Case Of The Monday

CHICAGO – The downtown Chicago backdrop perched behind Soldier Field set the scene for a prime time clash between the Eagles and Bears.

Going into the season, the big draw was expected to be the quarterbacks on both sidelines, Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams, but Williams was sidelined by a hamstring injury.

With Bears backup Tyson Bagent missing practice time last week due to a concussion, the Bears turned to 38-year-old Case Keenum to pilot the offense, giving the Eagles a clear advantage going in.

Any perceived advantage the Eagles might’ve had quickly faded, however, as Keenum marched the Bears offense down the field for a touchdown on the opening drive, an 11-play, 66-yard drive that covered six minutes, 13 seconds. From there, it was relatively smooth sailing for the home team, which upended the Eagles, 27-7.

The Eagles managed to keep Bears running backs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai in check this time, but were unable to contain Keenum and Bears pass catchers. The Eagles also committed three turnovers, interceptions by quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Andy Dalton, and a fumble by running back Tank Bigsby.

Keenum, who completed 24 of 34 pass attempts for 247 yards and two touchdowns, played a prominent role in fueling the Bears to victory, but the Eagles also shot themselves in the foot far too often with penalties and turnovers. The tackling, problematic last week in Nashville, was again spotty.

For the Eagles, Hurts completed 16 of 25 pass attempts for 153 yards and an interception. Running back Saquon Barkley accumulated 82 yards on 15 carries, while wide receiver DeVonta Smith led all Eagles pass catchers in receptions (6) and yards (65).

On the defensive side, Zach Baun, Jihaad Campbell and Drew Mukuba each combined for nine tackles apiece.

Transaction update: Ahead of Monday night’s game, the Eagles elevated TE Zach Ertz and LB Chance Campbell from the practice squad, the first elevation for both players.

Somehow, Bears 38-year-old third string QB Case Keenum outplayed Jalen Hurts in Chicago’s 27-7 blowout win.

Let’s get to the observations:

* The opening kickoff featured DT Ty Robinson in coverage. Nothing really to elaborate on this, other than it’s not often you see defensive tackles in kick coverage, and he’s a new addition to the group. Interesting.

* Rough first series for the Eagles’ defense, as the Bears’ offense produced an 11-play, 66-yard scoring march to open the game. Bears HC Ben Johnson called a balanced opening drive, keeping the Eagles off balance. Marcus Epps started at safety, but with the Bears running with some heavy packages, Cooper DeJean logged a handful of reps at safety. Veteran QB Case Keenum, who methodically piloted the 6:13 series, capped the drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to WR Luther Burden, who powered through a host of Eagles defenders – led by Epps – to reach the end zone. The tackling woes from last week in Nashville carried over early.

* On the Eagles’ first offensive series, the group found something in the running game, with Barkley producing 16 yards on consecutive carries. The first run, a 12-yarder to the left, was sprung by a Cam Jurgens block. The drive, however, stalled following a 2nd-and-6 play in which Jalen Hurts was called for intentional grounding, enforced at the Chicago 40. On that play, TE E.J. Jenkins came across the formation to pick up OLB Montez Sweat, who already had upfield penetration and bore down on Hurts to force the throwaway.

The second offensive series began with a 19-yard Barkley run that was called back due to a holding penalty by RG Tyler Steen, setting up a 2nd-and-20. Hurts then checked it down to RB Tank Bigsby for a pickup of 5 yards, but Bigsby fumbled at the Eagles’ 15 and Bears S Xavier Woods recovered at the 15.

The fumble was forced by Bears OLB Austin Booker. That was the Eagles’ third turnover in two weeks, which is atypical for a team that drills and prioritizes ball security as much as any team. I didn’t notice much of Bigsby in the backfield thereafter, though I did observe him repping on the punt team.

* Keeping with the running game, I thought Barkley ran hard and looked explosive when reaching the second level. He finished with 82 yards on 15 carries, but the personality of the game shifted fairly quickly, necessitating a pivot to the passing game. Still, if you’re looking for a silver lining, the ground game was more effective, though the Eagles continue to find themselves behind the sticks – a trend that has persisted through the first three games.

* On the second defensive series, Fangio incorporated a bit of a rotation at safety between Epps and Michael Carter II, which he mentioned last week would be a possibility. That rotation continued throughout the game. It seems Ben Johnson went into this game with the intent on targeting the Eagles’ safeties, as Keenum peppered the intermediate levels of the field in a first half in which he compiled 149 passing yards. With veteran DB Kenny Moore on the practice squad, it’s hard to imagine he won’t factor into the safety equation once fully up the speed.

Mukuba, trailing on the 41-yard touchdown to Bears WR Kalif Raymond, spoke about the play after the game:

“I gotta go back,” he said. “I gotta go back and watch that. I don’t really know what happened for sure. So, I can’t really say what happened, but as a post safety, it’s my job to get him down.”

