The Vikings had to lose to the Giants or the Bears had to lose to Houston. Then, a four-win Oakland team, a 13-point underdog, had to win at Tampa Bay. Then, the Eagles, when these other games were all concluded, had to beat Dallas, the team everybody said was the NFC's best when the season began, which right now seems like it was several decades ago.
Houston and Oakland won. And with Lincoln Financial Field basking in a sort of half-stunned delirium, as strange and magical as the spring-like weather, the Eagles went out and ravaged their most bitter rivals, 44-6, their largest margin of victory in the history of the rivalry. They didn't just win . . . the outcome was all but settled by halftime, and it definitely was settled midway through the third quarter, after Dawkins took the Cowboys' hearts.
The rest of the game was a New Year's celebration that lacked only the Mummers. You half-expected Andy Reid to hand the headset to a coaching intern when the fourth quarter began, so he could head over to NovaCare to start breaking down film on the 10-6 Vikings, who will host the Birds at 4:30 next Sunday.
Obviously, you can't compare the 9-6-1 Eagles winning a regular-season game to the Phillies winning the World Series, but it sure seemed that maybe a little pixie dust might have wafted across Pattison Avenue.
"I might go to A.C. tonight and put a lot of money on black," said Eagles left guard Todd Herremans. "The stars are aligning . . . I heard whispers, but I didn't know [the Oakland-Tampa final] until after we were playing the game."
