BEARS RUN CIRCLES AROUND EAGLES - LOSE 24-15
- Al Thompson
- 11 minutes ago
- 7 min read
The Eagles season is officially unraveling. There was no bright side to look at after the Chicago Bears dismantled the Birds 24-15 in front of 69,879 frustrated fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
The offense looked completely lost from start to finish. It seemed impossible that the offense that dominate the league in 2024, could look so inept.
The Eagles eleven drives ended like this:
Punt
Field goal
Punt
Punt
Punt
Interception
Touchdown (missed extra point)
Fumble (lost)
Punt
Touchdown
Missed field goal
That's the drive chart of a last place team, not one that entered the game 8-3 and the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
Call for change in play-calling duties will no doubt.
To make Eagles fans even more upset was the defense gave up 281 rushing yards to the Bears (9-3) who had a time possession nearly twice as long as the Birds (8-4).
That question was the first one asked of head coach Nick Siranni at his post game press conference. This time he wouldn't defend offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, or any coach for that matter.
“We'll evaluate everything, but like I said to you guys, when you win, when you
lose, it's never about one person,” Siranni said. “We all collectively have to do a better job and that's going to be starting with us as coaches, starting with me as head coach, finding solutions to get the offense going, and so I'll put that on us as a staff and put that on me most individually there to help get this thing pointed in the right direction.
“But I still stay with that. It's the greatest team sport there is and it's never about one person. We all have to look internally, and all have to get better, coaches and players.”
CHICAGO RUNNING BACK DOMINATED THE EAGLES DEFENSE FRONT SEVEN
The Chicago Bears looked like one of those Barry Switzer Oklahoma teams that would run just three different rushing plays a game but bury opponents with over three hundred yards a game.
The Bears, as a team, rushed for 281 yards on 47 carries. That's 6.0 average per carry. Chicago score two touchdowns on the ground.
Former Eagle and Philadelphia native D'Andre Swift scored on a three-yard run with 1:31 left in the first quarter. Swift would finish with 125 yards on 18 carries.
Kyle Monangai scored on a four-yard run with 12:49 left in the fourth quarter to give the visitors a 17-9 lead. He finished with 130 yards on 22 carries.
Bears brutal passing attack was so bad it kept the Eagles in the game. It is amazing the Eagles with still down by just one score with under seven minutes left in the fourth.
Caleb Williams was 17 of 36 for 154 yards, an interception, sacked twice, a QB rating of just 56.9 and a 28-yard touchdown pass tight end Cole Kmet with 6:19 left in the fourth that made the score 24-9.
Jalen Hurts led a desperate 12-play, 80-yard drive in 3:09 minutes, ending in a four-yard touchdown to A.J. Brown–his second of the game–to make the score 24-15.
The Eagles would still have a chance to save game, but the two point conversion – a throw to Saquon Barkley – failed. And that was that.
MISTAKES AND BAD STRATEGY STILL HAUNT THE EAGLES
The Eagles had pre-snap penalties in first two drives negating nice runs by Barkley...Pro Bowlers Landon Dickerson and A.J. Brown were at the scene of each crime.
The Eagles only used one running back touch the football for the entire game. Besides Jalen Hurts' four carries for 31 yards, Barkley carried the ball 13 times for 56 yards. He was targeted twice by Hurts with zero catches (one was a clear drop).
Besides Williams, the Bears had three running backs and a receiver carry the ball. The Bears apparently made a commitment to not being predicable.
Despite being gashed on the ground, the Eagles still had opportunities to win this game.
With 6:44 left in the third quarter and trailing 10-9 (Jake Elliott missed the extra point on the
Eagles third-quarter touchdown byu Brown) Jaylx Hunt intercepted Williams at the Eagles 45-yard line and returned it 13 yards to set up a first and ten at the Chicago 36-yard line.
The Eagles drove to the Bears 12-yard-line only to have Hurts fumble on a tush push play. Chicago recovered the ball. Williams led his team on a 12-play, 87-yard scoring drive.
Tight end Dallas Goedert, who had just two targets and two catches against Dallas last week, had just two catches on four targets for 27 yards this week, was asked what one word he could use to describe the his feelings about their game against Chicago.
