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Ben Johnson is obviously more accomplished than Nick Sirianni. But, be honest, did you find yourself jealous of how the Bears’ head coach gave his team an edge last night? All while the Eagles’ head coach struggled to maximize what he could control to help his team win? Or is that just me?
Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles news and links …
Roob’s Instant Observations after Eagles embarrass themselves against
Bears – NBCSP
This was a game where the Bears’ coaches thoroughly out-coached the Eagles’ coaches. Ben Johnson had a masterful plan to neutralize the Eagles’ defense, keep them off balance, keep them guessing, confuse them and render them utterly ineffective. He completely out-coached Vic Fangio and that’s not something you see very often. And Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had a perfect plan to stifle the Eagles’ offense and take away everything Sean Mannion wanted to do and render Jalen Hurts ineffective. And Nick Sirianni just didn’t have his team prepared. What’s really discouraging is that the Bears made all the halftime adjustments. The Eagles had some good momentum with the touchdown just before halftime, but the Bears outscored them 17-0 in the second half, outgained them 199-62 and held the Eagles to just three first downs. The Eagles have been outplayed in the second half in all three games, getting outscored by a total of 40-20 and outgained 563-334. That’s alarming. The Eagles didn’t just get outplayed. They got out-coached.
Eagles-Bears takeaway: Lackluster play catches up with the Birds in Chicago – BGN
You could feel this game coming. In Week 1, the Eagles struggled to beat the Commanders in Washington 24-22. They followed it up with a last-second, 24-20 victory on the road against the Titans, who finished with the NFL’s second-worst record a season ago. The defense had put together two lackluster performances against weaker opponents. The offense was bailed out by Jalen Hurts playing hero ball. And so last night’s 27-7 shellacking at the hands of Ben Johnson’s Bears in Chicago shouldn’t have been too surprising. Hopefully, it’s a wake-up call. Against an opponent superior to the two they played previously, Hurts couldn’t paper over the offensive line’s continuing and worrisome struggles, and the defensive line’s inability to pressure the quarterback continued despite the return of Jonathan Greenard. Meanwhile, the secondary suffered breakdowns throughout the game and allowed a third-string QB who they beat in the… checks notes… 2017 NFC Championship Game put up a 110.8 rating against them.
Eagles Downed: Bears BEAT UP Jalen Hurts, Eagles D in Ugly MNF Loss – PHLY Eagles Post Game Show
Case Keenum exacted his revenge on the Eagles with a spotlight game in the twilight of his career as the Eagles defense looked sloppy and ill-prepared while Jalen Hurts threw a second-half interception, Nick Sirianni forgot to try to win the game and Andy Dalton did what Andy Dalton has done since joining the Eagles. The Eagles fell to 2-1 with the Los Angeles Rams on deck next Sunday. Super Bowl champion Vinny Curry, Miles Johnson, Brandon Lee Gowton and Bo Wulf react to the game, with insight from Fran Duffy and EJ Smith, live on the scene in Chicago.
Bears show resilience in primetime win over Eagles – Windy City Gridiron
Coming into Monday night after a 9-3 loss to the Vikings, with third-string quarterback Case Keenum thrust into a starting role, the Bears had several question marks around them in Week 3. They answered those questions in about as decisively as you could possibly imagine. The Bears trounced the Eagles 27-7 on Monday night, excelling on both sides of the ball in a win to improve their record to 2-1 for the season. Keenum looked impressive in his first start since 2023, and Chicago got back on its feet to get back into the win column. In a game where many doubted the Bears, they bounced back and showed the nation what they’re capable of. Here are some of my takeaways from Monday’s victory.
Case Keenum went from forgotten QB to Bears hero on Monday Night Football – SB Nation
Keenum completed 24-of-34 passes for 247 yards and a pair of touchdowns on a night where everyone, including Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, expected the Bears to run the football as much as possible to help their third-string quarterback. While the Bears struggled to get the running game going until late, and Johnson even spoke about the need to run the football during a halftime interview with ESPN, Keenum kept slinging it. And slinging it well. His first touchdown pass, an underneath shovel pass to Luther Burden, came as a result of an incredible individual effort from the wide receiver and his teammates, as he bullied his way into the end zone after being initially stopped well short of the goal line. Keenum’s second touchdown pass, however, had a higher level of difficulty.
