sure, appearances are bad. The passing game is horizontal. The running game is more formulaic than the Hallmark Hall of Fame. After getting blown out by their only two serious threats to the Super Bowl, the Eagles suffered the most baffling loss of the Nick Sirianni era, a 20-17 meltdown to a team that had lost four straight. Over the last two weeks, they’ve banished their defensive coordinator and also lost the guy in charge of their defense off the field.

Contender? Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. The only thing the Eagles are going to contend for is early check-in. Maybe an upgrade to a full ocean view, if they play their cards right.

But take a look around. Two weeks ago, the Dolphins lost to the Titans, a team whose only other win since October was against the last-place Panthers. The Bengals are 5-5 with Joe Burrow as their starter and 3-1 without him. The 49ers have scored 27-plus points in all but three games, all losses, all in a row, to the Browns, Vikings, and Bengals, with 51 total points to show.

The NFL makes no sense. None. It’s like a four-month episode of the The Eric Andre Show. The moment you take a team seriously is the moment its players show up to work wearing polka dot pajamas and dumping sour milk on themselves.

Look no further than the Jaguars and Ravens on Sunday night. Not long ago, both of those teams were in contention for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Baltimore currently has it, but only because somebody has to. The Chiefs are coming off a stretch in which they lost four of six. Patrick Mahomes’ team is tied with Joe Flacco’s in the standings. Both are a game ahead of Gardner Minshew and Jake Browning.

If anything, something was wrong with the Eagles back when they looked like they would spend the next decade turning the NFC into garden mulch. It was simple, see? Just find a quarterback who transforms into an elite passer overnight, put him behind a dominant offensive line, get another team to trade you one of the game’s most talented wide receivers, sign the best edge rusher on the market for pennies on the dollar, and then draft the entire Georgia defense. That’s all there is to it. You’ll be running roughshod over Daniel Jones in no time!

» READ MORE: Eagles in panic mode: Matt Patricia fails in debut as DC, Birds lose third straight, more changes coming?

I’m not saying the Eagles caught lightning in a bottle. I’m saying the opposite of that. They are still a very good team. The most likely scenario is still them winning out against the Giants and Cardinals and the Cowboys losing one to the Dolphins, Lions, or Commanders. In that case, they might actually be in a better spot than if they had the No. 1 seed, where they could have to beat both the 49ers and Cowboys.

A.J. Brown may have raised some eyebrows when he labeled the Eagles’ three losses as winnable games, but he was 100% correct. They already beat Dallas. They looked like the better team in the first quarter against the 49ers. They clearly should have beaten the Seahawks. If they lose to Tommy Cutlets, then we can talk.

This might be a moment when Sirianni should scrap the one-game-at-a-time mantra he and every other NFL coach clings to. Remind everyone not to believe the hype. To see the big picture. The Rams lost three straight games in 2021 and then won the Super Bowl. The 2019 Chiefs and 2020 Bucs both lost three of four.

“Not winning is not fun,” Sirianni said after the loss to the Seahawks. “It’s not. So partly when you’re having a lot of fun is when you’re winning, to be quite honest with you. We can’t always let that affect our mood all the way through. Do I feel like the guys have fun Monday through Saturday and then when it’s time to work, work? Yeah, I do. But it’s going to be hard for anyone to admit they’re having fun right now on a three-game slide. There are definitely times we have had this year that have been fun. Obviously tonight is not — the last three weeks are not one of them. So, again, we’re in a slide, as we know. We have to get through the storm that we’re in, fix our mistakes. Again, that’s starts with me.”

It does start with him, but that’s how it goes. You are never as good as people say you are, and you are never as bad. In either case, the worst thing you can do is believe the hype.