The Bears ran all over the Eagles in Friday’s 24-15 win and it’s been a long time since a Vic Fangio-coached defense has been pushed around like that.
Chicago piled up 281 rushing yards in the win, which Sheil Kapadia of TheRinger.com points out is the most that any team has put up against a Fangio defense since he was the coordinator in Houston during the 2005 season. Fangio has been the coordinator in Philadelphia since the start of the 2024 season and they had not allowed more than 174 in a single game until Friday.
Former Eagle D’Andre Swift ran 18 times for 125 yards and rookie Kyle Monangai had 22 carries for 130 yards. Both running backs also scored touchdowns in the game.
While most of the attention has been paid to the sputtering Eagles offense this season, that performance gives the Eagles something else to focus on as they head into a Week 14 Monday night road game against the Chargers.
There was a lot of talk coming into Week 13 about how the Bears have fattened their record against lesser opposition, but Black Friday showed that they are not a team to be discounted in the NFC.
D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai each ran for a touchdown while combining to run the ball 40 times for 255 yards in a 24-15 win over the Eagles in Philadelphia. The victory was their fifth straight and ninth in 10 games. It also moves them to 9-3 and keeps them ahead of the Packers, who won on Thursday, in the NFC North heading into next Sunday’s showdown between the teams in Green Bay.
Swift’s touchdown staked the Bears to a 7-0 lead and the Eagles offense struggled to get anything going in the first half, but it remained a one-score game when an A.J. Brown touchdown catch brought the Eagles within one point with eight minutes to play in the third quarter. The Eagles missed the extra point, though, and things would go downhill quickly for the Eagles.
After a Jalyx Hunt interception got them a chance to take the lead, Jalen Hurts was stripped by Bears cornerback Nashon Wright on a tush push and the Bears rode Monangai to a score that increased their lead to eight points. A quick three-and-out by the Eagles was followed by Caleb Williams hitting tight end Cole Kmet for a 28-yard score that made the result pretty academic.
Hurts threw an interception in addition to losing that fumble and many of the season-long issues with the Eagles offense were front and center in Friday’s loss. Saquon Barkley made little impact and the league leaders in three-and-outs had four of them over the course of the afternoon.
The Eagles are now 8-4 and still hold a clear lead in the NFC East, although you’d be forgiven for not realizing that amid the boos that rained down at Lincoln Financial Field before the place emptied out well ahead of the final whistle. They’ll play in front of what will likely be another Eagles-heavy crowd at SoFi Stadium against the Chargers next Monday night, but the reaction won’t be any happier if the teams put forth the same kind of effort.
Just when it looked like the Eagles had grabbed the momentum in the third quarter on Friday afternoon, the bottom dropped out on them.
Edge rusher Jalyx Hunt intercepted Bears quarterback Caleb Williams a few plays after the Eagles cut the Bears’ lead to 10-9 on an A.J. Brown touchdown catch and the Eagles moved the ball inside the Chicago 15-yard line. They faced a third-and-1, which everyone in the NFL knows is tush push time and Bears cornerback Nashon Wright came up with a winning way to stop the play.
As Jalen Hurts was trying to grind his way to the first down, Wright stripped him of the ball and recovered the fumble. Bears rookie running back Kyle Monangai ran the ball for 73 yards on the ensuing drive, including a four-yard touchdown that pushed the Bears’ lead to 17-9.
Monangai has 17 carries for 121 yards and D’Andre Swift has 14 carries for 113 yards as the Eagles have failed to come up with the same kinds of answers to the Bears ground game that Wright came up with for the tush push.
The Eagles got out of their own way long enough to put the ball in the end zone in the third quarter of Friday’s game against the Bears, but they still trail their visitors from the NFC North.
Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 33-yard touchdown that marked their first trip to the end zone in more than 78 minutes of game action. Kicker Jake Elliott missed the extra point, however, so the Bears still lead 10-9 with eight minutes to play in the third quarter.
Hurts and Brown also hooked up for a 16-yard gain earlier in the drive and Hurts had a 23-yard run to keep the chains moving. The Eagles also benefitted from a very late hit by Bears defensive lineman Gervon Dexter on Hurts after a pass.
The Eagles’ score came after Hurts was intercepted and the team went three-and-out on their first two possessions, but their defense held the Bears in check and the game can still swing Philly’s way if the offense can keep things moving.
After the Cowboys completed a pair of wins only four days apart against the Super Bowl LIX teams, we made the case for coach Brian Schottenheimer getting coach of the year consideration.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott would undoubtedly vote for Schottenheimer, if Dak had a ballot.
“It’s been amazing,” Prescott told reporters after the game, when asked about Schottenheimer’s leadership in recent weeks. “It has. And I just credit him for being the same, being consistent, and it’s something that he talks about, but to actually watch him be consistent and be the same man through the adversity and now through some success, right?
“He’s a hell of a leader. He’s the right guy for the job. We’re all following him. I know you all see clips of the emotions and guys follow him, but that’s just throughout the day. If you were in every team meeting, you would understand that’s who Schotty is. That’s the way he’s going to lead this group and we’re going to follow, we’ve put ourselves with these wins and against these teams in a solid situation. But I know he’s going to continue to press us and sticking to the process. And like I said, Sunday when we go in, this won’t matter anymore. And that’s an echo from Schotty and that’s him doing a hell of a job through everything that we’ve been through to be honest.”
The win over the Chiefs came three weeks after the death of second-year defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland, which happened at a time when the players had scattered for the bye-week. At a time when it would have been very easy to go through the motions for the balance of the season, Schottenheimer got everyone on the same page and moving in the right direction.
The challenge continues in six days, against the Lions in Detroit.
“We can be whatever we want to be,” Prescott said. “Everything’s in front of us. I just was telling the offense that when we’re in those kneel downs at the end of the game, but it’s not going to happen next Thursday. It’s going to happen Sunday when we get in the building. It’s just taking it one day at a time, putting everything in, understanding that we win during the week with our preparation and that we just get to come out here and play the game that we love and playing it free.
“All these wins, all they’ve done is just given us more and more confidence. And this brotherhood is as strong and as tight as I’ve been around and seen and we’re playing elite complimentary football right now. . . . We can be proud of what we’ve done, but we’ve got to push forward knowing that that’s all behind us. And what’s important is what’s in front of us. And anything that we’ve done up to this point really doesn’t matter. We’ve still put ourselves in a tough position. Doesn’t mean that we’ve got out of it just because the two teams that we’ve beat. Next week’s just as important as this game was.”
It’s the right attitude. And it’s the only way toward what they’re trying to accomplish, especially since the competition is and will be fierce for wild-card spots in the NFC.
Of course, there’s also a chance the Cowboys will win the division. If the Eagles don’t snap out of it quickly during their Black Friday game against the Bears, the Cowboys will be closer in the rear-view mirror than anyone ever would have expected them to be.
