John Smallwood: Time to dial down Eagles coach Andy Reid's duties

GLENDALE, Ariz. - You can look at the glass as half-full if you want.

After all, it did require a significant amount of intestinal fortitude for the Eagles to crawl out of the hole of a wasted season and make it to the NFC Championship Game.

There's something to be said for a team that can go from 5-5-1 to within a game of the Super Bowl.

Still, haven't we been down this road four times before?

While it would be ridiculous to dismiss the fact that the Eagles have played in five NFC Championship Games in eight seasons, it would be just as silly to ignore the fact that with yesterday's 32-25 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, they are now 1-4 in those games.

And even in the season they reached the Super Bowl, they lost to the New England Patriots.

My glass has tipped over.

I know how a seven-point loss at Arizona is going to be spun. The outcome was just close enough for the Eagles to make the argument to maintain the status quo.

They were one of the Final Four, they were a blown coverage here, a missed play there from the Super Bowl.

Next time, they will get the break and things will be different.

But we've been down this road before.

I already modified the argument I made in November that Andy Reid should be fired as coach, once the Eagles made the playoffs. You certainly don't punish a coach for advancing to the NFC Championship Game.

I will, however, repeat what I said after that tie in Cincinnati: Reid, as long as he is in complete control of football operations, will not bring a Super Bowl championship to Philadelphia.

After a 10th season, and a fourth loss in an NFC Championship Game, it is clear that this is as good as it's going to get.

"This year is different from others," Reid said when asked about his team sputtering a game short of the Super Bowl for the fourth time in his 10 seasons. "They're all different.

"We've been over the hump and into the Super Bowl. If this is what you consider the hump, we didn't do it this time."

It is not what I consider the hump.

The hump is hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy, signifying that your team is champion of the NFL. And that's why there still needs to be a major change in the power structure of the Eagles.

We know how far Reid, as grand poobah of football operations, can take this - losses to St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Carolina and now, Arizona, in the NFC Championship Game; a loss to the Patriots in Super XXXIX.