Since the 1970 merger, there have been seven occasions in which a franchise has appeared in three consecutive NFC championship games, but only the Dallas Cowboys (1993-95) and Green Bay Packers (1995-97) have accomplished that trifecta during the age of the salary cap.

That isn't too surprising, given that the combination of a salary cap and free agency have conspired to reduce stability and continuity, as evidenced recently by the fact there have been four different Super Bowl champions over the last four seasons.

Franchises used to speak of the "five-year plan," when they addressed rebuilding, but the term has been all but expunged from the NFL vernacular. More than ever, you play for the present and deal with the future when it arrives, while attempting to find a shimmy to hold open the so-called "window of opportunity" as long as possible.

	Andy Reid is entering his fifth season as Philly's head coach.

Which brings us to the Philadelphia Eagles, a franchise that, though crafty manipulation of the salary cap, seems to have created a window of opportunity wider than a barn door. But which, in reality, is under intense pressure to claim a Super Bowl title in 2003, after reaching the NFC championship game in each of the last two seasons.

"That's a hat trick you don't want, man, losing three straight (conference championship) games," acknowledged Eagles defensive tackle Corey Simon. "It's been hard enough just trying to deal with (the stigma) of two straight losses. You get that near to a Super Bowl, you have to close the deal or else … ."

Or else management sometimes closes the window.

In truth, no playoff-caliber team is better positioned to contend for a title over the next several seasons than Philadelphia, where club president Joe Banner has worked hard to keep together the core group of essential players.

Before the latest round of cuts, the Eagles had 58 players under contract through the '05 season, nearly double the NFL average. Philadelphia has 23 players signed through 2007 and that includes 11 current starters. Since the Eagles still possess $8.27 million of cap space under the 2003 spending limit, third-most in the league, there is more than ample wiggle room for Banner to extend the contracts of a few more veterans this year.

All of which bodes well, of course, for the future and for the club's ability to remain a viable playoff contender.

But at some point, fiscal responsibility has to translate into more than merely reaching the conference championship game, Philadelphia veterans acknowledge. It's great to have a favorable salary cap situation, but until the day Eagles players are wearing baseball caps that proclaim them Super Bowl champions and reveling in a raucous locker room, money won't matter very much.

Which is why, despite a proven cap formula that ensures the kind of stability most teams in the NFL would kill to have, the Eagles' window of opportunity, even if imperceptibly, is inching closer to the sill. It would be inaccurate to suggest Philadelphia is embarking on a now-or-never season in 2003. But the Eagles, who do face some dicey personnel calls by the end of the year, might be going into a now-or-not-with-this-group season.

Not since the Cowboys of 1980-82 has an NFC franchise dropped three consecutive conference championship games. Coach Tom Landry reacted to the ignominy by tweaking his passing game for 1983, allowing Danny White more freedom than he had previously possessed. The Los Angeles Rams of 1974-76 also lost three straight NFC championship games. The Rams, nearly two decades before a salary cap was implemented, reacted to their failures by launching an overhaul. Players were jettisoned in an effort to remake the roster and, within a year, coach Chuck Knox was gone.

The Eagles aren't about to show coach Andy Reid the door, no matter how the team finishes in 2003, and a dramatic makeover isn't on anyone's agenda. But a team can sometimes grow stale if it is together too long, familiarity can breed contempt, unfulfilled expectations often augur at least cosmetic change.

Don't think Eagles veterans aren't aware, even if they don't relish addressing it publicly, of the potential consequences another non-Super Bowl season might precipitate.

"It's just natural," allowed one veteran, "to want to shake up the mix, at least a little, if you fail with the same guys over and over. I mean, the unfinished business has got to be finished this year, because the (dynamic) could be different after this."

	“	That's a hat trick you don't want, man, losing three straight (conference championship) games. It's been hard enough just trying to deal with (the stigma) of two straight losses. You get that near to a Super Bowl, you have to close the deal or else . . . ”
		— Corey Simon, Eagles defensive tackle

Certainly there are a number of other teams for which the window of opportunity, in a more conventional sense than with the Eagles, is beginning to slide closed. In Green Bay, for instance, the Brett Favre Era figures to end within the next few years. The Oakland Raiders, with all those 30-something starters, will need to discover the Fountain of Youth to remain competitive beyond 2003. Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk are healthy for now but, given their recent string of injuries, the St. Louis Rams can't bank on them forever.

The biological clock is ticking on Tennessee tailback Eddie George and, while he isn't the offensive centerpiece anymore, the Titans could be hard-pressed to win once he exits the game. For the Miami Dolphins, and especially coach Dave Wannstedt, it probably is imperative they turn all the rhetoric about having Super Bowl talent into championship deeds in 2003. Pittsburgh went out of character two years ago, when he finally halted its free agent exodus by signing nucleus veterans to contract extensions, but the gambit will be regarded as unsuccessful unless it produces a championship.

Even in Indianapolis, where Peyton Manning is still just 27 years old despite a resume that already documents five seasons of league tenure, salary-cap problems could mandate change in the near future.

The pressure confronting the Eagles is hardly akin to the anxiety being visited upon some of those other franchises. After all, Donovan McNabb figures to play another decade, and the cap has been superbly managed. But there is some psychological element at work as the team approaches another year of lofty aspirations. And that element, more so than the typical football and financial factors, is what makes 2003 a key campaign.

"You know the old saying, 'If it ain't broken, don't fix it,' right?" said cornerback Troy Vincent. "The thing is, it all depends on your definition of broke. Some teams would be thrilled to be where we are right now. Some teams would be satisfied just to get to the NFC championship game every year. But this is a team built to win a championship. And at some point, if we don't, who knows? Management could decide we're broken. I mean, it's a league where things change from one year to the next."

The Eagles do have some pending personnel decisions. Three of the club's highest-profile starters -- tailback Duce Staley and cornerbacks Vincent and Bobby Taylor -- are eligible to become unrestricted free agents following the 2003 season.

Management has adopted the definitive wait-and-see stance with Staley, who boycotted all the offseason workouts and only reported to camp last weekend, and who could lose his starting job to Correll Buckhalter. There have been some preliminary discussions with Vincent and Taylor about extensions, but no deals are imminent with the corners.

Part of making the Philadelphia paradigm work is having ready replacements capable of stepping up to the starting level when older veterans depart or the team suffers injuries. That is the case at several key positions, notably in the secondary and at quarterback, but not at others. So while the Eagles were constructed for the long haul, they are still part of a league annually in flux, and players are dutifully aware that the challenge is to win now.

"Guys don't sit around talking about it, but there's an understanding here that this team's time has come, and even an outsider can feel it," said weak-side linebacker Nate Wayne, signed as a free agent during the offseason. "I don't care how (stable) a situation looks. (Stuff) changes in this league. No one, believe me, is (immune) to that reality."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.