Philadelphia Eagles surrendered their right to be known as defending Super Bowl champions on Sunday night. In so many ways it would encapsulate the story of their season.
A season in which their offense consistently sputtered as one of the worst units in the league under Kevin Patullo, a season for much of which AJ Brown has seemingly been unhappy, a season that might have been over before now were it not for Vic Fangio's defense allowing them to stick around in games.
Fangio's resistance rallied once more on Sunday night, but their lack of oomph on the other side of the ball would finally prove defining in a 23-19 defeat to the injury-depleted San Francisco 49ers.
The Eagles had led 13-10 at the half after two Dallas Goedert touchdowns, before mustering just 36 yards on 16 plays in the third quarter and managing just two field goals in the second half altogether.
Jalen Hurts, limited to 168 yards through the air, had the ball on the 49ers' 20-yard line with 43 seconds left on their final possession, but saw his fourth-and-11 pass intended for Goedert broken up as the Eagles' season came to an end.
"I just didn't make the play,' Hurts said. "I own it. I own it all."
Brown both had and hadn't been in the thick of the action. The Eagles wide receiver and head coach Nick Sirianni were separated late in the first half after a heated face-to-face exchange on the sideline stemming from the head coach running to yell at Brown for being slow to get off the field following a third-down incompletion.
It was the latest instalment of a bizarre campaign for Brown, who lamented his lack of involvement on offense multiple times this season, including on a livestream during which he encouraged Fantasy Football players to take him out of their teams. Brown declined to speak with reporters after the game.
"I think he knows how I feel about him," said Sirianni said of his confrontation with Brown. "I have a special relationship with him. We've probably gone through every emotion you can possibly have together.
"We've laughed together. We've cried together. We've yelled at each other. We're both emotional. I was trying to get him off the field, and that happens in this game, but I love him."
Brown would also finish the game with just three catches from seven targets for 25 yards, having been guilty of a career-high two drops that included a routine grab on third-and-five with just over two minutes remaining. Hurts would eventually convert on fourth down with a completion to Goedert, before failing to turn the drive into points as the Eagles' season came to a close.
"He's got the best hands I've ever seen," Sirianni said in defence of his receiver. "The way he catches the ball, the amount of different types of catches that he's made. When you get as many targets as he does, you're going to have some drops. I know he will beat himself up on that."
The Eagles had possession of the ball for upwards of 10 minutes more than the 49ers, while recording 14 more plays than their counterparts, and yet were out-gained 361 to 307 by an offense that lost star tight end George Kittle and was without Ricky Pearsall before leaning on an unlikely hero in Demarcus Robinson. Christian McCaffrey was also on hand to carry the workload with over 100 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns as the 49ers out-coached the Eagles on their way to the Divisional Round.
Twice Quinyon Mitchell intercepted Brock Purdy, the first in favourable field position at the Eagles' 48 and the second at their 38; Hurts and Co would turn them into just three points.
Saquon Barkley finished with 106 yards on the ground but had been limited to just 35 in the second half as familiar post-interval regression haunted the Eagles offense yet again.
"It's been a common theme for us this year," Barkley said. "We haven't done a good enough job of playing complete football. Putting two halves together. Sometimes you expect you'll get to this moment, and you'll figure it out."
The Eagles have lost four games in which they entered the fourth quarter with a lead this season, while being outscored 137-91 in the final stanza including Sunday's defeat.
The defeat raises more questions over the future of offensive coordinator Patullo, whose job security has faced constant scrutiny in his first year since succeeding Kellen Moore in the role.
His offense, criticised for conservative play-calling, finished the regular season ranked 24th in total yards, 23rd in passing, 18th in rushing and 19th in scoring. Kyle Shanahan had seen to shining a contrasting light on as much when he dialled up a trick play ending in Jauan Jennings throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey to put the 49ers on top at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
"There will be time to evaluate everybody's performance," Sirianni said. "Right now, I feel for all our guys in the locker room, all the players, all the coaches, the front office, everybody that works so hard, the fans that come out and support us, Mr [chairman/chief executive Jeffrey) Lurie. I feel for all of us, all of them, and there'll be time to evaluate everything coming up."
The Eagles had threatened their own chapter of dominance when they dismantled Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans last February. Hurts was in his element on the biggest stage at the helm of a star-studded offense deemed capable to flick the switch at any moment such was its level of talent, while Fangio's defense was brimming with young stalwart game-wreckers primed for perennial contention.
Ecstasy would, though, fizzle into a demoralising conclusion as the Lombardi Trophy heads to new owners. The autopsy awaits.
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