Carson Wentz had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad game against the Seattle Seahawks. Even the most ardent believers must have had their faith in the franchise quarterback shaken.

Four seasons into his professional football career, the potential of Wentz is rapidly peeling away and the reality is coming into form. In the aftermath of a critical game in which Wentz was responsible for four turnovers, it will be fashionable to proclaim Carson a deeply flawed quarterback who will never be able to recapture the magic of the 2017 campaign. It’s not difficult to imagine the hot take artists and sober analysts alike concluding that Wentz has fallen behind his division rival and draft class peer Dak Prescott. The same professional loudmouths who doubted the Eagles’ unexpected rise in 2017 and lamented their perceived lack of humility will revel in this reversal of fortune for the team and its embattled signal caller.

And they will have a point.

The Eagles stink, and Carson Wentz is a major driver of their fall from the NFL’s elite to the barely mediocre. Sure, the offensive line is banged up. Wentz has historically not played well when Lane Johnson has been out of the lineup, and it’s been impossible to count on the security blanket Jason Peters provides given his extended absences over the past few seasons. Andre Dillard proved himself utterly unable to play right tackle, and he was benched in the second half. Brandon Brooks, who has been an absolute force this year at right guard, departed Sunday’s game in the first quarter with an undisclosed illness that Jeff McLane later reported was a recurrence of the debilitating anxiety that has affected Brooks in the past.

And no doubt, the Eagles are missing numerous weapons. The loss of DeSean Jackson continues to hamper the offense, while Alshon Jeffrey has looked like a shell of himself when he has been able to play. The recently injured Nelson Agholor, meanwhile, continues to confound. Even when he’s the only known commodity lining up as a receiver, it’s difficult to fight the feeling that the Eagles would have been better served more aggressively seeking a trade partner for their former 1st round pick this offseason. JJ Arcega-Whiteside, who was a dominant wideout at Stanford just last year, is either criminally underutilized or has completely failed in his transition to the NFL. Mack Hollins allegedly started today and still couldn’t find his way on the stat sheet. Meanwhile, Greg Ward, whom Hollins beat out for a roster spot out of training camp on the strength of the latter’s special teams play, snagged 6 catches for 40 yards.

Dallas Goedert, who coughed up the football during a pivotal 4th quarter drive when it seemed the Eagles were finding some momentum, has struggled to match the play of his counterpart, Zach Ertz. Jordan Howard’s inability to play the past two weeks has hampered the Eagles’ rushing attack, although Miles Sanders has acquitted himself well in Howard’s absence.

Yet, all roads lead back to Carson Wentz. Heavy is the head that wears the hundred million dollar crown. If you want to get paid like Russell Wilson, it’s reasonable for the fan base to expect a level of play similar to Wilson.

There was one quarterback on the field whose talent elevated the level of play of the members of his offensive unit, whose deep balls seemed unaffected by the wind and whose ability to extend plays bailed out his average offensive line, tested the eye discipline of the defense, and allowed his receivers more time to get open.

And there was another quarterback whose shoddy mechanics prevented his team from moving the sticks, whose subpar pocket awareness led to a bad fumble, and whose poor decision making exacerbated by desperation produced an ill-advised throw in the direction of Jordan Matthews that served as the game’s final turnover.

Russell Wilson played exceptional football despite his best weapon, Tyler Lockett, having a quiet day. No matter. Wilson won throwing to a coterie of receivers that included David Moore, a former seventh round pick who used his height to hall in a 31-yard pass that the Eagles’ Arcega-Whiteside would be able to do if given the chance. Other recipients of Wilson passes included former undrafted free agent Malik Turner, who ran past the Eagles’ secondary on a well-designed trick play and hauled in a 33-yard touchdown pass, and former seventh round selection Chris Carson.

Not every organization has the luxury of staffing its offense with elite weapons at the skill positions. This is especially the case for those teams that have committed to a franchise quarterback who has aged out of his rookie contract. In order for these organizations to remain competitive and in contention for the Super Bowl, they must rely on their quarterback to deliver. He must make bad players seem like average players, and average players look like great players. He employs his athleticism and quick decision making to mask the deficiencies of his teammates. He makes accurate throws in tight windows, and sometimes must throw his receivers open when they fail at the task themselves.