Handing out 10 awards from the Eagles-Bears game – PhillyVoice
3) The ‘Again… WHY?!’ Award ⁉️: Andy Dalton. I’ll never understand what the Eagles see in Andy Dalton. He has had a long NFL career that he should be proud of, but physically, he’s going to be 39 in October and there’s simply no upside there at all. He had some really bad tape last season, and at this stage of his career he doesn’t have a strong arm and he’s not a threat as a runner. When he was at his best during training camp, he got the ball out quickly and on time. When he was at his worst, his physical flaws were obvious. Whatever you may think of Tanner McKee — some fans like him more than others — he’s better than Dalton. In fairness, Dalton was put into a difficult situation. He was being asked to close out a long drive with a TD. Of course, that should really be the benefit of a player in his 16th NFL season — that he has seen it all and is just ready for those moments. But, for those of us who watched training camp all summer, the INT wasn’t much of a surprise.
Windy City Heat – Iggles Blitz
Vic Fangio is a brilliant defensive coach, but either he doesn’t have the right players or he didn’t have the right plan. Chicago’s offense had open receivers way too often on Monday night. Keenum wasn’t sacked and the Eagles were only credited with 3 QB hits. This defense has been disappointing in all three games so far. This was the first game where you can argue that they were flat out bad. Jalen Hurts looked terrific last week and got us all excited. He stunk up the joint on MNF. He missed some easy throws. He didn’t look comfortable in the pocket. He made some bad reads and forced the ball into coverage. Discouraging performance. Sean Mannion did a solid job in the first half, but then made some awful calls in the second half. You can see the huge gap between a guru like Ben Johnson and a noob like Mannion. Nick Sirianni didn’t have a great performance either. He made some questionable decisions.
The Early Bird: Nick Sirianni’s fourth-down balk, Eagles defensive woes underscore a ‘true team loss’ to Bears – PHLY Eagles
None of this is to say that Sirianni’s decision alone lost the Eagles the game at Soldier Field. Sirianni aptly characterized it as a “true team loss,” underscored by both the Eagles defense and offense turning in one of the worst performances each group has had over the last several seasons. “We all have to own that loss right there,” Sirianni said. “I don’t think anybody coached well. I don’t think anyone played well. It was a true team loss. And when it’s a true team loss, I have to look at myself first. We weren’t ready to coach, we weren’t ready to play. And that ultimately starts and ends with me.” Offensively, this was the worst game the Eagles have had since the 2024 season in terms of EPA/drive and ranks 40th out of the last 42 games in success rate. The former metric is heavily weighted down by three costly turnovers: a lost fumble from Tank Bigsby early in the game, a costly red-zone interception from Andy Dalton with Jalen Hurts watching from the medical tent while impatiently waiting for the NFL concussion spotter to officially clear him to return to the game, and a confounding miscue from Hurts on the aforementioned fourth-and-5 at the end of the third quarter.
Eagles-Bears on ‘Monday Night Football’: What We Learned from Chicago’s 27-7 win over Philadelphia – NFL.com
Philadelphia finally gets bitten by uneven play. The Eagles made it to 2-0 by the skin of their teeth, stopping a Commanders’ two-point conversion in Week 1 to avoid overtime and requiring a game-winning two-minute drill to dispatch the now 0-3 Titans in Week 2. The margin for error should presumably have been manageable against the Bears’ third-string quarterback. Unfortunately for the Philly faithful, the Eagles went on to make a parade of errors. Even while turning the Bears one dimensional early on by allowing only 27 rushing yards in the first half — a great accomplishment, considering Chicago ran all over them for 281 yards last season — the Eagles could not stop Case Keenum and Co. consistently through the air. Penalties were a big problem, as well. Philadelphia doubled Chicago’s five penalties, getting tagged for 10 infractions and 61 penalty yards. The secondary committed three penalties that resulted in first downs, two of which came on third-down plays. With the game still technically in reach, defensive tackle Moro Ojomo committed a neutral zone infraction on a fourth-and-2 when the Bears seemed content to let Keenum break off the rust on his hard count until the play clock expired. Too many mistakes let the Bears blow things open, and the Eagles offense was too stuck in the mud to do anything about it.
