There’s a lot of post-game head scratching to do about yesterday’s 32-25 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship game, most of it concerning Jim Johnson’s defensive game plan.

How was Larry Fitzgerald allowed to run free in the secondary in the first half, racking up more than 100 yards and three touchdowns? Why was rookie Quintin Demps the one assigned to cover Fitzgerald on that trick pass play? Why wasn’t Fitzgerald double-teamed and pressed at the line of scrimmage every play?

But what it all boiled down to was pass rush. When the Eagles smacked Kurt Warner around in the third quarter, the Cardinals got nowhere. When they failed to reach Warner in the other three quarters, he picked them apart with an assist from bad coverage and poor tackling. Pretty simple really.

I think it’s important to keep this latest title game loss in perspective. While it certainly helps cement Andy Reid’s and Donovan McNabb’s legacy as the Marv Levy and Jim Kelly of the early 21st century, the Eagles shouldn’t have even been in the playoffs this year considering how awful they played in the middle of the season and all the breaks they had to get on the final day.

This was one of the weirdest, most unorthodox seasons in NFL history, so why should yesterday have been any different than the other goofy Sundays this year? The Eagles got a lot of breaks to get to this point, but the ball just didn’t bounce their way this time.

At least they got to take down the Cowboys and Giants along the way.

So what happens now? Does Andy Reid quit? Probably not, though I wouldn’t mind if he did. Does Donovan McNabb get a new contract? Probably so, and he should. He’s the best quarterback in Eagles history, and there isn’t a better QB available last time I checked.

The list of free agents is an alarming one, both in age and quality. If Brian Dawkins decides to play next year, and it sounds like he will, it’s hard to imagine him playing anywhere else. Meanwhile, both offensive tackles William Thomas and Jon Runyan are also free agents. This is perhaps the Eagles’ most confounding situation. Both men on are the decline, and the Eagles have no proven replacements for them. If they think Winston Justice is ready to take over for Runyan at right tackle, they could try to re-sign Thomas in the short-term and draft someone to replace him later. At least they should have right guard Shawn Andrews back and healthy; I’m convinced his injury is the main reason the Eagles offense struggled so much at times this season.

Whatever Reid decides to do about his decrepit offensive line, it better work. Most games are won and lost in the trenches, and these guys are the main reason the Eagles have been so successful the past 10 years. They could also use a big running back to take the load off Brian Westbrook as he gets older, but that’s probably not going to happen under Reid.

Otherwise, you have to think this team is in pretty good shape going into next year. The Cowboys are going nowhere and the Redskins have the same meddling owner issues. That leaves the Giants still packing heat and a division up for grabs. Barring serious injury, everything is set up great for Andy Reid to pull his team up just short again next year.

Less than a month to go before pitchers and catchers report. Are you as excited as I am?

The Philadelphia Eagles’ improbable run to the Super Bowl is over.

Actually, they are still playing the Arizona Cardinals as I type this, but Donovan McNabb was just blind-sided and fumbled away the ball on the opening drive of the second half, effectively ending what little doubt remained.

I guess the biggest head scratcher has to be Larry Fitzgerald. Ever heard of him? Apparently Jim Johnson and the Eagles secondary hadn’t. How the one guy they couldn’t allow to beat them can run free for 100-plus yards and three touchdowns in the first half is absolutely dumbfounding.

McNabb missed a lot of targets in the first quarter, even on some of the passes he completed, which would have gone for huge gains and maybe touchdowns had he thrown the ball on the numbers. The running game, which showed some promise from time to time, slowly vanished from the game plan as the Cardinals continued to rack up points and threaten to put the game out of reach.

McNabb and the offense sputtered to some field goals, but it was the defense, the unit which carried the Eagles to their fifth NFC title game in eight years, that lost this game early and often by allowing Fitzgerald to run wild through the secondary and failing to put any pressure on Kurt Warner.

I hear the Eagles just closed to gap to 11 points on a short TD pass to Brent Celek after a huge 50-yard pass to Kevin Curtis on third and 19. I guess I’ll go back downstairs and watch the inevitable conclusion to a wayward 2008 season for which I’ll have a more thorough review and conclusion after I cool off this evening or tomorrow.

