A little less than a year ago, the Eagles made the halftime switch against the Ravens, benching an ineffective Donovan McNabb and going to Kevin Kolb. Had Kolb performed well in the game — you could argue he was even worse than McNabb — then the Eagles' 2008 season almost certainly would have been vastly different.

Head coach Andy Reid, though, went back to McNabb, who led the team to the doorstep of the Super Bowl, and McNabb received a fatter contract in the offseason. Though Reid said going back to McNabb was about giving the ball to his quarterback, we also heard at the time that the coaching staff was disappointed in Kolb.

But following Kolb's two-game fill-in performance against the Saints and Chiefs, in which he became the first player in NFL history to throw for more than 300 yards in his first two career starts, Kolb's fortune and standing with the team has changed.

Now he has a real future in Philadelphia after being handed a golden opportunity and making the most of it. We hear that Kolb had his best offseason as a pro and was far more consistent and prepared in training camp and the preseason, which led to his two strong starts, even with some obvious mistakes against the Saints.

McNabb still has a year left on his contract after this season, and if he's healthy it's difficult to project the Eagles going in any other direction, even with Kolb's flourish. But the team appears to have a more solid exit strategy once McNabb's deal is up, and it could lead to Kolb starting in 2011. At the start of that season, he would be in his prime at 27, and with four seasons and at least two starts worth of experience he would be even more prepared to take over the Eagles than, say, Aaron Rodgers was when he took over the Packers' starting job last season.

Clouding the QB picture slightly is Michael Vick, who also has another year left on his deal. Although it's far too early to make a call, the arrow might point slightly toward Vick wanting to pursue a starting job with another team after this season. But again, the situation, as always, is quite fluid.

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