Everyone in and around the NFL stood dumbfounded as the Philadelphia Eagles blatantly did what no team is supposed to do: They tanked during their final contest against the Washington Football Team to improve their draft slot by three.

In doing so, the franchise ran the risk of losing its locker room and causing a further descent into mediocrity with the disgraceful tactic. 

Few things unite social media. This was one of those instances. No one quite understood at the time why head coach Doug Pederson swapped quarterback Jalen Hurts for backup Nate Sudfeld while trailing late in a one-score contest with plenty on the line for others involved—including the NFC East title.

Sudfeld threw an interception during his first series and finished 5-of-12 passing for 32 yards in Sunday's 20-14 loss, handing Washington the division. 

Publicly, Pederson explained he was "coaching to win." 

"Nate has been here for four years, and I felt he deserved an opportunity to get some snaps," Pederson told reporters after his team fell to 4-11-1.

Everyone knows better, though. 

Sudfeld wasn't set up for success. He wouldn't have received the majority of snaps during the practice week even if Pederson planned to play the fifth-year veteran a little, and he clearly wasn't the best option to win the game, especially when the organization was still supposedly evaluating its 2020 second-round draft pick, Hurts, who shined in previous weeks. 

Sure, Hurts might not have been efficient in this contest, but his playmaking ability extends beyond the passing game. The quarterback scored the team's only two touchdowns. He's a creator even when everything isn't clicking. 

Yet, somehow, Sudfeld gave the team a better chance to win? C'mon now. Those on the outside watching aren't stupid. Neither are the players on the sideline still trying to win the contest. 

Two weeks before the Eagles' latest "effort," center and veteran leader Jason Kelce addressed the media about why winning is always important: 

Two specific points seem extremely poignant after the fact. 

"You see a lot of losing teams sustain losses for numerous years when they have bad cultures where you don't try to win every week," Kelce stated. 

The lens through which everyone views professional football evolves daily. In today's NFL, more information is available at a person's fingertips than ever. The depth at which the game can be assessed and interpreted via quantitative measures is wonderful. 

But football is still played by individuals, not commodities. They're not just numbers. They react to situations. They have their own interpretations of what occurs on the field. Situations matter, a lot. 

As fun as it is to break down teams and what direction they should go from a macro perspective, it still comes down to the individuals on the field to execute. Performing at a high level at all times isn't easy to do when the belief spreads that an organization isn't committed to winning. 

"The moment the team feels like you as an organization aren't doing your job for me to go out there and win, all of a sudden you've shown who you are. You don't care about me or this team," Kelce continued. "You care about the future. ... That's not what the focus is here; that's not what the focus is within any winning organization."

The 33-year-old veteran thought he knew what the Eagles were about, but he was clearly wrong regarding his final point. 

Philadelphia sits on a tipping point. Plenty of roster changes are expected during the offseason. After all, the Eagles are a projected $74.1 million over next year's projected $175 million salary cap, per Spotrac. 

Certain influential veterans such as Jason Peters and Vinny Curry are free agents. The organization could move on from others like Kelce, Zach Ertz, Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson and Carson Wentz. 

But the problem won't just disappear. 

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLane, "many Eagles players and coaches were shocked and outraged" by Pederson's decision during the Washington contest. A pair of defensive players reportedly had to be held back from engaging their head coach. 

The Eagles endured enough drama in recent weeks with Wentz forced to the side and Hurts getting the offensive reins. ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that the relationship between Pederson and Philadelphia's previous franchise quarterback is "fractured beyond repair," and Wentz—who signed a four-year, $218 million extension in 2019 that runs through 2024—will likely ask for a trade this offseason. 

When pressed about the possibility, general manager Howie Roseman intimated the team doesn't necessarily want to trade the 2016 second overall draft pick. 

"When you have players like that, they're like fingers on your hands—you can't even imagine that they're not a part of you, that they're not here. That's how we feel about Carson," Roseman told reporters.

Fingers pointed toward Wentz during the Eagles' struggles. Maybe, Pederson is more to blame than originally thought. Hurts certainly wasn't happy with being benched Sunday—which is exactly what happened. 

McLane added that the rookie signal-caller, who appears to be the future of the franchise, was "distraught" and "couldn't understand why Pederson would make the switch."

The entire situation is a mess, and the team's brain trust has done nothing to make matters better. But the organization is picking sixth overall instead of ninth in April's draft. Yippee. 

OK, a flip response to the Eagles' improved draft slot probably isn't warranted, because there is merit when looking at the situation in a vacuum, as NBC Sports' Thor Nystrom detailed: 

While the increased valuation of assets is welcome, a callback to Mr. Frank Shirley from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is necessary (even though we're past the holiday season): "Sometimes things look good on paper, but lose their luster when you see how it affects real folks." 

Improved draft slotting only matters if a team can execute the picks correctly. Other franchises have accumulated a war chest of assets over the years, only to fail over and over again because of improper evaluations. In the grand scheme of things, selecting sixth or ninth could have no bearing on the success of the Eagles' next draft class. 

Yet, those few draft slots seemed valuable enough to alienate those within the locker room. 

This recent turn of events is amazing, considering where the franchise stood less than three years ago when the Eagles hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. But the setup was very different then. Multiple assistant coaches, including then-offensive coordinator Frank Reich, are no longer on the staff. 

The ability to win at the highest level can disappear quickly. A team that's experienced that high recently shouldn't be going in the opposite direction a few years later. The chance to win games means far too much to so many who dedicate themselves to their craft. 

What the Eagles did Sunday is a travesty, and the squad will be quite different because of Pederson's decision. 

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @brentsobleski.