Does losing make you a loser?

The 76ers' Jahlil Okafor tangled with a heckler in a Boston street, apparently to prove he was not the L word. Stuck in a three-game skid, the Eagles need a close self-examination, from owner Jeffrey Lurie on down, to make sure losing does not become the organization's permanent direction under coach/GM Chip Kelly.

We will start with the Okafor incident, since we can all remember something similar occurring on the third-grade playground. Okafor, a 19-year-old rookie who's only the leading scorer (18.4 points) and second-leading rebounder (8.1) for the woeful, 0-17 Sixers, was leaving a Boston nightclub with fellow underage teammate Christian Wood early on Thanksgiving morning, a few hours after a loss to the Celtics.

A man began to taunt Okafor, allegedly saying, "The 76ers suck" to the players. In a melee caught on video and supplied to TMZ Sports (of course), Okafor ended up taunting the man profanely and shoving him to the street. 

Beyond guaranteeing himself no peace in any city the 76ers visit, as well as the potential of punishment applied by the team, the NBA or the Boston police, Okafor exposed the human aspect of GM Sam Hinkie's increasingly painful approach to rebuilding.

In trying to acquire "assets" that will establish the franchise as a perennial contender, Hinkie has assembled one of the all-time worst teams in professional sports. This isn't the Washington Generals, the staged foil to the fun and frivolity of the Harlem Globetrotters. These are pros playing for their livelihood, and getting stuck in Hinkie's science experiment is taking its toll. Okafor admitted as much Friday.

"We get close, and it's frustrating," Okafor said. "So it does get a little frustrating to hear it all the time that we are 0-and-whatever. It's definitely frustrating."

Unlike the 76ers, the Eagles were built to be a contender this year. Instead, their three-game losing streak, with Thursday's 45-14 loss to the Detroit Lions the latest in a string of increasingly embarrassing performances, lends credence to the baying fans' insistence that this is Kelly's fault.

Of course it's the coach's fault. It's also the coach's fault that the kid at the drive-thru window forgot your fries. But the Thanksgiving Day debacle belongs to everyone — Kelly the coach, Kelly the GM and the mercenaries masquerading in midnight green, several of whom seem intent on showing up on payday and not game day.

One Lions vet on Eagles: "We made them tap out. ... Guys just looked like they didn't want to play anymore." Said Detroit saw it in the 3Q.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) November 26, 2015

Like the 76ers, the Eagles' Lurie has entrusted all decision-making power to one person. Like Hinkie, Kelly's methods were so unorthodox that they just had to work, right? Hinkie employed metrics in the Rockets front office like no one before or since. Kelly's sport science, unique practice schedule and unswerving devotion to a fast-paced offensive attack would certainly revolutionize the NFL.

The 76ers' gamble might yet pay off, with two former first-rounders (injured Joel Embiid and Euro-committed Dario Saric) hopefully joining the bumper crop of as many as four first-round picks from the 2016 draft. However, will Okafor and Nerlens Noel last or even survive long enough to reap the benefits?

Lurie needs to ask a similar question about Kelly. As a coach, Kelly does have success, as recent as his first two seasons of 10-6 records in Philadelphia. But those were mainly with Andy Reid's leftovers. This three-game spiral, which will undoubtedly hit four when the Eagles play at New England next week, appears structural, anchored to Kelly's obviously deficiencies as a player-personnel guru.

Kelly might get another season as the Eagles head coach. But as GM? He has created a losing roster; he should not be allowed to further populate it with losers.