I'm not talking about the playoffs. And I'm not talking about next year. I'm not talking about "finding out about what you have on the roster," either, because I think we all have a pretty good idea of what is here.

The Eagles have to go out and show they have some pride in the face of 4-7 on Thursday night in Seattle. Are they going to tank it the rest of the way? Are the young players here going to step up and take control of a locker room that is clearly lacking leadership? Are there enough players here who want to be Eagles for the long term to take some sort of ownership of this team?

As for the coaching staff, well, it is what it is. Coaches at this level process wins and losses with remarkable efficiency. The game plan, I guarantee you, is already in place. The Eagles have light practices today and Tuesday and then a walk-through on Wednesday before the long flight to Seattle. I'm very interested to see what kind of intensity this team brings to the table against the Seahawks.

Andy Reid? He's keeping his nose to the grindstone. He is in the front line of this mess of a season and he is accepting all of the criticism. He's taking it like a man's man, a leader. I know what the critics are saying and he does, too. The Eagles are 4-7. This football team deserves the criticism. It's been a awful year, the most disappointing I have ever been around for a team that had such high hopes entering training camp.

I know there are a lot of things wrong with the team in every phase of the operation. Now is not the time to list them, but I promise to discuss in the weeks and months ahead. The locker room needs to be cleansed of the mentality it has had throughout the season. The coaching staff needs to coach better. Everyone needs to be more on the same page and accept a hard, cold fact: This is not a good football team. This is a 4-7 team that served as roadkill for a superior New England team on Sunday afternoon and evening at Lincoln Financial Field.

In the big picture the Eagles need to examine how they approach the game, from talent evaluation to coaching to the daily goings-on of the players. Down the line, there are going to be substantial changes. How deep those changes go, I don't know. I'm not sure anybody knows. Reid is the one up there taking the slings and arrows as he has done for 13 seasons. He knows the deal better than any one of us.

Bottom line: The Eagles made a ton of mistakes in the way they structured this team, from top to bottom. The moves of the offseason -- overhauling the coaching staff, dominating free agency, the draft -- haven't paid off in wins and losses. You are judged by wins and losses in this business and the Eagles sit at the bottom of the NFC East with the Redskins.

Straight ahead, though, we will learn a little more about this underachieving team. Will players dog it with Seattle ahead? Can the Eagles regain some of the lost pride with a strong final five games to the season, even if that means nothing to you fans?

The season continues. The Eagles are going to get this thing right, but I just don't know when that will happen. I'm going to wait it out, fight it out, evaluate with you, every step of the way. Right now, I'm hurting. I'm embarrassed. I'm angry.

But I'm not going to quit and I hope you don't, either. There have been a lot of very good times in the last 13 seasons. In these tough times, we find out a lot about each other, about our ability to weather the storm and wait for the sun to shine again.