From The Reporter: https://tinyurl.com/4374hfxs
PHILADELPHIA — The Chicago Bears simply out-muscled the Eagles on Black Friday, leaving no doubt who controlled the line of scrimmage. Chicago finished with a commanding 281 rushing yards en route to a 24-15 road victory at Lincoln Financial Field.
Here are five things we learned from a sorry showing by the reigning Super Bowl champs.
1. The Bears were more physical — especially in the trenches
From the opening drive, Chicago imposed its will. The Bears (9-3) consistently ran behind an assertive offensive line, chewing up yardage and nearly doubling up the Birds on time of possession (39:18 to 20:42). Their bruising ground game kept the Eagles’ defense on its heels all night.
Kyle Monangai and former Eagle D’Andre Swift each had over 100 rushing yards — the first time a pair of Bears backs did that in a game since 1985, with Walter Payton and Matt Suhey.
2. Chicago’s offense looked far ahead of Philly’s
Coach Ben Johnson, quarterback Caleb Williams and the Bears ran their offense with rhythm, balance and creativity. They mostly operated from under center, mixed runs and passes effectively, used motion, misdirection and play action, often converted when needed, and mounted long drives.
The Birds’ offense, in contrast, again lacked originality and stalled too often. The Eagles were just 4-for-12 on third down, often booed when they didn’t convert. In the entire first half, they produced just 17 plays and two first downs.
The Eagles don’t play again until a week from Monday at the Los Angeles Chargers. Coach Nick Sirianni said he’ll use the extra days off to “evaluate everything” but said he’s “not changing the play-caller,” offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
Sirianni made a curious decision to go for a 2-point conversion after a touchdown pulled the Eagles within nine with 3:10 remaining and all their timeouts plus the 2-minute warning. The attempt failed, and the game was effectively over.
Even if they had kicked the PAT, stopped the Bears and gotten the ball back and scored, they still would have had to go for two, but in the meantime, it put no onus on Chicago to at least make a first down. The decision came down to analytics instead of reading the momentum and putting off a 2-point try until it became absolutely necessary.
Sirianni’s rationale was reminiscent of Phillies manager Rob Thomson’s decision to call a sacrifice bunt during a rally in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Dodgers.
“I’ve done a lot of studies on that in my notes down nine,” Sirianni said. “I’m always going to go for a two in that scenario, so I followed the plan that — again, I don’t try to wing anything in situational football. That’s what I wanted to do. That’s in my notes from my studies in the past, and that’s what we did.”
3. Jalen Hurts had a bad night
Hurts’ passing — despite delivering two touchdowns to A.J. Brown — lacked consistency, and the offense sputtered outside of a few sparks. The lack of a balanced attack and failure to control the line of scrimmage contributed to a rough outing overall for the veteran quarterback.
Hurts threw an interception and fumbled the ball away, finishing 19 of 34 for 230 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Hurts said about the issues on offense. “Ultimately, you look inward first. I see it as how the flow of things have gone for us this year, and being practical about that. I can’t turn the ball over. The ultimate goal is to go out there and find a way to win, and that’s been a direct correlation with success for us — being able to protect the ball. That really, really killed us.”
4. Eagles are still searching for an identity
Beyond the physical mismatch and offensive struggles, the most concerning takeaway was how disjointed the Eagles (8-4) looked. The run game lacked purpose, the passing game lacked rhythm, and the defense couldn’t establish any foundational strength to lean on once things started to tilt Chicago’s way.
The banged up offensive line, which is without All-Pro tackle lane Johnson, can’t be overlooked. But for a veteran roster with championship expectations, Friday’s performance felt more like a team in Week 1 mode — still figuring out who it is, what it does well and how it wants to play.
Afterward, Hurts literally admitted as much: “We need an identity.”
Not ideal this deep into the season.
5. This doesn’t feel like a Super Bowl team
It just doesn’t. Blowing a 21-point lead in Dallas five days earlier clearly wasn’t an aberration. The offense has had problems most of the year. Now the defense is showing cracks. And the Birds just got battered by the Bears in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score implied.
Everyone dressed in black might as well have been a funeral for the Eagles’ title hopes, because that’s what it felt like. Let’s hope that’s not the case.
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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc for the latest updates.