'He's Our Starter': Eagles Stand By Wentz Amid Historic Struggles

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The 2020 NFL season is six weeks from over, and the Philadelphia Eagles find themselves facing some very tough questions they certainly didn't anticipate asking back before Week 1. Namely: is Carson Wentz still the future of the organization?

The once and former MVP candidate has seemed unsteady at best for much of the 2020 COVID campaign, and the Eagles have paid the price. Playing in what thus far has been the weakest division in recent NFL memory, the Birds have struggled to a 3-6-1 record.

Somehow, they're in first place, but opportunities to run away with it have been quite literally thrown away. And calls have come from fans and analysts around the league to bench Wentz.

"Carson Wentz is garbage, he's playing so bad," former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Rex Ryan said, during an ESPN segment in which commentators predicted either the Giants or the Cowboys would take the division.

Ten games into the season, Wentz leads all quarterbacks in the NFL in interceptions with 14, fumbles with 10, and sacks with 40. He'd also lost by far the most yardage on those sacks, a whopping 263 yards. No quarterback has ever had those numbers 10 games into a season, other than David Carr in 2002, according to Pro Football Reference.

Thus far, head coach Doug Pederson has declined to elaborate on Wentz's struggles, and it's unclear if he will actually be benched.

"I hesitate to comment on how he feels or what he is going through,” Pederson said after Sunday's game, according to NBC Philadelphia.

Things got especially ugly during this past Sunday's loss to the Cleveland Browns, during which Wentz had a historically bad game. According to Pro Football Reference, Wentz is only one of two quarterbacks ever to have a game with two or more interceptions, five or more sacks, a fumble, a pick-six, and a safety.

The only other? Jay Fiedler, all the way back in 2003.

During a postgame press conference on Sunday, Pederson reiterated his faith in Wentz.

"He's our starter," Pederson said, before adding, "Everyone needs to play better...quarterback needs to play better...there's enough to go around, none of its excusable."

Wentz's tenure with the Eagles has been rocky from the beginning. Even when he's thrived and played to his full potential, he's been plagued by injuries, which never seemed to be far away. Three years in a row, Wentz went down with injury before or during the postseason, only to be replaced by Nick Foles and then, in 2019-20's season of absurd injuries, a number of other backups.

But the Eagles doubled down on their commitment to Wentz just about 18 months ago. They inked him to a four-year contract extension worth up to $218 million, locking him up as the franchise quarterback through 2024.

The Eagles are back in action for Monday Night Football next week, Nov. 30, against the Seattle Seahawks at Lincoln Financial Field.