Nick Sirianni has a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it, after Eagles’ weaknesses are exposed in Chicago – Inquirer
Ultimately, these are Roseman problems. Sirianni’s issues extend to how the Eagles execute and right now they’re uncharacteristically undisciplined. They had three turnovers on offense and failed to take away the ball on defense. Overall, they’re minus-5 in turnover differential, a statistic Sirianni considers of the utmost importance. The Eagles had 10 penalties vs. the Bears, with so many either bringing back a long gain or giving the Bears life on third or fourth down. While the Eagles failed to get Chicago to jump on fourth down, defensive tackle Moro Ojomo carelessly committed a neutral zone infraction on fourth-and-2 early in the fourth quarter.
Sirianni regrets reaction to hit on QB Hurts in Eagles’ loss – ESPN
Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni expressed “remorse” over his reaction to the sideline hit by Chicago Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson on Jalen Hurts that temporarily knocked his quarterback out of the game midway through the second quarter Monday night. Cameras showed Sirianni appearing to shout expletives toward Jackson after the play. “Obviously, you want to always fight for your players, and protect your players. I always come away when I have a moment like that with remorse of, ‘Man, I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the best of me,'” Sirianni said after the Eagles’ 27-7 loss.
Root of Eagles’ problems revealed by decision to punt in ‘true team loss’ to Bears – The Athletic
It did not cost the Eagles the game. But it was part of why the Eagles flew back to Philadelphia with a 2-1 record, lamenting one of the ugliest performances of the Nick Sirianni-Jalen Hurts era. They were outclassed by the Bears, who started a third-string quarterback. This was apparent on both sides of the ball: The Eagles were sloppier and committed three turnovers. It was their least-efficient offensive performance since Sirianni took over as head coach. They insisted after two narrow victories that they would not apologize for how they win, but the survive-and-advance mentality of September football is only applicable if there’s week-to-week improvement. This loss represented regression. “I think we all have to own that loss right there,” Sirianni said. “I don’t think anybody coached well. I don’t think anyone played well. That was a true team loss. … I have to look at myself first. We weren’t ready to coach, we weren’t ready to play, and that ultimately starts and ends with me.”
T.J. Edwards got nothing from eavesdropping on Eagles’ huddle – PFT
Monday night’s game between the Eagles and Bears featured a moment in which former Eagles (now Bears) linebacker T.J. Edwards tiptoed toward the huddle to try to hear what Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was saying. Then the play started, and Edwards intercepted a pass from Hurts. After the game, Edwards was asked whether he picked anything up from his eavesdropping attempt. “No,” Edwards said, via Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. “I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll hear some familiar stuff,’ and like they must have changed language up because I had no idea what they were talking about.”
NFL Week 3 Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Eagles-Bears – PFF
Philadelphia started the game with Johnny Mundt as its primary tight end, while E.J. Jenkins joined him in 12 personnel, similar to the rotation Philadelphia used after Goedert suffered his injury last week. Ertz entered on the second play of the game and mixed in for a few snaps out of 11 personnel throughout the first half. His role expanded during the two-minute drill to close the half, when he remained on the field throughout the drive. Ertz returned to a rotational role in the second half but began mixing in slightly more frequently. That still isn’t enough playing time for Ertz to be fantasy-relevant in the short term, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see his snap count increase next week as he becomes more familiar with the playbook.
