When caught in a trap, there are only two options. Since surrender never is very popular, particularly in the sport they present, then the Eagles might as well take the one suggested now by Donovan McNabb. They might as well fight their way out on the only terms they all have left, and never mind the possibility of any trails of blood, criticism or hundred-dollar bills.

The trap the Birds find themselves in this morning, after the NFL championship trophy was shipped to somewhere other than Philadelphia for the 48th consecutive winter, is this: They have to fight on now with McNabb, and it is going to cost them. They have to do that because it is too late for them to try anything else.