It’s an unfair burden, but that is the state of affairs in the NFL today. Carson Wentz cannot control the health of his wide receivers, but he can control his throwing mechanics, which somehow have gotten worse during his tenure with the Eagles. For a quarterback playing in the offense of a head coach who descended from the West Coast coaching tree, Wentz’s footwork while navigating the pocket is inexcusable. Bill Walsh, whose pioneering offense was predicated on his quarterbacks making precise steps that were coordinated with their reads, would not have tolerated this level of play from Jeff Kemp, let alone Joe Montana.

Wentz also stubbornly refuses to avail himself of the safety valves built into plays. In the last two weeks alone, Wentz has failed to get the ball to Miles Sanders in the flat, instead opting for the home run play that never materialized. The Eagles drafted Sanders in the second round in part because he’s difficult to tackle in space. Wentz needs to trust his rookie running back and, by extension, his offense, as much as he believes in his arm.

Nevertheless, there is still hope. The Eagles are 5-6, but very much in the thick of the race for the NFC East. Four of the Eagles’ remaining five games will be played against the Dolphins, Redskins, and the Giants, whom they play twice. In the penultimate game of the regular season, Philadelphia will host the Cowboys, whose final slate includes games against the playoff contending Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams. The path to the top of the NFC East is clear, and the only team standing in the way of the Eagles punching a ticket to the postseason is a Cowboys team that has won more Super Bowls in August than any team in NFL history.

In today’s hyper-reactive world, it requires a special level of discipline to avoid becoming entrapped in the prison of the present. Social media has simultaneously made us more connected to real-time events and more disconnected from reality. Speculation and context-free analysis rules the day. Assessments are often formed to draw heat, and clicks, instead of light.

If you can divorce yourself from this mindset and take a step back, you’ll find that the truths we formulate on the basis of one game often wash away with the results of the next contest. The art of crafting a sports take is a bit like elaborately constructing a sand castle along the water’s edge at low tide. It’s ultimately a fool’s errand.

Last year, the Cowboys were left for dead at 3-5. Troy Aikman called for a “complete overhaul” of the organization. Jason Garrett was a dead man walking and Dak Prescott was possibly not the answer at quarterback he seemed to be. And then, the offensive line got healthy, Prescott found a rhythm with Amari Cooper, and the Cowboys rolled to the division crown in 2018. After trouncing two of the worst teams in football to start 2019, the national media proclaimed new Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore the next great offensive wunderkind and analysts climbed over themselves to demand Jerry Jones make Prescott the richest quarterback in the NFL.

The Eagles enjoyed a similar renaissance last year, sneaking into the playoffs in the final week of the season and knocking off the Bears on the road before nearly shocking the Saints in the Superdome. Granted, it was Nick Foles, not Carson Wentz, who led the drive to the postseason last year.

It is Foles, and the Super Bowl-winning legacy that he has left behind in Philadelphia, that may be the biggest hurdle Wentz will need to clear in order to realize his full potential. It’s not easy chasing ghosts, much less catching them, and as long as Wentz is unable to match the postseason success of his erstwhile understudy there will always be anonymous teammates willing to whisper in the ears of reporters and feed the narrative that the Eagles made the wrong choice letting Foles walk and retaining Wentz.

Ultimately, Carson Wentz is the author of his own story. The ball quite literally is in his hands, and only a renewed focus on the fundamentals of the position will allow the Eagles to find their way back to January football.

He may not be the quarterback we want right now, but Carson Wentz is what we have in Philadelphia for the foreseeable future. On Sunday in Miami, the next chapter of the Eagles season will be written. No matter who is suited up for the Eagles, it will be Carson Wentz holding the pen. The Eagles need a franchise quarterback to stabilize the team and save the season. It’s time for the guy they paid to do the job to show up and start playing like the quarterback he marketed himself to be.