Is Andy Reid snowing us, or Juan Castillo?

The story of how Andy Reid came to hire Juan Castillo for his first staff in Philadelphia is nearly the stuff of legend. With each retelling, the blizzard Castillo drove through to reach Green Bay gets a little worse. The car he drove becomes more rickety. The hours he waited in the freezing cold of the Packers' parking lot become longer and longer.

When Castillo was promoted to defensive coordinator, that story of perseverance and ultimate success got a lot deeper, just like the snow.

The basics are still true, though. Castillo, having just completed his first season as offensive line coach, was fired along with Ray Rhodes' entire staff after the 1998 season. Reid, still working for the Packers, had become a strong favorite to replace Rhodes. Castillo needed a job and did drive to Green Bay to plead for one. It was definitely snowing. He did wait in the car until Reid got to work and invited him inside. Castillo has been inside ever since.

Well, here we are four games into Castillo's first season as defensive coordinator and, man, it's really coming down again. After Sunday's 24-23 loss to San Francisco, the third straight week in which the defense surrendered a fourth-quarter lead, the drifts are piling up against the brown brick of the NovaCare Complex. The wind is howling and the wolves are lurking just beyond the shadows. Not that long ago, this team could see all the way to February and Indianapolis, but now the visibility is limited to five days and Buffalo.

If this keeps up, the question is whether any of them, including Andy Reid, will be allowed to stay inside the bunker much longer. For the moment, though, because the defense appears fundamentally broken, Castillo is getting most of the attention.

"The coaches are going to stay intact," Reid said Monday, in a tepid vote of confidence for the staff. "I think Juan's doing some good things. If you asked me the same question about myself or [other] coaches or players, there are a lot of good things we're doing. But there are a lot of things we need to work on. It's not one person. It's all of us pulling this thing together and doing our jobs a little better."

Reid is not famous for his accuracy about impending changes he plans to make. For reference, see: Kolb, Kevin; and McDermott, Sean. Both the quarterback and the previous defensive coordinator were given their own public votes of confidence immediately prior to losing their jobs.