I feel like I’ve been transported to Bizarro World.

Raise your hand if you trusted Andy Reid to stick with the running game like this. Nobody? Raise your hand if you trust him now. Me either.

Regardless, the Eagles stood up to the best punches the Giants could throw at them and hit back with equal force. It was a knock-down, drag-out, bruiser of a football game, one of the roughest I’ve seen in a long line of physical battles between these long-time rivals. The Eagles won the turnover battle, both in pure numbers, and quality (the Eagles collected far more points off those turnovers).

While Donovan McNabb’s stats look unspectacular, he played another very solid game against a very angry defense, rushing and throwing for touchdowns and throwing two meaningless interceptions (one essentially a punt, the other a fluke that only resulted in three points). He made one strong throw after another into the wind, keeping the chains moving in the second half, shaking off numerous drops by his receivers and converting on third downs. All of it while under enormous pressure and without the threat of Brian Westbrook, who didn’t look like himself and who the Giants all but eliminated from the game.

But if only one game ball were to be handed out this game, it has to go to Jim Johnson and the defense, particularly the front seven, who smothered Brandon Jacobs and the other two elements in the Giants running game and forced Eli Manning to beat them, which he could not. Manning was awful, and the Eagles tenacious defense kept the Giants out of the end zone the whole game, holding them to three field goals. Even more important were their two fourth-down stops in the second half. Broderick Bunkley, Mike Patterson and the rest of the defensive line won the battle on the line of scrimmage and basically won this game for the Eagles.

Now their improbable season goes west to Arizona, where they face the Cardinals for the first time in the playoffs since beating them 7-0 in the 1948 NFL Championship when they were the Chicago Cardinals. They won’t have to worry about wind or other elements, an extremely hostile crowd, or a three-headed monster of a running game. What they do have to worry about is a team which so far Atlanta and Carolina failed to take seriously, and we see where that got them.

Somehow the Eagles are going to have to recharge mentally and physically from the toughest game they’ve played all year to focus everything they have left on an overachieving team with nothing to lose. Seems familiar.

Perhaps Arizona’s thumping of Carolina was the best thing that could have happened for the Eagles. Now Reid and his coaching staff have tons of video evidence to prove to their players that even though they beat the Cardinals by four touchdowns on Thanksgiving, they better take them as seriously as they took the Giants. Otherwise, this magical, improbable, bordering on impossible run won’t make it past next week.

Oh, one more thing. This is McNabb’s fifth NFC Championship game in 10 years. All of you McNabb haters out there: Still want another quarterback? If you do, turn in your Philadelphia Eagles fan club membership immediately, please. You’re officially insane, and we don’t need you.

Hear that grinding sound last night that resembled a 28K modem with emphysema? That was the Longhorns’ national title chances escaping from the BCS computer.

I wish I could say I was surprised at how flat my alma mater looked last night before Colt McCoy (Has there ever been a better name for a quarterback?) drove Texas down the field for the winning score with 16 seconds left in the game. But that’s how Mack Brown rolls.

I wasn’t privy to the Longhorn practices over the last month while they awaited their Fiesta Bowl appearance against the Ohio State Buckeyes, but something tells me the head coach failed to convince his squad that their opponent would not be the Big Ten pushover they heard so much about in the media.

The defense, which hadn’t seen a real running game all year playing in the pass-wacky Big 12 South, had it’s hands full with Chris “Beanie” Wells and scrambling QB Terrelle Pryor. Its combination of sloppy and scrappy play kept the Longhorns in the game for three quarters before finally wearing down and surrendering the lead in the fourth quarter. If Wells hadn’t missed most of the second half with a concussion, it could have been even worse.

