In two weeks, the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers will be playing in Super Bowl 50. In two weeks, the whole world’s focus will be converging on Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. In two weeks, Lane Johnson and the rest of his Eagles’ teammates will be watching Super Bowl 50 at home – light years displaced from the unbridled hope and vision they had back in August.



It was a trying, frustrating season for Johnson and the Eagles. Chip Kelly got fired. The front office underwent another overhaul after a 7-9 finish and new coach Doug Pederson will try to piece together a fragmented team that never really knew itself or had an identity in 2015.

All that Johnson, the Eagles’ hulking 6-foot-6, 310-pound right offensive tackle, has left is to reflect on what was learned and what mistakes can be avoided in the future.

“[The Dallas game was] probably the worst the Eagles have ever played in recent history. That was shocking. The plays were designed well. It was just one player missing an assignment on every play. We all looked at ourselves in the mirror. There wasn’t any finger-pointing at each other then – not that early.”

“Going into the season, we were really optimistic, especially after the preseason we had. We expected big things and had a lot of confidence going,” said Johnson, the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft and Kelly’s first selection as an NFL coach. “After the first game (a 26-24 loss at Atlanta), as bad as we played, it was a reality check and things went south from there. We all had bought into Chip’s system and there was a bunch of big changes. We were all excited to see what could happen with all of the new guys.

“Every group each week confided with our position groups. You’re an offensive lineman, how can you not be excited about getting someone like DeMarco (Murray) and Ryan Mathews. We were anxious to get started.

"After Atlanta, we knew turnovers and penalties killed us. It wasn’t the way we wanted to start. Then we faced Dallas and we thought we would get it right against them. The mentality of this team was to get revenge from the previous year when they made the playoffs. We got tired of losing to Dallas at home. We wanted to make a big statement against them – and that was one of the biggest disappointments all year.

“It’s probably the worst the Eagles have ever played in recent history. That was shocking. The plays were designed well. It was just one player missing an assignment on every play. We all looked at ourselves in the mirror. There wasn’t any finger-pointing at each other then – not that early.”