The Eagles have stressed patience here, and understandably so. Offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, one of the best in the game on the left side, spent his first two seasons on Injured Reserve before coming around physically and mentally to the game.
He is the Grade A example of the best-case scenario here, but Mailata's rise is an anomaly relative to the history of the program. It's not even worth going there now. This is a moment to appreciate the magnitude of the night for Bernard, a basketball player from Nigeria.
"I'm proud of myself knowing how far I've come," Bernard said. "More to go. I will keep working hard, getting better."
Every step is a new one. Bernard hadn't been, for example, cut block in his life before the game. He saw that in the trenches against Baltimore. He did some things that showed his improvement, but it's not fair to grade him until he has a better sense of the techniques offensive linemen use and the way quarterbacks move and the deception in place to fool defensive linemen.
Every time Bernard came to the sidelines after a series, the coaches were there to show the play on the coaching tablet and discuss what happened on each play.
"It made sense to me," Bernard said.
That's the great thing. There are a million steps to go, but the connections are being made and understood. Progress, progress, progress.
"He did good things out there," defensive tackle Byron Young said. "We're all helping him out a lot. He's improved so much – he even improved throughout the course of the game. He had a play where he struck the guard and then shed into the secondary gap and he missed the tackle and he was frustrated by that. He was frustrated by that. That just shows how much he's improved and how hard he is on himself. He wants to be great. I love watching him."
Said Bernard on the play, which resulted in a Baltimore rushing touchdown: "That tackle was mine. I missed it. It was there for me."
Every player experienced what Bernard and Weru experienced on Saturday – a first time on an NFL sideline. They were nervous, knees shaking, stomach quaking.
"It was overwhelming for me, intimidating," Young said. "And I played in NFL stadiums in college. I can't imagine what it was like for them tonight. First football game ever. It's amazing, it really is."
Another first for both Bernard and Weru. Next time, they both expect to be better, move forward, take the next step on fascinating journeys in real time.
"My first game, I gave up a sack on my second or third snap," Mailata said. "Not a real great memory, but you learn from it. Everything they are doing, it's the first time they've done it and they are handling it great. We are all proud of them and there for them helping them have success."