Tag: topic-link-auto

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears took a page out of their own playbook and bullied the Eagles, again, in front of a national audience.

Just as they did in their Week 13 victory on Black Friday last year, the Bears outplayed the Eagles, this time on Monday night at Soldier Field. Even with third-string quarterback Case Keenum starting in place of the injured Caleb Williams, the Bears still handed the visitors a 27-7 loss.

The 38-year-old Keenum, who hadn’t played a regular-season game since 2023, went 24-for-34 for 247 yards and two touchdowns (110.8 quarterback rating). He also scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak.

Jalen Hurts was evaluated for a concussion in the second quarter, but he was cleared and returned to action after backup quarterback Andy Dalton threw an interception from the 2-yard line.

The Eagles coughed up the ball three times — once on a Tank Bigsby fumble, twice on interceptions from Dalton and Hurts. They now have a minus-5 turnover differential on the season, which is tied for second-worst in the NFL.

Here’s our instant analysis from the Eagles’ first loss of the season:

Hurts evaluated for a concussion, returns to action

A nightmarish start for the Eagles got worse when Hurts paid a visit to the medical tent.

Early penalties set the Eagles back, including a Hurts intentional grounding call on the opening drive that they couldn’t overcome, leading to a punt. On the next possession, Hurts threw an incomplete pass to a wide-open Saquon Barkley on first down, Tyler Steen was called for holding on second, and Bigsby fumbled on second-and-long.

Bears defensive back Xavier Woods recovered the loose ball at the Eagles’ 15.

The Eagles’ woes continued halfway through the second quarter when Hurts took a hard hit from Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson as he was running out of bounds to the Bears’ 13 on a play negated by offsetting penalties. Hurts was down on the grass momentarily, then popped up and returned to the field. But a concussion spotter pulled Hurts so he could be evaluated in the medical tent, thrusting Dalton into red-zone action.

Barkley ran for 14 yards to the Bears’ 1. But the Eagles rushing attack couldn’t punch the ball in on back-to-back tries, so Sean Mannion called on Dalton to complete a pass on third-and-2 with Hurts still in the medical tent.

Bears defensive back Dillon Thieneman picked off Dalton’s pass in the end zone intended for Dontayvion Wicks. Hurts was ultimately cleared to return, but not quickly enough to get back on the field during that drive. The Bears managed a field goal off Dalton’s interception to go up 10-0.

When asked after the game if he felt like he had suffered any kind of head trauma on that hit, Hurts responded with a no. He said he watched Dalton’s pick from outside of the tent, but at that point, he was still waiting to be cleared. He said he wished the concussion spotter could have “expedited things.”

“I think practically, emotionally, and competitively, I’m in the right place to go out there and compete,” Hurts said. “So it’s a situation that hopefully we can learn from.”

Hurts returned to action with 1 minute, 46 seconds remaining in the first half. He pulled off a situational feat, driving to the Bears’ 9 with 19 seconds left, in large part thanks to a 30-yard completion to DeVonta Smith down the right sideline. Hurts then connected with Smith on a first-and-goal screen, then hurried back to the line of scrimmage to get a traditional quarterback sneak off from the 1-yard-line for a touchdown before the clock hit zero.

Nick Sirianni said after the game that Hurts made the decision to go for the sneak with time dwindling, thereby eliminating the opportunity to spike the ball, and no timeouts left.

“I trust him in those situations to make the right decision, and he did, and we got our touchdown there,” Sirianni said.

Offense falters in second half

The Eagles were only down by a 10-7 margin at halftime. But the offensive flashes of the first half disappeared in the second, as the Eagles went three-and-out on three consecutive drives. The third of those possessions, late in the third quarter, ended with the Eagles on their own 49 on fourth-and-1.

Instead of running a play (a Tush Push might not have been a possibility as the Eagles appeared to be about 1½ yards away from the first-down marker), the Eagles took a delay-of-game penalty and punted. After the game, Sirianni said he “probably should have went for it there” on fourth-and-1.

The Eagles took a different approach in a similar situation on their next possession. They sputtered just past midfield, bringing up fourth-and-5 from the Bears’ 46. This time, the Eagles opted to go for it.

Bears linebackers T.J. Edwards and Devin Bush walked up to the line of scrimmage pre-snap as if they were part of an all-out blitz, then dropped into coverage after the snap. Hurts threw a pass intended for Smith right into the arms of Edwards — who played for Philly from 2019 to 2022 — for the Eagles’ second interception of the night.

“Just was trying to get the ball to [Smith] on a spot route,” Hurts said. “Felt like we could find a void in the zone. His eyes didn’t turn the way I thought [they] were. I gave one up. I had Makai [Lemon] right there to the field on a hitch route that I could’ve taken. So, not to my standard at all.”

Hurts went 16-for-25 for 153 yards and an interception (64.2 quarterback rating). He was sacked twice.

Defense breaks down

The Bears offense began Monday night’s game with the same sense of domination that characterized their 2025 win over the Eagles.

Keenum and the Bears offense strung together an 11-play, 66-yard scoring drive, capped off by an 8-yard receiving touchdown for Luther Burden on a pitch up the middle. The Eagles failed to bring him down as he trudged through traffic. Missed tackles were a recurring theme on the drive, reminiscent of the Week 2 win over the Tennessee Titans.

The Eagles defense seemed to stabilize, forcing a punt, a turnover on downs, and back-to-back field goals on the four Bears possessions that followed. The Bears led, 13-7, early in the third quarter.

But a busted coverage later in the quarter further solidified the Bears’ lead. A breakdown in the Eagles secondary led to Bears receiver Kalif Raymond getting wide-open deep over the middle of the field. He turned a 13-yard pass from Keenum into a 41-yard touchdown as he ran unabated to the end zone with Andrew Mukuba trailing after him.

On that play, Cooper DeJean had traveled with Burden as he motioned across the formation. Both DeJean and Riq Woolen appeared to stick with Burden after the snap, while Raymond went uncovered.

“Miscommunication, that’s all,” DeJean said. “We just got to get on the same page.”

Raymond’s touchdown put the Bears up, 20-7, with just under six minutes left in the third quarter.

The Eagles’ sloppiness continued into the fourth. They incurred a pair of penalties on the same Bears possession — a Moro Ojomo neutral zone infraction and a Mukuba holding — that kept the drive alive. The Bears took advantage of the Eagles’ blunders with a Keenum sneak for a touchdown, going up, 27-7, halfway through the fourth quarter.