While fielding questions at his locker following the team's 38-24 loss, wide receiver Jordan Matthews was asked about Sam Bradford's importance to this organization moving forward.

With the team looking to improve on its less than stellar 2015 performance, is Bradford the quarterback it can build around? Does he need to be back in 2016 if the Eagles wants to progress?

Matthews' response was simple, yet firm.

"Definitely," he said. "Definitely."

With the team now officially out of the playoff run, attention has already shifted to Bradford's future in Philadelphia. The signal-caller has one more guaranteed game remaining as an Eagle before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Bradford has admitted that he hasn't spoken with the organization yet and there's a lot to figure out, but he wants to be in Philadelphia for the long haul. Hearing Matthews' remarks only further proved the chemistry he and the rest of the offense have formed this season. They all want that growing process to continue.

"For Jordan to say something like that, it means a lot to me," Bradford said. "Obviously, he's a guy that gives it his all every week for us, plays extremely hard, has made a lot of plays for us. You always appreciate when your teammates say things like that about you. As far as the future, I would like to be back here, but I mean that's not my choice.

"I've enjoyed my time here. I've enjoyed being in Philadelphia. I think throughout my career I've learned that learning new offenses every year, it's just hard to continue to improve. You're always learning, learning new verbiage, learning new plays, learning new systems. I would really like to stay in the same one and have the opportunity to play the second year in it."

The quarterback's improvements from the start of this season to now are very apparent, and it's clear his numbers speak for themselves.

On Saturday night alone, Bradford went 37-of-56 for 380 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 91.4 passer rating. His top targets, Matthews and tight end Zach Ertz, both had 100-yard receiving games. It was Matthews' second in two weeks.

Even more intriguing though, is the thought of what Bradford's numbers could have been without the drops, without turnovers and with more consistency from all pieces of the offense. Now sitting at 6-9, he and the team aren't trying to make excuses. They know they made mistakes, costly ones. Unfortunately, time is up. They no longer have the chance to fix them.

"We continue to shoot ourselves in the foot," Bradford said. "The same things we were doing in Week 1 or Week 2, we're continuing to do and good football teams don't make the mistakes that we make on a weekly basis."

Watching Washington celebrate an NFC East division title was not the outcome Philadelphia was hoping for Saturday night. And for Bradford specifically, it's clear that he certainly hopes this isn't the last time he takes the field at Lincoln Financial Field as an Eagle.