Eagles Spurn Comparisons to Team’s 2023 Collapse Amid Three-Game Skid

The Eagles insist they are not in the midst of another collapse like in 2023.

DeVonta Smith was among the Eagles that brushed off comparisons between the 2025 and 2023 squads. / Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

For many in Philadelphia, the Eagles’ three-game losing streak is beginning to feel eerily familiar. Coming off a Super Bowl victory this season, the Eagles started off the year 10–2 before dropping three straight games to the Cowboys, Bears and Chargers.

Two years ago, the Eagles were coming off a Super Bowl appearance. They started the infamous 2023 campaign 10–1 before losing three straight games. They went on to lose five of their last six before getting blown out in the wildcard round.

The Eagles would rebound after 2023 by winning the Super Bowl the following year, but with the latest loss to the Chargers, that hasn’t fully eased concerns that the Eagles will undergo a 2023-like collapse. As these comparisons have resurfaced, multiple members of the team are flat-out rejecting that they are going to fall off like they did two winters ago.

“No,” receiver DeVonta Smith said to Mike Silver of The Athletic. “It’s nowhere close to 2023.”

“Nothing like it,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie told The Athletic. “Absolute opposite. We have a Super Bowl defense and great special teams. Our offense will get it going. I’m not worried at all.”

“Nah—this ain’t no crash at the end,” Brandon Graham said. “It’s just the way it’s going right now. We’ll get it right. I’m not worried at all. We’ve still got Vic [Fangio]. Back then, we lost [coordinators] on both sides of the ball. ... This isn’t 2023. We’re definitely gonna get it right. I just know that how we handle this right now is key. Let people talk. While they keep talking, we’ll just keep working.”

The parallels are certainly easy to spot between the 2023 to ’25 Eagles, but as Lurie, Smith and Graham point out, these situations are different. This begins on the defensive side of the ball. As Lurie and Graham mentioned, the Eagles still have an elite defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio, who joined the team in 2024. Prior to Fangio coming to Philadelphia, the team boasted one of the worst defenses in the league which ranked second-last in pass defense and third-last in scoring defense. This season, the Eagles are middle of the pack in yards allowed per game, but rank top-10 in points allowed per game and EPA per play.

Still, an improved defense won’t necessarily translate to better success this year than in 2023. The defense has done a good job often keeping the Eagles in games when the offense has been sluggish, but it hasn’t been enough over their last three games, and it’s hard to see it being enough against the best teams in the NFC come January.

With four winnable games ahead the Eagles should certainly still win the division and make the playoffs. The question will be if their offense can rebound in time and give them a chance to go on a deep run in the postseason again.

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