I woke up today, showered, and brushed my teeth as I stared into the mirror and contemplated my hollow existence. Typical Monday stuff. But something about this morning felt different. My standard feelings of impending doom, self-loathing, and general self-disgust had been replaced with something that felt like, I don’t know, optimism, maybe? Initially, I wasn’t sure what was up, but then it hit me. I think, and I’m not totally sure here, but I think we’ve finally exited the vast darkness of endless meaningless hours wasted by the depressing futility of the local sports landscape over the past five years. The signs of better days had been accumulating for months now, but yesterday made it clear. The good times are here, and you know what? After what we’ve had to withstand in this city for so long, I’m going to enjoy it. I’m completely buying in. So should you.

The Eagles dismantled the Cardinals yesterday. The Giants’ season is over. The Cowboys blew a 15-point lead at home to Green Bay in excruciating fashion. Everything, and I mean everything, is coming up Eagles right now. Two weeks in a row they’ve won while the rest of the division went win-less. That’s hot.

For years, the expected outcome of yesterday would go something like this: The Eagles would lose a completely winnable game in unthinkable, “What the fuck did I just watch?!” fashion. Some bullshit Giants receiver would have caught a ball using his facemask to spring their season back to life. And the Cowboys would have hung on, just to twist the knife a bit deeper. Not this time.

I know what you’re thinking: “You’re going to jinx it!” Look, I fully understand both the concern and mentality. Years of lean times, bitter disappointment, and general Philly sports ineptitude has brought us to this place of skepticism and timidity, but stop it and repeat after me: The Eagles are GOOD. You can say it. It’s okay, I promise. We are good. They are not. They can all eat shit.

Still, I wonder why more are not reveling in this current reality. Our psychology as fans has to change. Are the Eagles going to win the Super Bowl this season? I don’t know, probably not. Are they going to win the NFC East and make things weird in January? They should. It’s perfectly fine to puff out our chests and have some confidence that our eyes aren’t betraying us. Yet everybody seems so reserved, so worried, so unsure. For instance, take last week leading up this Arizona game. There was no way, at any point, the Cardinals were winning that game yesterday. The 34-7 thrashing shouldn’t have come as a surprise. A team featuring an over-the-hill statue of a quarterback and a bad offensive line heading east was never anything to be worried about. It baffles me how so many people hemmed and hawed simply because it is the Eagles and they are predisposed to believing we’re not allowed to have nice things. Have some confidence. No more hedging. No more “if” statements and qualifiers.

The offense, which can beat teams in a variety of ways, averages almost 400 yards per game. The defense is formidable and it is deep. The quarterback is athletic, continues to show steady improvement, and he’s cash on third down. Even yesterday’s end zone celebrations were A+ efforts. They have clearly been the best team in the NFC East so far this season and there’s no reason to believe this will change as they continue to get key players back from injury.

The best part? This “we’re good” realization shouldn’t be limited to just the Eagles. I’ve long been the last person to piss positive about anything related to this sports landscape, but there’s a lot to like here. The Sixers are young, fun, and they’re coming. The Flyers have highly regarded young pieces thought to have the team headed in the right direction. The Phillies’ young offense was so good in the second half that they played .500 baseball with below average pitching that can be addressed over the next two offseasons with their vast financial resources and positional player surplus. They’re going to be fun in 2018, and they’re going to be a force in 2019. (WRITER’S NOTE: The above applies ONLY if they don’t hire Ruben Amaro Jr. to manage the team, which is, apparently, now a thing. How is this a thing?) It’s time to buy-in and believe it’s our time, that it’s our turn. Welcome to the moment.