By: Kylan Watson
After falling to the Dallas Cowboys last week, the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Chicago Bears tonight with a chance to redeem themselves. However, Chicago had other plans as they dominated the Eagles on the ground and were able to control this game from the opening kickoff beating Philly 24-15 and extending Philly’s losing streak to two games.
Chicago’s offensive line set the tone early and often in this game as they dominated Philly’s vaunted defensive line like some drill dummies during practice. They were able to move them at will which opened huge holes for Kyle Monangai (130 yards) and D’Andre Swift (125 yards) this is the first time since 2015 that the Eagles have allowed two running backs to go off for 100 plus yards in a game. That running game opened the play action passing game for the Bears who would have scored more points in this game had the Eagles not stopped them four times during this contest.
This was by far the worse defensive showing of the season for the Eagles, a unit which has been carrying most of the weight throughout this season. Philly is usually the bully in most of the games they have played this afternoon the Bears bullied them for the second straight game and that cannot happen heading into the playoffs. The Eagles must fix the run game and the defensive scheme as they head towards the post season otherwise there may be another epic collapse on the horizon. There is too much talent on that side of the ball for them to be dominated as thoroughly as they were during this game.
Chicago was able to scheme guys open and use Philly’s aggressiveness against them and they could see the Bears again in the playoffs so they will have to find a defensive game plan that works against them. Caleb Williams had too much time today to evaluate and shred Philly’s defense and keep Jalen Hurts and the rest of the Eagles offensive unit off the field. The Bears ran a simple scheme against Philly, and they could not stop it, they were able to take advantage of having multiple short or medium third down opportunities and used their quick passing and screen game to get first downs and convert touchdowns. This is a rare game for the Eagles where they gave up more rushing yards than passing yards but cannot let that become a trend for the rest of this season.
On the offensive side everything was hard for the Eagles, Chicago made them work for everything and the Eagles just could not handle the pressure. They turned the ball over twice which killed a chance for the Eagles to take the lead and control of this game thanks to a Jalen Hurts fumble on a tush push attempt. Philly must figure out how to script plays that will get their offense going and stop killing themselves with the penalties. Kevin Patullo will take the blame for another losing effort, but the Eagles are not executing and just are not in rhythm and they must fix that quickly. Patullo possibly losing his job at the end of the season or sooner will not change the fact the Eagles offensive line is not healthy, there is too many dumb penalties that kill drives, and players are either dropping passes or not communicating. AJ Brown was one of the few bright spots in this game he fought until the end.
Philly needs to take this week to fix these issues since they do not play again until next Monday. That is enough time to look in the mirror and figure out who they are as a team. Are they the defending champions with one of the most talented rosters in the league or are they pretenders? They will need to answer that question against the Los Angeles Chargers next Monday night.
It is safe to say that a lot of eyes will be on this game against the Chargers next week and even though it is late in the season this is shaping up to be a must win game for Philly. They only lead by one and a half games in the NFC East now and so every game will be important from here on out. The run game has been ineffective so either mix in some screen or short passes over the middle or just become a pass first team. The screen game is the extension of the run game so using that could get the offensive line in a flow or they could use Tank Bigsby more he did not see the field much in this game and they will need him against the Chargers. Implementing these things into the game plan for next Monday night should put them in great shape to win their ninth game of the season.
