The Philadelphia Eagles will be watching the NFL playoffs from their couches this season - a position head coach Chip Kelly and quarterback Nick Foles likely never expected to be in.
But after Foles was injured in a game against the Houston Texans, Mark Sanchez was forced to take the offensive reins, and after a quick start, choked away the remainder of the season down the stretch.
Now, Kelly and the team are left with nothing but questions as they head into an offseason of frustrated uncertainty at a number of places on the roster, most notably at the game's most important position.
"I don't think you can look back on it and say this clouds this and this doesn't cloud, because that's the reality of it: He got hurt," Kelly said of his evaluation of Foles, per Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "We've got to make decisions moving forward in terms of what we're going to do. ...It doesn't matter if I [got enough of a look.] The reality is the reality. So I can't say, 'Hey, let's not make a decision because I need to see him play 16 more games', and certain times we're going to have to make decisions. We're going to make it based on what we have. We don't have any control over the injury."
Thus far, under Kelly's tenure, Foles has started 18 games - 8 this season before the injury. His record is a fairly stellar 14-4 with Kelly, 15-9 as a starting NFL quarterback overall.
He had 2,163 yards and 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in seven-plus games this season, a year after setting the league record for TD/Interception ratio by throwing 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
Foles - who Kelly referred to as "the ultimate teammate" - has overseen one of the most prodigious offenses in the NFL the past two seasons, but he's also been injured and showed a glaring lack of consistency this year.
Still, Kelly said a season postmortem was necessary to truly evaluate the young signal-caller.
"We'll sit down and thoroughly evaluate everything," Kelly said. "It's no different than any other position. Tell us what we have available right now, we'll talk a look at it, let's detail it, let's go through the film again, let's put our heads together, let's get everyone's opinion on it and make valid decisions."