What Went Well: Case Keenum’s Return – The Ringer
Ben Johnson put together a masterpiece in play calling as Chicago beat Philadelphia 27-7 with no. 3 quarterback Case Keenum, who before Monday night hadn’t thrown a pass in a regular-season game since 2023. Keenum cruised against the Eagles defense, ending the game with a pair of touchdowns and 247 passing yards while completing 70 percent of his passes. And Keenum wasn’t just good; there were moments when the game looked as easy for Keenum as it often does for starting quarterback Caleb Williams. It doesn’t get much easier than this:
Spadaro: How can Eagles get back on winning track? – PhiladelphiaEagles.com
1) Play with a lead. It changes everything and it has been elusive for the Eagles through three weeks. The offense has yet to score in the first quarter, so as the team game plans for the Rams, putting together a great offensive script is imperative. There have been times when the Eagles have moved the football early – notably in the game at Tennessee – but the offense has not yet been able to put it all together early. The month of September is a time for discovery in the NFL, so the Eagles are going to be realistic with their evaluation and make corrections. It isn’t all the responsibility of the offense, of course. The defense has to come up with some three-and-out possessions and create some momentum when it has the chance to do so.
NFL requests Trump administration to take down video featuring Brian Dawkins highlights – Awful Announcing
The Department of Homeland Security posted a video montage on social media on Sunday featuring Hall of Fame safety and Philadelphia Eagles legend Brian Dawkins’ iconic pregame walkout routine and chanting “The time has come” to himself before switching to highlights of some of his biggest hits over his nine-time Pro Bowl and five-time All-Pro career. The video, posted to X in response to a report from Leading Report that a large migrant caravan was headed toward the United States’ Southern border, was captioned “Our time has come.” On Monday, The Athletic’s Devon Henderson reported that the NFL has asked DHS to remove the video.
Rams’ Super Bowl hopes might already be in jeopardy – Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams’ loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday night was inexcusable and might’ve put their season and Super Bowl hopes in jeopardy. If that’s too much of an overreaction just three games into the season, let me ask you this: Have the Rams resembled a contender at any point through the first three weeks? And beating up on a Giants squad playing a backup quarterback for much of the game doesn’t count! After getting blown out by the 49ers in the season opener, this was the team’s chance to find redemption and beat a talented, albeit highly flawed Broncos team. Instead of doing that, they allowed Denver to …
Commanders QB Jayden Daniels traveling to London, possibly playing Colts – Hogs Haven
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels will travel with the team to London in advance of a Week 4 clash with the Indianapolis Colts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. While it’s uncertain, and seemingly unlikely that Daniels will play in that game, the door’s open just the slightest crack. We know for sure that Daniels will start practicing with the team this week, not too long after suffering a dislocated left elbow during a Week 2 loss at Dallas. That starts Daniels’ return to play process, an important step in getting him back on the field in games.
J.J. McCarthy trade: NY Giants acquire quarterback from Minnesota Vikings – Big Blue View
Maybe the idea of adding another 23-year-old quarterback with NFL experience and upside was too good for the Giants to pass up. Both as a hedge against Winston’s ups and downs, and perhaps as a long-term option if Dart doesn’t become what the Giants believe he will. I have mixed feelings about the trade. If McCarthy couldn’t handle Minnesota or succeed with quarterback guru Kevin O’Connell as his coach, what makes the Giants believe he can succeed in New York? Does this open them to questions about whether they full believe in Dart’s future? I can’t blame them for taking a big swing and getting the best quarterback they could get. And, I certainly think this is a better swing than Justin Fields or Gardner Minshew. It just comes with a lot of questions.
The Cowboys secondary has become depleted – Blogging The Boys
As you can see, the secondary was down three players entering the Baltimore game and lost two more. That’s a total of five starters/key role players on the defense. This wave of injuries is hurtful to a Christian Parker defense because of how he uses his defensive backs. He’s heavily reliant on safeties, having three on the field a great majority of the time. But it’s not just the quantity, it’s the quality. He requires his safeties to be versatile so they can be used to disguise looks and provide late-snap rotations to sneakily switch coverage responsibilities, making it hard on opposing offenses.
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