DECEMBER 13, 2009 -- The Philadelphia Flyers are headed in the wrong direction. Blame it on the coach? No. Blame the players? No. Blame it on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Flyers have been clearly the second best team in the Eastern Conference for the past two seasons. Second best would be good enough for many teams, but not this one.

Welcome to history of the Flyers.

The Flyers are a proud franchise, and have been success oriented since coming into the league in 1967. Incredibly, they would win back-to-back Stanley Cups in the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons. The club returned to the final in 1975-76, only to be swept by the Montreal Canadiens, who would go on to win four consecutive Cups.

Philly's future is heavily invested in a pair of top-notch D-men:

Chris Pronger

Braydon Coburn

The 1979-80 season would see the Flyers go on an unprecedented 35-game unbeaten streak and a fourth trip to the final, only to lose to the New York Islanders in six games. Unbeknownst to the Flyers, they were launching yet another dynasty, as the Islanders would go on to win four straight.

When the Flyers returned to the finals at the end of the 1984-85 season, a talented youngster named Wayne Gretzky and his legendary Edmonton team were waiting for them. The Great One’s Oilers dismissed the Flyers in five games to win their second straight Cup. The Flyers would come up agonizingly short in a rematch two years later (1986-87) in a truly classic seven game final. Gretzky's Oilers would win four Cups in five seasons.

It is almost unfair.

Remember too, 'twas the Flyers, not the Isles, or Oilers who had the best overall record in the decade of the 1980's.

Three trips to the Cup final, no glory.

The decade of the 1990's would bring the club hope in the form of Eric Lindros, but the Pittsburgh Penguins had Mario Lemieux, New Jersey had the neutral zone trap, and Detroit had GM Ken Holland. The helter skelter Lindros era yielded one trip to the Stanley Cup final (1996-97) in which the Flyers were destroyed by the Detroit Red Wings in four straight while being outscored 16-6. The Flyers had the “honor” of yet again of ushering in a  winner of multiple Cups, as the Wings would repeat the following season (and win a third in 2002).

The Lindros era is now long gone. 1997 was the last trip to the final and the Flyers finally have a good team again, but so too do the Penguins. There is no shame in losing to the juggernaut that is the Penguins, but the Philly franchise still has the heart of a champion and cannot accept second best. The rather interesting offseason moves of the Flyers can be traced to this Cup obsession. They acquired Chris Pronger for one reason - to beat Pittsburgh. They got rid of a solid goalie in Antero Nittymaki and gambled on talented but erratic (and now injured) Ray Emery for one reason - to beat Pittsburgh.

Looking at how well the Flyers have played in the playoffs the last two seasons, conventional wisdom would say it is unwise to keep tweaking the personnel and tinkering with the team chemistry.

Success in the world of sports has much to do with timing. Philly has just been unlucky enough to have a history of having been second best when the best team was simply unbeatable. Although they did defeat the mighty Bobby Orr lead Boston Bruins to win their first Cup in 1974, this will mark the fourth time in franchise history that the Flyers have had an excellent team when the NHL's best team was on the cusp of greatness.

The talented young Penguins are undoubtedly destined to win multiple Cups and it will take a monumental effort for the Flyers to beat them in a best-of-seven series.

Hall of Fame Builder Ed Snider has owned the Flyers since day one and should be commended for a dogged pursuit of excellence, but again he finds his beloved Broad Street Bullies in the same frustratingly familiar quandary.

In contrast, there are many teams out there simply content to remain "competitive," which in a nutshell means they know they are not going to win anything, but are just fine making the playoffs with some regularity. No need to start naming franchises, I only have so much column space.

The recent firing of coach John Stevens was simply part of the Flyers’ unquenchable thirst for another sip from the Cup. File it away under collateral damage. Given the recent playoff success of the team, Stevens seemed on a surprisingly short leash, especially considering that Paul Maurice continues on with floundering Carolina and Randy Carlyle still plugs away with a vastly underachieving squad in Anaheim.

Perhaps a quote from O.A. "Bum" Phillips, the somewhat legendary former coach of the NFLs Houston Oilers will offer Stevens some degree of comfort: "There's two kinds of coaches, them that's fired and them that's gonna be fired."

Maybe the Flyers pull out of their recent funk and make a playoff run, maybe not. If the Flyers wind up dying an unexpected early death this season, the autopsy will no doubt reveal an acute case of Penguin-itis.

Contact Charles: Charles@officialinsidesports.com

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