OH YEAHHHHHH: Eagles Are in the Playoffs!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

The Philadelphia Eagles are soaring back into the playoffs after steamrolling the Washington Redskins with a shutout 24-0 win yesterday. This, combined with the Minnesota Vikings losing to the Chicago Bears (playoff math is complicated, yo), catapulted the Eagles, who have had somewhat of a rocky season, into the spotlight.

It’s hard not to believe in magic when you look at the fact that a few weeks ago, the Eagles were all but down for the count… and then Nick Foles happened. The backup quarterback, last year’s Super Bowl MVP winner, once again swept in to revitalize the team in the wake of Carson Wentz’s back injury. Foles has acquired a fantastic nickname among Philly fans – and it’s a damn shame I can’t type it here – that is perfectly descriptive of the swagger and swing that Foles seems to bring to the team.

Just as the Eagles had hoped a couple of weeks ago, when they started asking fans to show up to games in ski masks (that symbolized the team’s desire to “steal” a playoff berth, like an old-time bank robber), they have been riding an upward-trending wave for several weeks, winning five of their last six games.

This is not to say that it’s going to be an easy road to the Super Bowl. To make their way to the big game, the underdog Eagles will have to somehow smite not only the badass Los Angeles Chargers, but the Goliath that is the New Orleans Saints, who are being manned by franchise QB Drew Brees, who is having the season of his life this year. Breesus will be a major roadblock, but let’s keep in mind that people were saying the same thing last year when the Eagles were staring down the rifle of Tom Brady and the juggernaut New England Patriots. “Impossible,” people said. They said it this season, too. And what did we learn? Nothing in Philadelphia is impossible.