In the aftermath of the demolition, a new day dawned on Monday. The season continued, and the urgency level raised another full notch. At 3-5, the Eagles are in a desperate situation. There is no denying that. The team underperformed in the first half of the season -- either that or everybody here had it all wrong when the roster was constructed -- and now a second half of uncertainty, of hard decisions, of questions that will affect the Eagles now and for years to come.

The frustrating thing for the fans to understand and to digest and to fully comprehend, in this time of the non-stop calls for IMMEDIATE CHANGE, is that there is no magic button the Eagles can push to turn the season around. There are no players who, to this point, have not played a whole lot who are going to step in and change everything.

So when head coach Andy Reid answered question after question -- asked just a little differently -- on Monday about whether he has given thought, or will in the near future, of benching Donovan McNabb, he said, "No."

Over and over again.

Reid is right not to bend to the masses and take McNabb off the field. While the quarterback has not played his best football in this disappointing eight-game stretch, McNabb still gives the Eagles their best chance to win now. I don't mean that as a slap to either A.J. Feeley or Kevin Kolb. Both players have a lot of ability.

But McNabb has earned the right, after five Pro Bowls and four trips to the NFC Championship Game -- you know the litany of accomplishments -- to lead this team out of the wilderness this season. If, for some reason, the season goes completely south, maybe my opinion will change. As it stands now, though, McNabb needs to step up and put the team on his shoulders and carry it to a better place.

The Eagles are 3-5 in part because McNabb -- the most important player on the field, as is every quarterback -- hasn't played consistently well, and they are 3-5 for a lot of other reasons, too. Reid was right on Monday when he said that the entire offense shared in the blame of Sunday's loss to Dallas. There were dropped passes. There was shoddy protection. There was a running game that, at a critical moment late in the first half, failed to convert on a second-and-2 run and then a third-and-1 run. What happened to the offensive in that sequence or, for that matter, in the first half of the season?

Defensively, the Eagles were pushed all over the field, an especially disconcerting turn of events after a really solid first seven games. Lito Sheppard's interception was about the only "big play" of the game for the defense.

Special teams? Nothing special, again. Decent. The coverage groups were OK and the return game was average. On a day when some NFL teams had huge plays on returns, the Eagles were in the realm of average.

See, that's the problem with this team. No group has stepped up through eight games to take a game by the throat and win it. Every player seems to look around and wonder where the next big play is coming from instead of stepping up and making it himself. Does it appear to you that this team plays for each other, that there is a certifiable rally-around-the-team spirit here?

It is an intangible that is impossible to measure, of course. The Eagles looked slow and old and undersized on Sunday night as they chased the Cowboys around the field. I refuse to believe that the Eagles are as bad as they showed on Sunday, but the reality is that the Eagles are a 3-5 team and …. oh, the heck with the bloody reality.

What I want to see from this point forward is a team that feels threatened, that feels that jobs are on the line, which they very well should be. It's almost embarrassing to ask for something that should be so innate from the very first day of the very first workout way back in the spring, but that is what this season has come to.

Anyway, back to making drastic moves. I'm not in favor of making a change at quarterback. I think McNabb is the guy here for now and for the foreseeable future. Until somebody else proves he is better than McNabb, No. 5 should be the guy.

However, I am in favor of making sure every player understands he is on alert, McNabb included. If that means the coaching staff intends to give some of the less-experienced Eagles a chance to play, hey, go for it. Give the kids a look and see how they react. If the coaches, for that matter, decide to take more of a "go for it" attitude as it relates to their play-calling or decision-making – I hereby pledge to support every go-for-the-first-down move on every fourth-and-1 play from here on out, no matter where the Eagles are on the field – in these next eight weeks, I'm in.

Something has to change. I know the M.O. here is to stay the course. I'm not sure that is the proper approach for a team that has not lived up to the potential the organization believes it has. There are a lot of young players with long-term contracts. There are a bunch of veterans who have the security of many years remaining on their deals. The Eagles have almost every current starter under contract through next season, so maybe that is creating a false sense of security?

I don't know. I am grasping for answers here. The Eagles can't rip apart their playbook and start fresh in the middle of the season, but the coaching staff needs to add some wrinkles. They can't tear apart the roster now, either, although some tweaks can be made.

Reid expressed confidence in his players on Monday, which is the right thing to do. He has to be extremely disappointed with the way this season has gone, though, and with the sand sifting out of the hourglass, there isn't any margin of error to turn things around into the right direction.

The players were in on Monday for another post-loss series of meetings and film review. They know they are not meeting expectations, but the amnesia an NFL player must have kicks in about now. Nobody is dwelling on Dallas. The focus is on Washington. Being 0-3 in the NFC East, being 3-5 overall, hey, it's terrible. It's unacceptable, and the Eagles are going to have to look at this whole process – organization philosophy, talent evaluations and acquisitions, coaching, game days, salary-cap strategy, everything – very closely here.

Now is not the time to make decisions that will impact the long-term view of the team, though. Now is the time to find a way, some way, to shake up the troops after a stinker of a game, after an embarrassment of a night, after an incredibly disappointing first half of the season.

The standard answer that comes from players is this: "We have a long season, a lot of games to play and …"

No, that is not the case any longer. The Eagles are going to have to be a great football team in the final eight games to make the playoffs. It won't be easy. These are drastic, dire times. The second half of the season is here. Who saw 3-5 way back in July? Nobody, that's who. So to be here, well, it's a shock. The Eagles are what they are. They need an immediate turnaround to salvage this season.