Talk about frustrating. The mistakes the team made came in all shapes and sizes and all had the same impact. For whatever reason, the Eagles just didn't have it. There was a zip missing from the team that beat Washington and Dallas. There was an edge absent, which resulted in a sloppy performance that leaves the Eagles at 3-5 with eight games to play, and with a huge three-game deficit behind the Giants staring them in the face.
"We have to look at the film and correct our mistakes and go from there," was the refrain from the locker room.
Chicago was more physical than the Eagles on Monday night. That was abundantly clear on both sides of the line of scrimmage as the Bears defense stifled running back LeSean McCoy (16 carries, 71 yards, TD) and generally limited his cutback lanes. They surrounded quarterback Michael Vick, who completed just 21 of 38 passes for 205 yards and an interception.
Chicago's zone scheme made DeSean Jackson invisible, limited Jeremy Maclin and negated anything the Eagles tried to do over the top. The Eagles were not a good nickel and dime offense on Monday night, not at all.
It was all very familiar. The Bears have a great formula against Vick and this offense, and it isn't really fancy. The Bears beat the Eagles at the line of scrimmage, plain and simple. They covered the Eagles down the field and were very sound in their coverage. There were no blown assignments and very few missed tackles.
The Eagles defense, on the other hand, had a tough night. Juan Castillo called for only a handful of blitzes, which quarterback Jay Cutler deftly avoided with his athletic ability. The coverage was up and down, and Cutler found enough holes to complete 18 of 32 passes with a couple of touchdowns. Chicago ran the stretch play with running back Matt Forte all night and he either followed the caravan in front of him for big yards or cut back through the maze of missed tackles to keep the first-down sticks move.
Forte, the major part of the Chicago offense, ran for 133 yards on 24 slicing carries and added another 17 yards on 3 receptions. He was the single player the Eagles had to contain, and they didn't do it.
With all of the statistical analysis out of the way, and beyond the loss at the line of scrimmage, the Eagles just played not-very-smart football and failed to execute on some plays that would have made a huge difference.
Case in Point, No. 1: With the game tied at 10 late in the first half – and the Eagles were fortunate to be in that position, having scored a touchdown when linebacker Brian Rolle returned a Forte fumble for a touchdown to knot the score – DeSean Jackson fielded an Adam Podlesh punt along the sideline at the Eagles' 20-yard line and had nowhere to go. Jackson backpedaled, trying to make something happen. It turned into a disaster. Zach Bowman punched the ball free and Sam Hurd recovered for Chicago and the Bears had a first and goal at the Philadelphia 9-yard line with 56 seconds remaining in the half.
The defense held, at first. But defensive end Jason Babin was penalized for a late hit on Cutler – even though replays showed that Babin was pushed into Cutler and the Bears were still alive. Marion Barber ran left for 2 yards into the end zone and the Bears led 17-10 after two quarters.
For a brief time in the third quarter, though, it looked like the Eagles had the game in their hands. They drove 80 yards in 15 plays on the opening drive of the second half and scored on Ronnie Brown's 4-yard run to tie the game.
Then Forte fumbled on Chicago's next possession and the Eagles took advantage, driving 41 yards in two plays and scoring on McCoy's 33-yard run. Suddenly, it was 24-17 and Lincoln Financial Field was alive.
Not for long. Chicago drove 74 yards on its next possession for a field goal and came right back the next time it had the ball to score a touchdown to take a lead.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Eagles saw an opportunity to seize the momentum once again. But on a fourth down play that will live forever as a pained moment here, rookie punter Chas Henry botched a fake punt when his pass to a wide-open Colt Anderson – the Bears did not cover either gunner – fell 4 yards short.
Chicago took over and ate up 5 minutes, 27 seconds off the clock and scored three more points to go up, 30-24.
The stage was set for a final comeback for Vick and the offense, but his fourth-down pass to Jeremy Maclin came up a couple of yards short when Maclin slipped after making the catch and, you know, it's a familiar refrain by now.
The Eagles came up short. The Eagles missed too many tackles. Jackson wasn't a factor. The Eagles made too many mistakes. The Eagles were outplayed in the fourth quarter.
Same story, different game.
So what happens next? Well, the Eagles have to beat Arizona and beat everyone after that. This team is right where it has been too many times in the recent years – needing a blitz of victories down the stretch to reach the playoffs.
It's an exhausting, frustrating feeling. The Eagles looked so good in the win over Dallas. They had turned the corner, right? They were going to get hot, stay hot and make great things happen in November and December.
Not to be. Not a chance. The Eagles lost a winnable game on Monday night, and in the process they deepened a hole created by that 1-4 start, a hole that is much more difficult to climb out of with a half a season to go.
