Eagles Postgame Report: Bears Gifted Win As Hurts Kills Nearly All Offense

It’s Black Friday and the Birds found themselves playing once again, this time looking to recoup from an absolutely ugly loss in perhaps the most winnable game of the season so far where the team didn’t come away with a W. The defense did there part by forcing a turnover on downs (though Sirianni had to challenge because the NFL refuses to just use digital measurements they already have) but 5 yards per carry for Saquon couldn’t keep the drive going when Hurts was only able to complete one of his passes and forcing a punt.

A 17-yard run to start the drive had the defense on their heels before they whiffed on three different tackles to allow a 23-yard run to just outside the red zone. Ojomo stood up the runner but was embarrassed as he continued to get two more yards as he failed to bring him down and move the chains. That lazy/weak defensive line play continued as the Bears gashed up the middle repeatedly to the embarrassment of supposedly standout players like Carter, Davis, and Ojomo, who were unable to overpower ever running backs 1 on 1. That gave the Bears the first points of the game with a touchdown.

A play actions setup the conversion and seemed to get the offense going before a failed block by Goedert in the backfield left the team with a -2 yard run and Hurts followed it up with an easy and wide-open slant over the middle that could have been a touchdown if he didn’t throw it about two yards behind Smith, who could only get one hand near the ball, forcing the Eagles to settle for a field goal. Caleb Williams was able to hit the same throw that Hurts couldn’t to keep his offense on the field long enough to continue embarrassing the DL and answer with a field goal of their own. Hurts, on third and short, threw to the Bears top corner on the most covered receiver he could find for an incompletion to get the quick three and out.

The Eagles defense picked up with the defensive line actually bringing down the quarterback for force their first punt of the game. Hurts responded with his first third down throw that didn’t look like JaMarcus Russell, but that came back for OPI. Then he went back to his garbage play and stared at Will Shipley with a chance to run for the first, just waiting to throw the ball to him until Shipley was forced to step out of bounds to complete the catch. They punted after another poor play from Hurt.

Nakobe Dean couldn’t come up with the INT on the deflection and the defense held on to keep the Eagles losing by one score as the Birds went into halftime to well-deserved boos.

Jalen Hurts came out unable to hit a screen pass, showing trash play once again for a quick three-and-out. The defense forced another punt, but Jalen Hurts took that opportunity to one-up his already horrendous play with “literally cannot play QB worse than this play” by rolling out and taking a throw away and instead floating it to 25 yards downfield where only the defenders could make a play for a quick interception.

The defense came up with a three-and-out to keep the pathetic offense in the game. Jalen Hurts made his first completion of the second half to move the chains and then took a roughing the passer for his second-best play of the half. A scramble followed by a deep pass that was snagged by AJ Brown stopping to let the defender overrun it led to a touchdown, but a missed extra point left the Eagles trailing anyway.

The defense was on their heels with the run game until Jalyx Hunt got the pressure and batted a ball to himself for an interception to setup the offense with the best field position of the game. Barkley was moving the chains and had three rushes for 24 yards, but the very first play that involved Hurts was a tush push where he fumbled the ball away to ensure the Eagles get no points from a red-zone possession.

The defense forced a 4th and 5 where Reed Blankenship fell over for an easy reception for a first down that otherwise wouldn’t have been made. The Bears just ran the ball up the middle repeatedly where those “elite” defensive linemen didn’t do jack once again letting them in for another touchdown to give them the 8-point lead.

Hurts came out to make his play look even worse with an open man for a deep pass he underthrew by 5 yards for an incompletion and then followed up with an easy would-be conversion to third down that was only two yards of space but was SO off-target that Brown had to stop and kneel to make the catch and couldn’t get the YAC needed that he otherwise would have for the first down had the Eagles had even halfway competent QB play.

The defense was gashed again and again before Cooper DeJean left his guy wide-open and, unlike Jalen Hurts, Williams didn’t throw to the opposite side of the field so the Bears actually scored the easy touchdowns that were in front of them, giving them a two-score lead.

Now in garbage time, Hurts decided to put up some numbers hoping to avoid criticism of his poor play losing the game. He put up 8/12 passing for 80 yards and a touchdown, which basically doubled his abysmal production in the game. To make sure they lost, the Eagles went for two and watched Hurts miss another wide-open target in the endzone by throwing five yards behind him and keeping the deficit at 9.

