There’s no doubt Eagles fans are seething. Entering the year with playoff dreams, the Eagles find themselves at 5-5-1 with only five games left to play in the regular season. Those playoff hopes have been all but squashed, and now there’s more reason for Eagles fans to foam at the mouth as a self-made quarterback controversy has started in the City of Brotherly Love.

In case you live under a rock and didn’t witness what happened on Sunday here it is in a nutshell. Donovan McNabb had a terrible first half, going 8 for 18, 59 yards, and 2 interceptions. He also had a third turnover, fumbling the ball in the first quarter. As a result, he started the second half on the bench in favor of backup quarterback Kevin Kolb. Kolb didn’t do much better, going 10 for 23, 73 yards, and 2 interceptions.

Upon the completion of the game, the media jumped all over McNabb’s benching, and whether it was right or wrong, it was assumed McNabb’s benching meant the end of his reign as the Eagles starting quarterback. That was until yesterday when in a press conference, Andy Reid announced that McNabb will be the starter on Thanksgiving night against the Cardinals.

This situation has sparked debates among Eagles fans on who the starting quarterback should be, and added another layer of distraction to an already disappointing Eagles team. Sure, the Eagles have underachieved, but you can thank Andy Reid for the current mess in South Philadelphia.

Here’s why:

McNabb should have never been pulled. Given his first half performance, I could see the reasoning why Reid would consider it, but McNabb should have been allowed to finish the game. The score was only 10-7 at halftime. Even though the Eagles were unable to get anything going offensively, they were only down by a field goal. With McNabb out of the game they were outscored 26-0. If you’ve watched any Eagles game this season you’ll know the Eagles (for the most part) have started slow, but looked like a better team in the second half (over prior five games they’ve scored 76 second-half points). If the Eagles wanted to win this game, McNabb should have been in the game.

Aside from the fact it was a close game, Reid caused a riff in his clubhouse. It’s not common for a franchise quarterback in the middle of a game. Like it or not, he has an ego and it was obvious he was embarrassed sitting on the sidelines for the second half. He’s struggling lately, but if you’re looking to get him back on track, you don’t want to distract him. He spent the entire week leading up to the Ravens game answering questions why he didn’t know a regular season game could end in a tie. Now he’s forced to answer questions why he was benched. The only way to get McNabb on track is to get his head right and avoid distractions.

On the other side of the ball, how was this fair to Kolb? He’s had limited work with the first team offense the entire season, and he was thrown into a game and expected to produce. It was a recipe for failure. If Reid decided that a quarterback change was needed, he needed to make that call after the game and allowed Kolb practice time with the first team offense. They need time to get comfortable with each other. Again, not well though out by Reid.

Who’s the problem here? Not McNabb or Kolb but Reid. First, what has happened to the play calling? Over the past two games the Eagles have abandoned the run, to the point where it’s obvious they has no faith in it. While Brian Westbrook isn’t 100%, he’s still regarded as one of the best running backs in the NFL. You can’t expect to have an effective passing game when you’re not establishing any type of run offense. Pop Warner coaches know this. As the coach, Reid needs to help his quarterbacks become successful, and do whatever is necessary to get the run game going.

Also, Reid had to realize if he was benching his franchise quarterback that McNabb was done. If he wanted to bench McNabb, the only option was to continue with Kolb for the remainder of the season. Unfortunately Reid made a telling comment in yesterday’s press conference that he had no intention of sticking with Kolb, but more to punish McNabb.

“Sometimes you have to step back to step forward in a positive way, and Donovan will do that,” Reid said. “Donovan is going out to play, man; that’s what he’s doing. Sometimes it’s good to step back and look at things from a little different angle. I expect him to go out and play his heart out.”

This again is a poorly thought out idea by Reid (do you see a pattern here?).

Unfortunately I don’t think this team will turn it around anytime soon. Should McNabb turn the ball over on Thursday, look for the home crown to start the Kolb chants, which could make things real ugly.

To those attending Thursday’s game, before crucifying McNabb, remember one thing. While he has had his struggles as of late, the problem here isn’t him, it’s Andy Reid.