Philadelphia Eagles

• 1. Introduction

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  The Philadelphia Eagles took the field for the first time on the 15th of October 1933, at the Polo Grounds in New York City, and lost to the Giants 56-0. It was a beginning that nobody would have chosen. Yet that same franchise, born from the bankruptcy of a predecessor team and named after a logo from Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, would one day stand at the center of some of the most dramatic moments in professional football history. How does a team that lost by 56 points in its debut grow into one that sells out every home game for more than two decades running? And how did a backup quarterback, asked to step in during an injury crisis, lead a franchise to its first Super Bowl title in more than half a century? Those are the threads this documentary follows.

• 2. A New Deal Origin

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  Bert Bell and Lud Wray paid an entry fee of $3,500 to secure their NFL franchise in 1933, taking on an additional $11,000 in debts the bankrupt Frankford Yellow Jackets had left behind. The Yellow Jackets had a distinguished history. The Frankford Athletic Association was organized in May 1899 in the parlor of the Suburban Club, where a share cost $10, with contributing memberships available to the general public for between $1 and $2.50. The club donated all profits to charity in accordance with its charter. By the early 1920s, the Yellow Jackets had gained a national reputation as one of the best independent football teams in the country. They won the NFL championship in 1926. But midway through the 1931 season, financial collapse forced them to fold.

  Bell drew the name Eagles from the Blue Eagle logo of the National Recovery Administration, a centerpiece of President Roosevelt's New Deal. Despite the symbolic link to a New Deal image, the NFL officially considers the Eagles and the Yellow Jackets two entirely separate organizations. Almost no players from the 1931 Yellow Jackets appeared on the Eagles' first roster, and there was no Philadelphia NFL team for a season and a half between the two franchises.

  The Eagles' early years were defined by struggle. In their first ten seasons, they never won more than four games. Bell proposed the annual college draft in 1935, a concept then described as revolutionary in professional sports, with teams selecting players in inverse order of their finish in the standings. The idea remains standard practice today. By 1936, the Eagles had lost so much money that Bell was the sole bidder at a public auction and became the team's sole owner. He then coached them to a 1-11 record, last place in the league.

• 3. The Greasy Neale Dynasty

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  Greasy Neale arrived as head coach in 1941 after new owner Alexis Thompson took control following a complex series of transactions known as the Pennsylvania Polka, in which Bell and Art Rooney exchanged their entire Eagles roster and territorial rights in Philadelphia for Thompson's Steelers roster and his Pittsburgh rights. The Eagles' struggles continued through 1943, when player shortages caused by U.S. involvement in World War II forced a merger with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The combined squad was known as the Phil-Pitt Combine, or the Steagles. The arrangement was never intended to be permanent and was dissolved after that season.

  1944 brought the franchise's first winning season in its history, led by Neale and running back Steve Van Buren. The team reached the NFL Championship game for the first time in 1947, losing 28-21 to the Chicago Cardinals at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Van Buren, Pete Pihos, and Bosh Pritchard all played in that losing effort.

  The following January, in a blinding snowstorm with home-field advantage, the Eagles won their first NFL Championship against the Chicago Cardinals 7-0. The only score came in the fourth quarter when Van Buren ran for a five-yard touchdown. The severe weather kept most fans away from the stadium.

  In 1949, the Eagles won the championship again, 14-0, for a second consecutive shutout in the title game. Van Buren rushed for 196 yards on 31 carries. That same draft year, Chuck Bednarik was selected first overall. An All-American linebacker out of the University of Pennsylvania, Bednarik would become one of the most celebrated players in franchise history. The dynasty's end came quickly: the 1950 season opener against the Cleveland Browns ended in a 35-10 rout, and the Eagles never fully recovered that year.

• 4. The Hit and the 1960 Championship

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  On the 20th of November 1960, at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, Chuck Bednarik launched a tackle against New York Giants running back Frank Gifford that came to be known simply as The Hit. Gifford had caught a short pass over the middle and was immediately struck by a clothesline tackle so severe that he fell unconscious to the field. He was removed on a stretcher, transported to a local hospital by ambulance, and remained there for ten days. The resulting deep concussion forced his retirement from football for eighteen months. On the NFL's centennial, the league ranked Bednarik's tackle the 44th greatest play in league history.

  The Eagles' path to that moment had begun when Buck Shaw was hired as head coach in 1958 and the team acquired quarterback Norm Van Brocklin in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams. The 1960 championship season was notable for another reason: former Eagles owner and co-founder Bert Bell, who had become NFL commissioner, attended an Eagles game on October 11 at Franklin Field. He refused the box seats reserved for him and bought his own tickets to sit with the fans. During the fourth quarter, sitting behind the end zone, he suffered a heart attack and died that day.

  On the 26th of December 1960, one of the coldest days in recorded Philadelphia history, the Eagles faced Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers for the NFL Championship. Shaw, Van Brocklin, and Bednarik were each playing their last season before retirement. The Eagles handed Lombardi the only championship game loss of his career. Fittingly, the game ended when Bednarik tackled Jim Taylor and refused to let him stand until the final seconds had ticked away. One observer later described the team as having "nothing but a championship."

• 5. The Vermeil Resurgence

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  Dick Vermeil was hired from UCLA to coach the Eagles, who had managed only one winning season from 1962 to 1975. His first season ended with the same 4-10 record as the year before. The first sign of something different came in 1977, when the Eagles obtained quarterback Ron Jaworski in a trade from the Los Angeles Rams, giving up tight end Charle Young in exchange. A hard-hitting defense began earning a reputation under defensive coordinator Marion Campbell.

