The Philadelphia Eagles enter the NFL playoffs playing as well as any team in football, as they finished the regular season winners in 12 of their last 13 games. They won the NFC East with a 14-3 record and wound up earning the conference’s No. 2 seed.

This Eagles team, at full strength, is a legitimate Super Bowl contender. They probably wouldn’t be favored to beat the Detroit Lions in a potential NFC Championship Game, or in a potential Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs but, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Philadelphia defeat any of the top teams in any round considering the high-end talent on their roster.

Unfortunately, the Eagles did not finish the regular season at full strength. Most of Philadelphia’s roster is healthy as of this writing, but Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia’s star quarterback, missed each of the last two games of the regular season due to a concussion.

Kenny Pickett took Hurts’ place in the middle of Philadelphia’s Week 16 game, and he started their Week 17 contest as well. Let’s just say things weren’t running as smoothly on the offensive side of the ball when Pickett was their signal-caller.

With that in mind, Eagles fans should be delighted to know that Jalen Hurts returned to practice on Wednesday, putting Philadelphia on track to avoid having to resort to playing Pickett in their playoff opener against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Pickett struggled mightily in relief of Hurts in Week 16, completing just 14 of his 24 attempts for 143 yards. He had one passing touchdown and threw an interception. Most notably, the Eagles blew a 14-point lead and lost what at the time was an important game for them thanks in large part to Pickett’s ineffectiveness.

The Eagles won Pickett’s lone start of the year comfortably, but he only threw 15 passes all game, and also left the game prematurely due to an injury. That injury forced Pickett to sit out the Eagles’ Week 18 game as well.

Nothing about how Pickett has played in his three NFL seasons would suggest he’s capable of starting and winning an NFL playoff game. He’s completed just 62.4 percent of his passes in his career and has one more touchdown pass (15) than interception (14) in 30 regular season appearances (25 starts). The difference between him and Hurts, a two-time Pro Bowler, cannot be overstated.

Of course, Hurts returning to practice does not mean it is a lock that he’s going to be able to participate in the game. However, with the game still days away, the odds of Hurts playing appear to be a lot greater than Eagles pessimists believe. Assuming Hurts does play instead of Pickett, Philadelphia’s Super Bowl dreams are alive and well.