Was the Eagles’ sloppy loss to the Commanders an uncharacteristic blip?

Will the Eagles allow a mistake-prone, controversial 32-21 loss to the Commanders to snowball into the second half of the season? Or will they view their first setback of the season as everything going wrong that could go wrong, and therefore just a blip on the road to the postseason and further success?

Judging the postgame response from coach Nick Sirianni and team leaders, when the team uniformly focused on self-inflicted wounds and not questionable calls and non-calls by officials, the Eagles appeared poised to not wallow in the misery of Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I’ve never been one to give the officials that much credit. I’m not going to,” Eagles center Jason Kelce said. “I think they have an incredibly hard job as it is. The bottom line is we had our opportunities.”

» READ MORE: Eagles-Commanders analysis: Costly fumbles, questionable calls, shaky defense lead to Birds’ first loss

The 8-1 Eagles trailed, 20-14, at halftime, the first time they faced a deficit heading into the locker room. Washington expanded the margin to 23-14 early in the third quarter. But the Eagles responded and narrowed the lead to 23-21 early in the fourth quarter and had three possessions in which they could have pulled ahead.

But fumbles by Dallas Goedert — albeit after the refs missed a face mask on the tight end — and by wide receiver Quez Watkins thwarted any potential comeback.

The Eagles were prepared to have one last chance to get the ball back with about a minute and a half remaining, but defensive end Brandon Graham was penalized for roughing quarterback Taylor Heinicke after he took a knee on third down.

“Shoot, that’s pretty simple,” Sirianni said when asked why the Eagles lost. “The three turnovers lost us the game. The time of possession loses you the game. We lost it together — offense, defense, special teams, coaching.”

The Eagles could have pointed fingers in several directions. Head referee Alex Kemp admitted afterward to a pool reporter that the face mask on Goedert was simply not seen by officials. While the play was reviewed to see if linebacker Jamin Davis was downed following the fumble recovery, penalties can’t be reversed.

Kemp also explained that Graham, even though he appeared to ease up, hit Heinicke while he was down and defenseless and “also to the head and neck area.”

Said Graham: “That’s on me. I’ll own that one.”

» READ MORE: Officials cost the Eagles an undefeated season | Marcus Hayes

The offense could have also shifted blame toward a defensive unit that couldn’t get off the field in the first 30 minutes. Washington stayed committed to its game plan, which was to run on first and second down, and get into manageable third downs.

The Commanders gained only 3.1 yards per carry, but running backs Brian Robinson (26 rushes for 86 yards) and Antonio Gibson (14 carries for 44) ran hard all night and exploited the absence of Jordan Davis at nose tackle.

“They were five yards on first down, two yards on second down, or three yards on second and they were converting on third,” Sirianni said. “They had 21 third downs. That’s a lot. So they stuck to their game plan.”

Washington ran 51 plays to the Eagles’ 19 in the first half and held a time of possession advantage of 23:49 to 6:11. They converted 9 of 12 third downs by the break.

Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s scheme is predicated on not surrendering the big play and the Eagles only allowed one pass over 20 yards — a 26-yarder to receiver Terry McLaurin — in the first half. But Washington was patient and bled the Eagles.

“It’s not the best feeling,” quarterback Jalen Hurts said of the lack of first-half plays. “But you have teams that have different approaches to how they want to go about the game and they did an excellent job on offense.”

Hurts and the offense scored touchdowns on their first two drives — the first coming after a Josh Sweat strip sack. But an interception on the third series — a combination of Hurts throwing into double coverage, intended receiver A.J. Brown having the ball go through his fingertips and safety Darrick Forrest making an over-the-head catch led to the pick — helped turn the tide.

“It happens,” Hurts said.

But the turnover law of averages — the Eagles had two interceptions and one fumble coming in — seemingly caught up to the offense. Ball security had been one of the hallmarks, but Goedert and Watkins were careless. The latter caught a 50-yard pass, but when he got up, Washington cornerback Benjamin St-Juste karate chopped the ball out from behind.

“That’s something that we talk about and we think about. You’re susceptible getting up off the ground,” Sirianni said. “You want to teach him to be aggressive. … But we are also aware that the defense is taught to take a swipe at the ball.”

The Eagles shouldn’t be defined by their worst performance yet. But areas of concern in terms of run defense and special teams — Michael Clay’s units were spotty once again — should not go unnoticed.

Sirianni and Hurts spoke of “uncharacteristic mistakes,” but the Eagles are not invincible. The coach and his players seemed to know as much. Most didn’t buy into talk of an undefeated season.

“That’s a fantasy being 17-0,” cornerback Darius Slay said. “That’s tough to do. How many teams do that? … Only one. And that probably happened when I was 5 years old. So that [stuff] tough.”

The 2007 Patriots were the last team to win every regular season game — 16 of them — but they ultimately lost in the Super Bowl. Brown echoed Slay’s sentiments, that the objective is to win the last game of the season.

But Kelce wouldn’t look that far ahead.

“I don’t know, I kind of wish it was still going on,” Kelce said of going 17-0. “I see what A.J. is saying. I really try my best to not pay attention to any of that stuff and just focus on each week, each practice, each day. I don’t think it makes that much of a difference.”

The Eagles have a short week before visiting the 4-5-1 Colts. They’ll find out if the loss to Washington was uncharacteristic or a portent of trouble ahead.