  In 1978, with 20 seconds left in a game against the Giants, Herman Edwards returned a fumble by quarterback Joe Pisarcik for a touchdown, giving the Eagles a 19-17 victory. The moment became known as the Miracle at the Meadowlands. The Eagles edged into the playoffs with a 9-7 record that season, and running back Wilbert Montgomery became the first Eagle since Steve Van Buren to exceed 1,000 yards in a season.

  The Eagles tied for first place with an 11-5 record in 1979, as Montgomery set a team rushing record with 1,512 yards. The 1980 season culminated in an NFC Championship Game victory over the Dallas Cowboys at Veterans Stadium, with Montgomery's long cutback touchdown run in the first half standing as one of the most remembered plays in franchise history.

  Super Bowl XV in New Orleans ended in a 27-10 loss to the Oakland Raiders. Quarterback Jaworski's first pass of the game was intercepted by Rod Martin, setting up an Oakland touchdown. Journeyman quarterback Jim Plunkett won the game's MVP award. Vermeil cited burnout when he resigned after the 1982 season.

• 6. The Ryan Defense and Its Aftermath

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  Buddy Ryan arrived as head coach in 1986, and the Eagles quickly became known for defensive ferocity. The Gang Green defense, featuring Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, Seth Joyner, Wes Hopkins, Mike Golic, Byron Evans, Eric Allen, Andre Waters, and Mark McMillian, is commonly acknowledged as one of the greatest defensive units in league history. Ryan released aging veterans and gave Randall Cunningham the starting quarterback role.

  On the 12th of November 1990, during a Monday Night Football game at Veterans Stadium, the Eagles defeated the Washington Redskins 28-14. The defense scored three of the team's four touchdowns. The game became known as the Body Bag Game for the number and severity of injuries the Eagles inflicted on Washington. The Redskins were forced to use running back Brian Mitchell as their emergency quarterback.

  Ryan was fired on the 7th of January 1991. The following June, All Pro defensive tackle Jerome Brown was killed in an automobile accident. The team dedicated the 1992 season to bringing the championship home for Brown. With an 11-5 record that year, Kotite led the Eagles to a playoff win over the New Orleans Saints before losing to the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round. The offseason brought the loss of Reggie White, the team's all-time sacks leader, to free agency. Leonard Tose, who had purchased the team from Jerry Wolman in 1969 for $16.155 million, a record at the time for a professional sports franchise, had already sold the team in 1985 to Norman Braman and Ed Leibowitz for a reported $65 million, forced out by more than $25 million in gambling debts at Atlantic City casinos.

• 7. The McNabb Era

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  Andy Reid arrived from the Green Bay Packers, where he had served as quarterback coach, and his first notable act was drafting Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb with the second overall pick in the 1999 draft. Many Eagles fans had traveled to Madison Square Garden for the draft and booed the selection, preferring the University of Texas running back Ricky Williams, who had been named the 1998 AP College Player of the Year.

  The 2000 regular season opener in Dallas became known in NFL lore as the Pickle Juice Game. Kickoff temperature at Texas Stadium was 109 degrees Fahrenheit and soared to nearly 120, making it the hottest game in league history. An Eagles trainer had prepared the players to drink the juice from jars of dill pickles to retain body moisture and fight off cramps. The Eagles won 41-14 while multiple Cowboys players were sidelined by the heat.

  McNabb led the Eagles to four consecutive NFC Championship Game appearances starting in 2001. In the 2003 playoffs, the Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 20-17 in overtime, a game where a late completion from McNabb to Freddie Mitchell on a 4th-and-26 play became one of the most celebrated moments of the era.

  The Eagles acquired wide receiver Terrell Owens in a three-way deal with the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers on the 16th of March 2004. In the 2004 season, McNabb became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 30 or more touchdown passes with fewer than 10 interceptions in a single regular season, finishing with 31 touchdowns and only 8 interceptions. The Eagles reached Super Bowl XXXIX against the New England Patriots. Although the score was tied 14-14 going into the fourth quarter, the Patriots outscored Philadelphia by ten straight points and won 24-21. A crucial interception with 46 seconds remaining sealed the loss.

• 8. The Philly Special and Beyond

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  Under Doug Pederson, hired on the 18th of January 2016, the Eagles traded multiple picks to the Cleveland Browns to secure the second overall pick and selected North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz. The 2017 season saw the team go 13-3, including a nine-game winning streak, before Wentz tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a Week 14 game against the Los Angeles Rams. Nick Foles, re-signed that offseason, finished the season.

  In Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis, facing Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in a rematch of their 2005 meeting, the Eagles faced 4th and goal on the 1-yard line with 38 seconds left in the second quarter. Tight end Trey Burton threw the ball to Foles, who caught it in the end zone, making him the first quarterback ever to catch a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl. The play became known as the Philly Special. The Eagles won 41-33, their first Super Bowl Vince Lombardi Trophy and their first championship since 1960, ending what had been a 57-year drought. Foles won the game's MVP, going 28 for 43 with 373 passing yards. The combined 1,151 yards of total offense by both teams set the record for most yardage in any single NFL game, regular season or postseason.

  Jeffrey Lurie, who bought the Eagles on the 6th of May 1994, for $185 million, has overseen the franchise's transformation from a struggling outfit to a team valued at $8.3 billion. In December 2024, the Eagles sold an 8% ownership stake to outside investors at that valuation, among the first teams in the league to do so. Wide receiver DeVonta Smith, selected 10th overall in the 2021 draft out of the University of Alabama, was the first Heisman Trophy winner the Eagles had drafted in over fifty years.