It was a harsh loss for the Philadelphia Eagles, who on their home field, lost 24-15 to the Chicago Bears. This challenging loss serves as one of the most important moments for the Eagles. Even with the top-salaried offensive team in the NFL, they couldn’t get into a groove the entire game. Their 6-5-1 record leaves them sharing the best record in the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys.
The real star of that game was the Eagles’ offense, and how ugly things had gotten. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, along with headliners Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, all took their lumps. For all their star power, the offense looked lost in the headlights against the Bears. They forced just 51 total plays, a far cry from what they had envisioned. Offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo was elevated to his current role this offseason, replacing Kellen Moore. Now, he’s taking the hit after this last underwhelming performance.
Scoring defensively has been a huge theme for the Eagles this season, largely thanks to Vic Fangio’s influence. The 5th overall pick pairs this with an impressive team takeaway prevention. They’ve struggled to turn major opportunities into points. Against the Bears, the Eagles went 4-for-12 on third downs, or 33 percent—definitely not doing them any favors and keeping the offense out of rhythm.
Jalen Hurts was only 19-34 for 231 yards, tossing two touchdowns to match one interception. This despite Saquon Barkley, who has had a tough time getting things going on the ground this year, finishing with 13 carries for only 56 yards. It’s the ninth time this season that Barkley has been limited to 60 rushing yards or less. Even more troubling though, is this trend when it comes to his effectiveness in the backfield.
Following the loss, head coach Nick Sirianni immediately defended Patullo. He boldly stated that no change would be made to his playcalling—even after the debacle of yesterday’s game.
“We’re not changing the playcaller. But we will evaluate everything.” – Nick Sirianni
Sirianni pushed for a holistic approach in assessing the entire team. Most important, he stressed, success or failure is a team effort. He challenged his players to never stop learning and striving to get better—even after a game loss.
“It’s never just about one person. You win as a team, you lose as a team and you try to evaluate everything, win, lose or draw, and get better from it.” – Nick Sirianni
Players were practically unanimous in this sentiment in their post-match comments on the match. Recognizing that resilience and dedication would be required as they continued to face these challenges, Hurts admitted that there was strength in writing.
“Stay committed to what the team is trying to accomplish. In the end, no one ever said it was going to be easy, and we’ve got to embrace the challenge. We’ve got to embrace this time and respond to it the right way.” – Jalen Hurts
Barkley shared his discontent for the team’s ineffectiveness while on the call for the game. He focused on the urgent need to make their lengthy offensive drives more productive.
“This game, it was weird, it was different, it felt weird out there. I think we’ve just got to do a better job of keeping drives going. … That’s something we have to address and get better at.” – Saquon Barkley
For the Eagles it’s preparation for their mini-bye week. While they’re disappointed, they’ll use this time to regroup and plan for the fight ahead. They need to maximize that talent. Now is the time for them to really start to step up as they go further into the season.
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