A failed onside kick re-sealed the minimal hoped of a win, which drops them to 8-4 and well out of the top see with two teams (Rams and Seahawks) more likely to get that seed while they also fall into striking range of losing the division to the 6-5-1 Cowboys.

The Eagles had Hurts throw up 40 yards against prevent defense and then sent Elliott out for a field goal that he missed.

Offensive MVP: AJ Brown

It very well could have been Saquon Barkley, but Hurts couldn’t complete enough passes to keep the offense on the filed for any backs, let alone Barkley, to get enough carries. AJ Brown was essentially playing with both arms tied behind his back trying to run routes for a quarterback that couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. Still, despite the total ineptitude from the QB position, Brown put up 114 yards while having to adjust and dive every which way as he attempted to figure out in which direction the throw would be 10-yards off target. It may not be a whole lot of yards, but it’s impressive given essentially no passes were actually made to him and were just generally in his direction throughout the night.

Defensive MVP: Reed Blankenship

Certainly not those on the defensive line who couldn’t tackle a running back. Once again, Reed was the team leader in tackles as he had to routinely come up to stop basic runs where the entire front seven did nothing at all other than whiff. He did have the stubmle late in the game, but there isn’t another player on the defense who did as much in this one without multiple plays just like that.

Game Notes

• Sydney Brown would have given up the TD pass had the Eagles not gotten Williams out of the pocket in the first quarter and made it near impossible for him to get the ball to the receiver Brown was trailing by 5-7 yards. It happened again on the second drive, too, though that was just a terrible throw from Williams on perhaps even worse coverage from Brown. He really didn’t get called out or burned too bad in this game, but not for lack of trying. The Eagles really should not rely on him if they want to win games.
• Jalen Hurts went into the half 5/10 having ended three drives with poor throws that should have been easy first-down conversions. One of his completions was the late throw that allowed for no run after the catch to end the fourth drive. He was straight garbage and ended every single drive with his poor play and decisions in the first half.
• On one play in particular, Kevin Patullo dialed up a play call where Dotson and Goedert both had uncovered/easy touchdowns. That is the one where Hurts missed a wide-open Smith to force the field goal. The play calling has had issues, but there’s just one example of a play call where there was three different options for a touchdown – and the quarterback was so awful he turned it into a field goal attempt.
• The second half saw Hurts come out with a single five-play drive. They were no the verge of another score until Hurts was handed the ball for the first time, where he promptly fumbled it away. Honestly, without those two plays that led to a touchdown, his second half was otherwise worse than the JaMarcus Russell play we saw in the first half – I don’t know what you’d call that, maybe Nathan Peterman play?
• There’s no doubt the OC and play calling have been an issue throughout the year. That doesn’t change the fact that all the plays were there to be made in this one and the QB failed at every possible time. The only real thing to pin on the OC in this one was even calling that tush push (where Hurts screwed up yet again by fumbling) instead of keeping the ball in the hands of the RBs that were gashing the Bears up the middle anyway.
• For those keeping score, Hurts was 10/16 for 120 yards and a touchdown in garbage time. He was 9/18 with 110 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and a lost fumble in the game’s first 53.5 minutes that featured numerous open receivers and easy first-down conversion opportunities.
• Thanks for the game, Jalen – maybe we try planning for the game next week and hitting wide-open targets/making the most basic plays there are, yeah?
• The defense was awful against the run and they looked like a bunch of little girls out there at times, afraid to make any contact and too weak to pull down any runners. That said, they at least stepped up enough to win the game if the Eagles had anyone with any capabilities at all at the QB position tonight. That awful defense cannot go unaddressed, thought.
• It really didn’t matter with the Eagles unwilling to put another QB in the game but Jake Elliott was garbage in this game, too, missing an extra point and a field goal in a game where the BEARS kicker didn’t miss anything. He should be embarrassed, too.

Injury Notes

• Adoree’ Jackson was shaken up in the first quarter of the game with what appeared to be a shoulder/arm issue and exited for a few plays but he did return fairly quickly.
• DeVonta Smith left in the forth quarter with an injury. He did return later in the drive.

Chicago Bears @ Philadelphia Eagles – November 28, 2025