For most Philadelphians, the football season unofficially ended on December 19th when Terrell Owens limped off the field at the Linc. In a fit of why-does-this-always-happen-to-us self-pity, we cancelled our flights to Jacksonville, put the caps on our jars of face paint, and stored our Super Bowl dreams away for another year.

We still love our team. We'll still show up at the Linc in droves on Sunday morning, grills and six packs in hand. We'll still scream at the top of our lungs all afternoon, until we have nothing more to give. Deep down in the depths of our Eagle hearts, we still believe that our team, our Birds, are capable of going to the Super Bowl. But we're scared, because for the first time this season, we realize that we are not invincible. We realize that the Eagles, now without the man around whom the entire offense was modeled, will have to find a new way to win.

We realize that the front office recognized the Eagles' fatal flaw last season and addressed it by signing one of the league's top receivers.

This Sunday, we will find out if the Eagles can win without him.

It's an interesting matchup in part because one cannot possibly know what to expect from the Owens-less Eagles. This group of starters has not played a single game together sans T.O. all year. This is a team that relied on its overpowering offense to win high scoring games all year. The other team scored 31? No problem - we scored 41. Without T.O., their entire gameplan must change, because those high scoring games won't be so winable anymore.

Terrell Owens' numbers speak for themselves, but there is much more to the story. Having TO on the field created openings for other guys like Westbrook, Lewis, Pinkston, and Mitchell. Without him, Westbrook will find himself in double coverage, leaving the Birds few other consistent offensive options.

Several things must happen for the Eagles to come out on top on Sunday. Donovan McNabb must run the ball. If the Vikings defense surrounds Westbrook as expected, a lane will open for McNabb, which he must take advantage of. The Eagles D must create turnovers. Whichever team wins the turnover battle will win the game. Randy Moss must be contained. I'm looking at you, Brian Dawkins. The Eagles must come out, score early, and take momentum away from a team coming off of their most emotional win of the year.

And so, it is with much trepidation that Eagles fans head into the weekend. On the downside, the Eagles are headed into the playoffs with an injured Terrell Owens, a depleted defense, a possible rustiness after almost a month of vacation time, and an injury report that looks a little something like this:

hugh douglas - DE
derrick burgess - DE
hollis thomas - DT
nate wayne - LB
lito sheppard - CB
chad lewis - TE
quintin mikell - S
mark simeneau - LB
michael lewis - SS
reno mahe - RB
jermane mayberry - G/T
todd pinkston - WR


On the bright side, they are the Eagles, and they are on a mission. They have one of the league's top quarterbacks and something to prove.

Let's just hope that's enough.