PHILADELPHIA -- These are the moments that define players, that define teams, that define coaches.

The Philadelphia Eagles came out of the tunnel for the second half, trailing the Seattle Seahawks, 10-7. The Seahawks kicked off and the Eagles started their possession on their own 20-yard line.

It was a fresh half, a chance to start off with some momentum and take control of the game. It was the best opportunity the Eagles would have against the defending Super Bowl champions. On first down, coach Chip Kelly called for a handoff to LeSean McCoy, his best offensive player.

McCoy fumbled. Seattle safety Earl Thomas recovered. Two plays later, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson flipped a pass to running back Marshawn Lynch, who ran it into the end zone.

That chance to start something good? Gone. The opportunity to seize control of the game and get the Seahawks back on their heels? Gone. The chance to make a statement about the Eagles’ stature in the NFC with three games left to play? Gone, gone, gone.

“Obviously, it was terrible timing,” McCoy said. “That was my fault. I should have just been more aware of ball security. The situation of the game, trying to come back and to get a turnover that fast, that was really bad. So that is something that is on me.”

There was plenty of blame to share. Kelly went into an uncharacteristically conservative posture late in the first half. That led to the Eagles having to punt the ball back to Seattle with 1 minute, 34 seconds left. Then, when the Seahawks faced a third-and-13 at their own 30, Kelly suddenly became aggressive. He called a timeout with 1:08 left. So when Seattle converted the third down, there was more time left to drive for a field goal.

That’s what the Seahawks did, meaning they scored 10 points in about a minute of football time. In a tight game against a very good opponent, mistakes like that will come back to haunt you.

“I thought our defense was going to stop them on third-and-13,” Kelly said, “so I was trying to give us time on the clock so we had ample enough time if we were going to put a drive together to try to get some points at the end of the half.”

That would have made more sense if Kelly had been coaching that way a few minutes earlier. This is what happens when your team is playing against an opponent that is simply better. The Seahawks have better players in many important positions, including quarterback, and they are very well coached.

Kelly has won 19 of the 30 NFL games he has coached, including the playoffs. He is building a winning culture and a winning program in Philadelphia. But it is not at elite level, and it is fair to wonder whether it will get there from the track it is on right now.

The Eagles lost three road games in Arizona, San Francisco and Green Bay. They failed to score a point on offense against the 49ers. They scored 20 in Arizona and 20 in Green Bay. This was their first game against an elite NFC team at home, an opportunity to win a playoff-type game against an opponent they very well might see again in January.

All of that made their performance very disappointing. In fact, the Eagles were held to only 139 yards of offense, their lowest total since Kelly became the coach last season. It also was the fewest yards the Seattle defense has allowed since the 2005 season.

The Eagles were outcoached. Seattle’s Wilson was better than Mark Sanchez. Seattle’s defense was better than the Eagles’ defense. None of those things will mean a thing once the Eagles actually get to the postseason. The question is whether they have shown that they will be capable of beating the Seahawks or the Packers, the kind of team they will have to play in the postseason.

“We’ll worry about the rest of that when it comes.” Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said. “We can talk about the playoffs. Obviously, we’re going to have to see a lot of these teams again. Right now, all we can control is the next game, and that’s the Cowboys. We’ve got to be good enough to beat them next week.”

The Eagles were dissatisfied with the way last season ended. They were unexpected and improbable NFC East champions in Kelly’s first season as coach. They hosted the New Orleans Saints in a wild-card game. They had a fourth-quarter lead, but lost 26-24.

This year, the Eagles have been better. They could finish 12-4, two games better than last year’s record. Given the records of the other NFC division leaders, that probably would mean hosting another game on wild-card weekend. They could see Detroit or Seattle or San Francisco.

“I’m not thinking about that right now,” Kelly said. “Our attention has to go to Dallas and winning the NFC East. So we’re not concerned with anything else besides that. Control what you can control, and that’s what we can control right now.”

That’s true, because those games against Green Bay and San Francisco, Arizona and Seattle, are all over now. They’re in the books and they’re all losses. Worse, they’re all bad signs for the playoffs.