For the fourth time this season, the Eagles held a lead in the fourth quarter only to end up on the wrong side of the scoreboard when the clock ticked down to all zeroes.
The Eagles lost 30-24 to the Chicago Bears on Monday night after leading 24-20 entering the game's final stanza. The Bears took the lead with 12:18 left in the game on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jay Cutler to Earl Bennett. Robbie Gould's third field goal of the game padded the Bears' lead and provided the final points of the night.
After being outscored 10-0 in the fourth quarter against the Bears, the Eagles have now given up 60 points in the last 15 minutes of games this season while only scoring 24.
"We're not getting it done. We're not making plays when we need to," strong safety Kurt Coleman said. "We're not getting off the field on third downs, third-and-longs. We're just not getting it done. We all have to look at each other, look in the mirror and step our game up. Bottom line. I have to take my game to the next level. We have to look at this film and critique ourselves to the T. Figure out what's going wrong right now and do better. There's still a lot of season left to be played."
The trend began in the Week 2 loss in Atlanta when the Falcons scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and won 35-31. Michael Vick was knocked out of that game with a concussion and that was partially to blame. One week later, the Eagles saw a 16-14 fourth quarter lead against the Giants evaporate when New York won the last quarter by a 15-0 margin.
The most troubling comeback came in Week 4 as the Eagles led 23-3 in the third quarter against San Francisco. The Eagles left Lincoln Financial Field after being handed a 24-23 loss, although only the final seven points were allowed in the fourth quarter.
"It's really frustrating. The loss is the big thing, whether it was in the fourth quarter, the first half or the third quarter, the fact that we lost is what's hitting us right now," cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. "We're playing against a really good team. We felt like we could have pulled it out."
It's not all the defense's fault. In those four lost leads, the offense has not scored a single point in the final quarter.
"Whenever you lose a close game and you have lots of mistakes out there, it doesn't feel good," center Jason Kelce said.
The Eagles may be at a loss for what's happening in the fourth quarter, but the inability to put games away is a big reason that the team is 3-5 halfway through the season.
"People are salty. They're upset. I'm glad they are. We need to be," defensive end Jason Babin said. "Honestly, everyone needs to be a little pissed off because this is not where we want to be. This is not where we should be."
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