But it appeared the unit which took this game least seriously was the offensive line. They took the night off, opening no running lanes and leaving McCoy to fend for himself in the pocket, or what there was of it. As he has done many times this season, McCoy once again showed his mettle by staying cool under pressure (and there was a lot of it) and leading his team to victory almost single-handedly. With the exception of that god-awful interception near the goal line at the end of the second half, McCoy was cool under fire the whole game with a record 41 completions (it would have been more if not for some butterfingers on his receivers early in the game) for 414 yards and two TDs, plus a rushing touchdown.

The bigger question is how a team with a very legitimate claim to a stake in the BCS Championship game, and a month to grow a chip on their shoulders about how they got screwed out of it, can show up to their glorified exhibition game expecting their inferior opponent to roll over for them? It’s the head coach’s job to keep his team focused and motivated to the task at hand (even if it is a long shot), not pat everyone on the butt and tell them what a good job they did and forget about it, we’ll get ‘em next year.

I can only presume that was Mack Brown’s approach, because that was how his team played last night. It’s typical of the only players’ coach in college football, whose “let’s be friends” personality makes him the best recruiter in the country, but then tries to skate by on that talent alone. Mack, you’re not their buddy, you’re their teacher: Do some teaching (i.e., coaching).

Lucky for him, it looks like he has another born leader at quarterback who hates losing, kind of like that last guy who won him a national championship. This very young defense is only going to get better, and if Texas develops any semblance of a running game with Fozzie Whitaker, it’s hard not to like their chances next year.

Last night, I just wish they had made a better case for themselves this year.

I turned to my lovely wife as a somewhat frustrating first half came to a close and said, “If a team is playing like crap and still winning by two points at halftime, that speaks volumes to the level of their competition.”

The Eagles’ offense could not move the ball much at all on the ground and seemed to counteract the few big plays it had with more short yardage failures and other inadequacies, all of which led to three field goals instead of touchdowns. Even the defense, which scored the only touchdown in the first half on Asante Samuel’s record-breaking fourth career playoff pick-six, allowed several big plays and two touchdowns to the Vikings in uncharacteristic fashion.

Then, in a two-point game, the coach inexplicably abandoned the run in the second half, effectively erasing his best player. Oh, not Eagles coach Andy Reid; his disciple, Brad Childress. Adrian Peterson got the ball a measly eight times, which put the game in the hands of Tarvaris Jackson. The Eagles defense, led by man-with-a-mission Brian Dawkins, gladly accepted the gift and made Jackson’s life a living hell for the last 30 minutes of the game.

Speaking of hell, in what has to be tantamount to it freezing over, Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg actually showed patience with a completely ineffective running game, handing it off almost 40 percent of the time while gaining almost no yards. It paid huge dividends throughout the game as the Vikings’ obsessive focus on Brian Westbrook allowed Donovan McNabb to spread the ball around to several different receivers until Westbrook finally exploded on that 71-yard TD screen pass (mad props to Kevin Curtis and DeSean Jackson for their downfield blocking).

Though it looked like the bad version of this 2008 Jekyll & Hyde Eagles team showed up in Minneapolis today, they found what we hope is their true personality in the second half and put away an inferior opponent by 12 points.

Which brings us to their next, and decidedly not inferior opponent, the New York Giants. The Eagles cleaned the Giants’ clocks four weeks ago in the Meadowlands, a game in which Brandon Jacobs got hurt early, Plaxico Burress had just shot himself in the leg, and a distracted Antonio Pierce (who may have tried to help Burress cover it up) couldn’t keep track of Westbrook.

Next Sunday, Jacobs will be healthy again, as will most of the Giants after a week off, and they seemed to have found themselves again in that Carolina game two weeks ago. I seem to recall a much more dangerous Giants team in week 10 which ran all over the Eagles in a 36-31 win that felt more like 36-10. That’s the team I’m afraid they’ll run into on Sunday.

Does that mean the Eagles have no chance? Of course not. As long as Westbrook continues to have the Giants’ number, and as long as Andy Reid keeps handing him the ball no matter what (Philadelphians have their fingers crossed so tight they’re likely to break), a team with a really good defense and a running game always has a chance.

But it sure won’t be as easy as their last trip up the New Jersey Turnpike. That much is guaranteed.