Dec 28, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips (50) tackles Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) during the first quarter at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
If you are an Eagles fan and you woke up today with a feeling that after an old school, 13-12 win in Buffalo on Sunday, buoyed completely by the defense, and you can see a vision of back-to-back Super Bowl championships coming to Philadelphia in about six weeks, here are two historical references for you to have at your disposal to make that seem realistic.
Neither team won back-to-back titles, but both teams did something the 2025 Eagles are attempting to do — win a championship with a great defense and a subpar offense.
In fact, those two teams and the 2023 Cleveland Browns — who started four different quarterbacks in one season — are the only three teams in NFL history to win at least 11 games when scoring fewer than 20 points in a game at least seven times.
The Eagles became the fourth team on Sunday.
That's because it's highly unusual to have an elite defense and a bottom-tier offense and win that frequently.
The modern game doesn't really allow for it. The league average is 23 points scored per team, per game.
In their last 12 games, the Eagles have averaged 21 points per game, and that number was elevated by some games against some pretty awful teams.
Which is why if you woke up today and thought that as good as the defense was, there's no way in tarnation the Eagles are even getting back to the Super Bowl, let alone winning another one, with the offense they have deployed across all 16 games this season - you can use 57 other Super Bowl champions to support your argument.
I find myself the latter group and not the former.
And there's a simple explanation. Here's why:
As great as the defense was for much of the game in Buffalo, it started to leak oil in the second half.
That's because it was on the field way too much. Ultimately, it was a bend, don't break defense, but when you have to spend 22 of the 30 minutes in the second half playing defense, eventually, there's going to be some dings in the armor.
The Eagles amassed all of 16 yards of offense in the second half.
That's not on one drive. Not on one play. That's the entire half.
They had one first down. Their five second-half possessions all ended in punts. They ran four plays on the first series, and then three each in the subsequent four before kicking the ball away.
Jalen Hurts didn't complete a pass in the second half.
Eagles will not win in the playoffs unless this offense starts holding up their end of the bargain. The number of 3-and-outs is disgraceful.
All the talk about how the offense was coming alive the previous two weeks went away that quickly.
It's one thing to run roughshod over the Raiders and Commanders, it's another to do it against a fellow playoff team.
I know what you're thinking — they put up 33 against the Rams! And if the Buccaneers win next week, they are a playoff team and the Eagles scored 31 against them as well.
Both things are true. Both things happened in September.
Since then, the Eagles are 2-3 against 2025 playoff teams. In those five games, they have scored a grand total of 74 points.
That's an average of 14.8 per game. The fact that they won two of them is a true testament to Vic Fangio and his defense. It's that good.
And the Eagles have shown they know how to win ugly. How many wins could have been losses? I count at least six if one or two plays go a different way.
The Eagles, to their credit, are talented enough to not let that happen, or at least not happen repeatedly.
They are good enough that they can outperform their deficiencies most of the time.
But you can't expect to go 4-0, with each victory coming against playoff teams — and maybe only one of them at home — by averaging less than 15 points a game.
It doesn't happen. Hell, it's never happened.
Even those 2000 Ravens — who didn't allow more than 10 points in any of their four playoff games en route to a championship — scored 95 points.
Their offense — led by Trent Dilfer — wasn't great, but they were efficient enough to let their defense do their thing when it had to and rarely asked it to go above and beyond its standard.
By efficient enough, I mean they out-possessed three of the four opponents they faced that postseason, meaning the defense wasn't on the field the whole game, or even for most of one half.
In the one game where they were tested — in the divisional round against Tennessee — they needed a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown, followed by an interception return for a touchdown to separate themselves from a 10-10 fourth quarter tie.
Now, that Ravens defense was an all-time NFL defense. It was up there with the 1985 Bears. The Steel Curtain. The Purple People Eaters. Gang Green (1991).
The current version of the Eagles defense is superb. They deserve all the superlatives that can be afforded them. But, they aren't among the greatest of all time.
Sirianni and Patullo tried their best to blow it, but the defense holds on. I’m not blaming Jalen Hurts or any Eagles player on offense. This game was almost lost because of coaching
They can't be on the field 22 minutes in a half. You saw on Sunday what happens. They lose their effectiveness. They were able to hold on, not because of great defensive play down the stretch, but a special teams block of an extra point, and Josh Allen missing a wide-open receiver in the end zone on what would have been the game-winning two point conversion.
Yeah, they had a nice goal line stand in the third quarter, but that was before they were exhausted.
In short, no matter how reliable this defense is, and no matter how experienced and good at these low-scoring, ugly games the Eagles happen to be, it shouldn't be a goal to play in them every week.
Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo and, yes, even Hurts, are all way too conservative, especially with a lead.
Nick Sirianni makes the Eagles worse by insisting on being so conservative.
The offense has run 17 plays for 17 yards in the second half.
They play offense not to lose, rather than pedal to the medal. Sometimes, it's hard to argue, because Sirianni and Hurts have done so much winning together, that complaining about it sounds negative for the sake of being negative.
But this isn't that.
I recognize the talent on the offensive side of the football, and if they can just be 75% of what we all know they can be, the Eagles would be an overwhelming favorite to win it all again.
The problem is, the offense has looked like what it can be just four times this year.
Against Minnesota, the New York Giants, Las Vegas and Washington. Teams that are a combined 17-47 this season.
Every other game has either been inconsistent, with flashes of good but enough concerning bad to give you pause, or just flat out terrible — like the second half in Buffalo.
Now ask yourself, can they win four in a row against, say, the Rams, Bears, Seahawks and whoever wins the AFC, playing like that offensively?
If you think so, I hate to be blunt, but you're delusional. They can't. They won't.
No matter how good the defense is, and it has been sensational, even if it's not even the best unit in the NFL this season (watch the Houston Texans when you have a chance) - they aren't winning without some consistency on offense.
The Eagles will likely start their starters next Sunday afternoon against Washington and then play it by ear based on what's happening in Chicago, as the Eagles would need the Bears to lose plus win their own game to move up to the more desirable No. 2 seed. So, they might play a half, or something like that.
Is that going to be enough to give you confidence that they can just flip a switch against any of those three NFC West teams who are likely to be their first-round opponent?
It shouldn't. We've seen enough toe-stubbing on offense through 16 games to let you know that the Eagles are what they are offensively.
They just can't be as bad as they were Sunday and expect to win out once it's win-or-go-home.
And if I'm wrong, and there's another parade up the Ben Franklin Parkway in February, you can all roll your eyes and shake your head at me like A.J. Brown did to Sirianni in the tunnel outside the locker room in Buffalo after the win:
“Not so much (talking) anymore!”
Nick Sirianni after holding on and getting the win here in Buffalo pic.twitter.com/8CNaR8n10w
