RECAP – Week 3: Eagles 7, Bears 27; What Went Wrong?
The Eagles lost in brutal fashion to the Bears, 27-7.
Turns out that Ben Johnson busted out the anarchist’s cookbook and put the ball into Case Keenum’s hands for most of the game.
I would’ve been fine with this if you told me anytime before last night. Still, we’re going to break down the game and some now-troubling trends that the Eagles are displaying.
Also, if you’ve been following, you know I promised to stick my finger in a mousetrap if they lost. That’ll be at the end; don’t you sickos worry.
Last year the Eagles played the Bears, and things looked different but also kind of the same. The Bears rushed for 281 yards last year. Last night, the Bears torched the Eagles through the air with 24 completions for 247 yards and two touchdowns. They did it mostly through short passes. The Bears clearly had a game plan going into both games and executed much better than the Eagles. They also thoroughly embarrassed the Eagles in a prime-time game, again.
Let’s look into the game itself.
There are a couple of specific plays that we’ll want to look at.
The first is the most important: Sirianni’s refusal to go for it on 4th and 1 from the 49-yard line. Trying to get the defense to jump offsides isn’t wrong, but I think you still call the timeout and take the risk with the sneak.
The offense wasn’t fully stalled yet, and continuing to move the chains would’ve given them a much-needed win.
Jalen Hurts was rightfully upset about going to the sidelines, and on the next drive the Eagles went for it on 4th and 5, only to fail.
The next play is specifically the Andy Dalton interception.
Not only was this just a bad pass, but he never should’ve been in that position to begin with.
I get that he’s likely on the roster as trade bait for a team when their quarterback goes down, but I doubt he becomes a popular choice given that brief stint we saw him.
All that said, he never should’ve had the chance to throw that interception. Two negative run plays pushed the Eagles back when they should’ve just done a QB sneak or tush push. If your backup quarterback isn’t willing to sacrifice everything to score, I don’t want them as the backup. There’s also the idea of using a timeout to get Jalen back into the game. While it would’ve worked, I can’t imagine the NFL would like a team trying to rush the concussion protocols.
Next, we’ll look at some trends the Eagles have shown so far. The most common one you’ll see is that the Eagles have zero turnovers in three games. For a team built around a strong defense, this is hard to justify. You could argue that turnovers require a bit of luck.
If you do, you’re probably hoping the pendulum swings in the Eagles’ favor going forward. Still, it’s a growing concern with this team.
The other trend is whatever is happening with the run game and screen plays. For the first half, the Eagles ran the ball extremely well. Then the second half comes along, and they have only four designed run plays (six total, but Hurts had two scrambles). Abandoning the run is a sure-fire way to get the fan base to start turning on you as a coordinator.
On top of that, calling screen plays that don’t work is right up there as well. I was excited to have Ertz back. That said, even in his prime, he wasn’t a prolific blocker. So when you have him as the sole blocker to try and spring Makai Lemon, you’re going to have a bad time.
In general, the screen plays either need to improve vastly, or you should give up on them.
It’d be wrong to write this and not mention Hurts. Jalen did not have his best game. I don’t think he played horrendously, especially when you realize the run game was non-existent in the second half. Even the interception looked more like a good defensive play than Dalton throwing it directly to a defender. I’ll also end it with a positive before wrapping up. Hurts did have an awesome fire drill play to score with zero seconds left in the half.
I do love the idea that he could execute in that situation.
At the end of the day, I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater metaphorically. I still think this team has the talent to compete against any roster in the league. They just need a chance to put it all together.
Also, it was another weird week in the NFL.
Every team that started a quarterback who wasn’t the Week 1 starter won (6-0).
Next week the Eagles will try to right the ship against the Rams. This will be a true test for the Eagles.
The Rams have one of the best rosters in football and are 1-2 to start the season. You know they will be fighting hard to get that .500 record.
Speaking of, bets made, punishments delivered.
That said, I still like the Eagles’ chances.
Now I don’t like them enough to bet I’ll put my finger in a mousetrap hypothetically, but I am hopeful.
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