While many Eagles fans were disappointed with the way their beloved Birds lost to the New Orleans Saints in the wild card round of the 2013 playoffs, hope for the future is paramount in the city of brotherly love. First-year Head Coach Chip Kelly beat the odds in his first season as a pro skipper, and delivered an NFC East division title in the process.

A team that boasted the league’s leading rusher, 9th ranked passing offense, and 10th best rush defense in the NFL has much to be proud of despite an early exit from the playoffs. LeSean McCoy decimated opponents across the 16 game schedule, and accrued over 2,000 yards from scrimmage, setting franchise records for rushing and total yards in the process. Nick Foles ascended into the ranks of the NFL’s starting quarterbacks boasting a touchdown to interception ratio of 27:2, first in the league.

After such a surprisingly successful campaign offensively, the future is effervescent in its bright sheen for Philadelphia. However, not all is positive in South Philly, as there are many holes to be filled on both sides of the ball if the Eagles hope to switch the “division” designation of their championship to “Super Bowl”.

Giving up a league-worst 289.8 yards per game, the Eagles’ secondary finished a horrendous campaign with a somewhat-strong outing: giving up just 250 yards to New Orleans’ Drew Brees. Billy Davis’ defense played Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde all season long, and none who followed the team expected much from such a wishy-washy group. Philadelphia must improve defensively via the draft and/or free agency, or risk remaining in the realm of mediocrity that is the league’s current state of parity.

Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher were the team’s starting corners this year, and an argument could be made that neither belongs in coverage against the league’s elite wide receivers.

At best, Williams is a strong second option at corner, and while Fletcher showed flashes of brilliance, he was for the most part one of the biggest weaknesses on th entire team.

Despite nickel-corner Brandon Boykin ‘s superb contributions in the slot, where he tied for the second in the league with six interceptions, Philadelphia must improve its defensive secondary this off-season.

While cornerback was certainly a weak-point of Billy Davis’ 3-4 defense, one cannot ignore the atrocious play of the platoon of safeties: Nate Allen, Patrick Chung, Kurt Coleman, and rookie Earl Wolff.

While Wolff missed time with injury and will certainly be given more time to improve, uncertainties surround this slew of safeties regarding their spot as long-term fits as the last resorts for the Eagles’ defense.

Sure, Chung missed time due to injury as well, and Allen has been seldom healthy in his time in the league, but none of these players have the type of show-stopping talent it takes to make it as one of the league’s elite.

Sure, the secondary is certainly the focal-point for immediate improvement during the upcoming off-season, but attention must be paid to a front-seven with more holes than a pasta-strainer. Former LSU Tiger and third rounder Bennie Logan filled in at nose tackle, but played out of his comfort zone during his rookie campaign.

Trent Cole shined down the stretch and improved markedly in coverage over the course of the season, but his true talent lies as an edge-rusher, not as a coverage linebacker. Add his lack of attributes to fit in Davis’ scheme to his cap hit of $6.6 million in 2014, and just 8 total sacks on the year; At 31 years of age, Cole will likely have to restructure his deal, or update his resume in the coming months

So what do we make of all this? It is clear that the Eagles’ secondary is the primary factor keeping the Birds’ from soaring, but may not be the only detriment to Chip Kelly’s case for a Super Bowl Championship.

Getting pressure in the backfield is the best way to dominate defensively, and while sacks are far from the only statistic in this realm, they are the most telling. Philadelphia ranked 20th in the league with just 37 quarterback-drops on the season, 27 behind league-leading Carolina. This shows a direct correlation between lack of passing defensive efficiency, and the Eagles’ horrid secondary.

Thus, look for Philadelphia to add another edge-rusher in the off-season in addition to help off of the line of scrimmage. Yes, 10-6 is certainly a sight for sore eyes in Philadelphia, but Eagles have quite a ways to go towards reaching their ultimate goal: bringing the first Super Bowl trophy to Philadelphia.