The eight-year veteran paused to try and think of a word...”frustrating?” was suggested.
“Yeah, disappointed,” Goedert said at his locker,” We didn't take advantages of opportunities that we had.”
Goedert was asked if the Bears were doing something to keep the ball from him. His second reception was for 22 yards with just 43 seconds left and the game decided.
“I wasn't seeing anything crazy,” Goedert said. “We just didn't execute enough to keep drives alive. It really just comes down to that. It seems like a re-occurring thing that's been happening the last couple of weeks. We gotta get it fixed, I believe we will. We've got a lot of time to sit and figure things out. Hopefully we can come back on Monday, play a clean game.”
Hurts had decent numbers: 19 of 34 for 230 yards, two TD passes and an interception. He was not sacked.
But his lost fumble was game-changing in the wrong way.
Hurts was asked if he felt his progress was stopped on that play.
“I was hoping that it was stopped, but it wasn't,” Hurts said. “It was kind of similar to the New York game except that they just didn't blow the whistle as soon.
“That's not to point the finger at anyone else. I mean, I have to hold onto the ball. It definitely presents itself as an issue and it always has. It's just never gotten us and so today it got us and it's something that we and I need to tighten up.”
Hurts was asked if the tush push sometimes lends itself to ball security issues.
“It's been like that for a very long time.”
On whether teams have figured out how to defend the tush push:
“It's becoming tougher and tougher,” Hurts said. “But ultimately, me holding onto the ball, that's something I can control.”
Edge Rusher Jaelan Phillips, who joined the Eagles in a trade with the Miami Dolphins on November 3, 2025, just before the trade deadline was also asked for a word to describe the results Friday afternoon.
“I don't know if deflating is the word,” said Phillips, who had just four total tackle (two solo) and a defended pass. “It's definitely unacceptable so we're going to definitely take on film an make corrections.”
The actual time of possession was 39:18 to 20:42, nearly two to one. Phillips was asked what that does to a defense physically on the field. Phillips wasn't taking the bait to blame the offense for so many short drives.
“That's on us at the end of the day,” Phillips said. “When they run the ball like that, the clock's going to be running and they're going to have the ball a long time. Ultimately, we've got to do better getting them off the field, getting turnovers.”
BEARS LOCKER ROOM WAS JOYFUL
Cornerback Nahshon Wright was asked about watching the offense run the ball like it did against Philadelphia.
“It was beautiful,” said Wright, who finished with five total tackles (four solo), a forced fumble and fumble recovery. “Just sit there, sit on the heaters and get warm, sit back and let them do what they do. It was great.”
Wright said the game the Bears played is a good formula to extend their win streak past five next week when they travel to Green Bay on Sunday.
“We just have to continue to do what we're doing, our offense running the ball tremendously well almost 300 yards on the ground,” Wright said. “With some good defense and a run game like that, time of possession, we should be able to win the game.”
Starting center Drew Dalman was asked if there was something they saw in the Eagles defense that let them know they could run the ball like that.
“I think, I have to credit to all the coaches that did an unbelievable amount of work, on a short week to have us prepared,” said Dalman at his locker. “Then it's always all eleven guys playing hard, executing...that kind of thing. I don't think I can point to anyone thing, I think it's always a lot of effort from guys pulling in the right direction.”
FINAL WORD FROM BARKLEY
One of the many thought Goedert brought up was that the mistakes happening not just from one player or side the team. Pre-snap penalties, turnovers, lack of turnovers from the defense, special teams missing field goals and extra points, poor strategies etc all leads up to a lack of focus from the who team.
“Group focus,” Barkley said. “I think it's a group focus. We've got to come together and we've got to have focus. If we don't have focus, it can hurt you.
"I had a drop today...literally from a lack of focus. It has nothing to do with timing, it had nothing to do with the amount of times I touched the ball. I just dropped the ball. Sometimes it comes up and gets us. We've just got to be better than that.
“We keep talking about, keep saying it, we're adjusting it...it's just not clicking right now. That's the truth...and I hat to say it...we've just got to figure it out, and figure it out pretty soon.”
The Eagles are running out of games to get it together. *
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com
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