The Eagles are not as good as we thought they would be…that is the grim reality of a team that’s now 3-5, who with any luck or destiny should be sitting at no worse than 6-2… But it “is what it is”, to quote the current pop-speak… and the playoffs are probably an impossible destination for us now.
And somehow the Eagles made Jay Cutler look like Johnny Unitas yet again…
Ahnold once said “You shouldn’t drink and bake”…. and accordingly, I shouldn’t write and think about the Eagles’ remaining prospects for the 2011 season…
The Eagles thought they had turned their season around by beating Dallas last week. Wrong. Any momentum gained from their 27-point victory over the Cowboys was erased by a 30-24 loss to Chicago on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Their hopes of winning the NFC East and contending for a Super Bowl berth took a major hit. The defeat dropped them to 3-5 at the halfway point of their season and into third place in the division behind the New York Giants (6-2) and Dallas (4-4).
“We had an opportunity to get back to .500 and we didn’t take advantage of it,” quarterback Michael Vick said. “We had a chance to win and we let it slip away. You can’t waste opportunities like that.”
Chicago (5-3) scored 13 unanswered points to hand the Eagles their sixth loss in their last seven games at the Linc going back to last season. The Eagles had one last shot to pull out a win, but wide receiver Jeremy Maclin stumbled and fell 1 yard short of a first down at the Bears’ 30-yard line with 1 minute, 48 seconds left in regulation. Maclin has come up short in the clutch before this season. He dropped a pass late in a 35-31 loss at Atlanta and lost a fumble at the end of a 24-23 defeat to San Francisco.
“This is a game of inches,” Maclin said. “Things like that happen sometimes.”
The Eagles’ biggest missed opportunity came earlier in the fourth quarter. Trailing 27-24, the Eagles gambled in an attempt to at least force a tie, but the ploy didn’t work. Rookie punter Chas Henry, a former high school quarterback, cocked his arm to throw a pass toward safety Colt Anderson, who was wide open and ready for a big gain. But Henry one-hopped the pass, giving the Bears prime field possession.
Chicago answered by upping its lead to 30-24 on Robbie Gould’s 22-yard field goal with 4:01 left in regulation, his third field goal of the game.
“We ran that play in practice all week and it worked every time,” Henry said. “I saw Colt was wide open and I just babied it because I didn’t want to overthrow it. No excuses. I’ve got to get the pass out there and I didn’t do it. As soon as it left my hand, I knew it was short.”
The Eagles’ defense also came up short when it counted.
Coach Andy Reid and running back LeSean McCoy had helped the Eagles take a 24-17 lead in the third quarter. Officials originally ruled that Bears running back Matt Forte was down on contact after a carry, but Reid tossed his red challenge flag. Replays showed Forte fumbled on a hit by defensive end Trent Cole and that defensive tackle Mike Patterson recovered at the Bears’ 41-yard line. Just two plays later, McCoy used a crunching block by left tackle Jason Peters on safety Chris Conte to rumble for a 33-yard touchdown that put the Eagles ahead with 5:52 left in the period.
McCoy has scored in all eight games this season, equaling the franchise mark for consecutive games with at least one TD set by legendary running back Steve Van Buren in 1947.
But the defense couldn’t hold on. The Bears countered with 13 unanswered points.
Gould’s second field goal of the game cut the Eagles’ advantage to 24-20. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler then engineered a 51-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Earl Bennett. Cutler kept the drive alive with several magical plays, including one where he twisted away from the pass rush, fell to the turf, got up before defensive tackle Mike Patterson and ends Jason Babin and Trent Cole could reach him, and flipped a short pass to running back Marion Barber for an 8-yard gain.
The Eagles made some big plays on defense – rookie linebacker Brian Rolle returned a fumble 22 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter – but it was not enough. The vaunted defensive line failed to record a single sack. Cutler completed 18-of-32 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions. Forte shook off two fumbles to rush for 133 yards on 24 carries.
“This was a very frustrating loss because of what we did as a defense,” Babin said. “Our offense gave us enough juice to win the game, but we didn’t do our job on defense. That makes this loss a little hard to swallow.”
