Rich Hofmann: As usual, red-zone woes costly for Eagles

SAN DIEGO - It has played on a seemingly endless loop for years now, the same song. The Eagles get down near the goal line and they cannot cash. They lack physicality and cannot get a yard on the ground when they need it. They lack the big outside target and cannot convince the quarterback that anybody else can make an athletic play in a tight spot. Over and over it plays then, slowly, mournfully, forever: the red-zone blues.

They could have won a game yesterday, a game they had no business winning, if not for three failures in the red zone. With an injury-ravaged defense, on the road against a revitalized San Diego Chargers team, they went field goal/field goal/field goal in their first three trips inside the 20-yard line instead of touchdown/touchdown/touchdown. They left 12 points on the field in a 31-23 loss.

So we can talk about their gumption in making a fourth-quarter comeback from a 28-9 deficit. And we can talk about what can fairly be seen as a decent display of fortitude by a team in a tough spot because of so many injuries and shufflings.

But this red-zone thing has been wasting them for years now, emasculating them in many ways. And until they fix it, they will always be the kind of team they are now: unfulfilling, infuriating, inconsistent, 5-4.

"You can't get in the red zone three times early and not be able to punch it in, especially as tight in the red zone as we got," coach Andy Reid said. "That hurt us at the end."

It has been hurting them for years. In 2004, also known as the last time the Eagles went to the Super Bowl, the Eagles had a great red-zone offense, third in the NFL, converting for touchdowns 63.8 percent of the time. The offensive line was healthy and stable, Brian Westbrook was in his prime, Donovan McNabb could still do things with his legs and Terrell Owens was a star on the outside.

Since then, the erosion has been constant.

By 2006, the year that McNabb and Jeff Garcia split time because of McNabb's knee injury, the Eagles' red-zone offense was 10th in the NFL at 56.5 percent. In 2007, McNabb's comeback year from the injury, it had plummeted to 24th in the league at 45.1 percent. Last year, with all of the short-yardage problems, it was 22nd in the NFL at 49.2 percent. Now, after yesterday, the Eagles are probably around 20th in the league at 47.8 percent.

Down, down, down they go.

And, thus, a record of 5-4.