The Eagles trailed 17-10 at halftime but opened the third quarter with an impressive 78-yard drive that ended with seldom-used running back Ronnie Brown scoring on a 4-yard plunge into the end zone to force a 17-17 tie. Brown, a former standout for the Miami Dolphins, signed with the Eagles intending to be McCoy’s backup, but was buried on the bench after committing a costly fumble in the Eagles’ 24-23 loss to San Francisco on Oct. 2.
A late mistake in the first half by Eagles punt returner DeSean Jackson enabled Chicago to take a 17-10 halftime lead.
Jackson coughed up a punt deep in his own territory when hit by the Bears’ Zack Bowman with a minute left in the 2nd quarter, leading to a 2-yard touchdown run by Barber with 43 seconds remaining in the half. Chicago originally looked as if it would have to settle for a short field goal, but a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty on Babin extended the drive.
“We just made too many mistakes,” Reid said. “You can’t do that against a good football team and Chicago is a good football team.”
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Chicago, Forte 24-133, Barber 9-31, Cutler 1-0. Philadelphia, McCoy 16-71, Vick 5-34, D.Jackson 1-10, Brown 1-4.
PASSING–Chicago, Cutler 18-32-0-208. Philadelphia, Vick 21-38-1-213, Henry 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING–Chicago, Bennett 5-95, R.Williams 3-46, Forte 3-17, Spaeth 2-13, Knox 1-14, Hester 1-12, Barber 1-8, Clutts 1-4, Davis 1-(minus 1).Philadelphia, Celek 7-60, McCoy 5-46, Maclin 4-63, Avant 2-20, D.Jackson 2-16, Harbor 1-8.
PUNT RETURNS–Chicago, Hester 1-19. Philadelphia, D.Jackson 1-(minus 9).
KICKOFF RETURNS–Chicago, Hester 3-30, Knox 2-21. Philadelphia, Lewis 4-93.
TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS–Chicago, Urlacher 10-1-0, Briggs 5-0-0, Conte 4-0-0, Moore 3-1-0, Wright 3-1-0, Jennings 3-0-0, Roach 2-1-0, Peppers 2-0-1, Idonije 2-0-0, Steltz 2-0-0, Tillman 2-0-0, Melton 1-1-0, Okoye 1-1-0, Bowman 1-0-0, DeCicco 1-0-0, Forte 1-0-0, Walters 1-0-0.Philadelphia, Coleman 10-2-0, Chaney 7-3-0, Rolle 5-1-0, Graham 4-0-0, Fokou 3-0-0, Jarrett 3-0-0, Clayton 2-0-0, Cole 2-0-0, Patterson 2-0-0, Rodgers-Cromartie 2-0-0, Samuel 2-0-0, Tapp 1-2-0, Allen 1-1-0, Jenkins 1-1-0, Anderson 1-0-0, Asomugha 1-0-0, Hughes 1-0-0, D.Jackson 1-0-0, Landri 1-0-0, Schmitt 1-0-0, Vick 1-0-0, Laws 0-1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS–Chicago, Wright 1-36.
MISSED FIELD GOALS-None.
There were so many crazy twists and turns in this one, I can’t do it justice by summing it up in words. Who could possibly describe how or why Todd Herremans suddenly was reduced to mush on the right side of the offensive line? Who could foresee the great game Bears RG Lance Louis played in place of Gabe Carimi? And who game-planned for Earl Bennett, who killed us all night long with key receptions and YAC? I sure know I didn’t.
It just wasn’t happening for the Eagles when it needed to happen. That’s all I’ve got. We once again were unable to beat Chicago’s “Cover 2” which was brilliantly disguised and camouflaged last night. Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs killed us from their LB positions… and I will have words for the Royal Farms clerk who told me yesterday not to worry, Urlacher was “washed up”… Yeah, I should be so washed up… All I’ve got now is a psychedelic hope of an 8-0 run to finish the season… and even 11-5 might not be good enough for a Wild Card in this crazy season.
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