Mukuba also spoke about the aforementioned rotation beside him, and if it impacts him:

“I still gotta do my job regardless of who’s out there with me,” he said. “So, I mean, whoever’s out there with me, I still got a responsibility and a job to do, so I’m gonna do that. And I mean, I work good with both Marcus and Mike, so it don’t even bother me whoever’s out there. We just gonna go ball.” 

* With the game potentially teetering, Jalen Hurts took a nasty shot from Bears LB D’Marco Jackson as he reached the sidelined and momentarily remained down. Hurts briefly took a trip to the medical tent, bringing on Andy Dalton. On a 3rd-and-2 from the Chicago 2, Dalton seemed to stare down WR Dontayvion Wicks in the back of the end zone, and was picked off by rookie S Dillon Thieneman. As a veteran with 169 career starts under his belt, it’s reasonable to expect Dalton to make a better decision there. And with Barkley finding success on the ground, asking Dalton to throw there was a curious decision.

Dalton spoke about the play after the game:

“They had schemed it up pretty good,” he said. “I obviously didn’t see the safety in the middle, and he just read my eyes. My eyes were over there and he made the play. So, again, I can’t put this team in that situation. And so, costly decision.”

Following the interception, Dalton mentioned that he apologized to Hurts: “I was in a bad spot, but I obviously put him in a bad spot, too.”

Hurts would return on the ensuing series, capping an 8-play, 67-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge with one second remaining until the break.

* The last time the two teams met, on Black Friday at Lincoln Financial Field, the Bears gashed the Eagles on the ground, to the tune of 281 rushing yards. The Eagles bottled up the Bears in this meeting, holding RBs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monongai to a combined 115 yards on 30 carries. The Eagles did a good job with block destruction and rallied to the football. In this game, though, the defense allowed 38-year-old Case Keenum – who hadn’t started a game since Dec. 24, 2023 – to establish a rhythm when taking to the air, effectively keeping the Eagles off-balance.

* The Eagles were charged with 10 penalties on Monday night for a total of 61 yards. Conversely, the Bears picked up five (45 yards). For reference, the Eagles had nine penalties coming into Week 3. The Bears won the time of possession, 36:53 to 23:07. They also picked up considerably more first downs, producing 24 to the Eagles’ 14.

* Faced with a 4th-and-1 in the third quarter, it appeared the Eagles would attempt a push play, but instead took a delay of game penalty, attempting to draw the Bears offsides. Down 20-7 on their own 49, that was a spot where the Eagles have been aggressive in the past. Later, on a 4th-and-5, the Eagles elected to go for it, but Hurts – looking for Smith – was picked off by LB T.J. Edwards, who read it the whole way. The two appeared to share an animated conversation in the aftermath. As an aside, I’m curious about the thought process to go for one and not the other – minutes apart – with the offense in need of a spark.

* Apart from another screen that went nowhere, I liked the way the Eagles used Lemon, who picked up 19 and 13 yards, respectively, in the intermediate levels of the field. On the 13-yard reception, Lemon showcased some wiggle in the open field. One positive to take away from this game is that Lemon, targeted three times in this one, appears to be carving out a more prominent role. It appears his confidence is growing. In other wide receiver news, it was another productive outing for DeVonta Smith, who made the most of his opportunities. Smith, who reeled in 6 of 8 pass targets for 65 yards, provided a highlighted reel reception on a 2nd-and-5 second quarter heave in which he outmuscled CB Jaylon Johnson for a 30-yard gain. Smith did an excellent job high-pointing the football.

On the screen play to Lemon, Zach Ertz highlighted that as a play in which he could have executed better:

“On that play in particular, I should have seen the corner that was covered to the corner,” he explained. “If he sees the bubble screen, he’s gonna be really aggressive on the inside, and I kinda took more of an outside release thinking he was just gonna relate to me on the bubble screen blocking for Makai, and he kinda knifed the gap. And so, for me, I’ve seen that look a thousand times in my career and I just gotta put the two and two together that in that coverage with the bubble screen to him, he’s not gonna relate to my release.”

* Not much production from the Eagles’ three tight ends. Monday night marked the return of legend Zach Ertz, who pulled in one reception for nine yards. Veteran Johnny Mundt tallied a 4-yard reception, while Jenkins didn’t yield a target. While the production in the first game without Dallas Goedert left much to be desired, I suspect Ertz will become more involved as he logs more practices under his belt.

Ertz talked about the emotion of returning to the field for the first time in 9 1/2 months:

“A lot of emotions, obviously,” he said. “Just a blessing to be out there. Last time I was on a football field, really tough injury, really tough rehab, really long process. So, just kind of the weight of the, really, past 9 1/2 months was a little overwhelming, especially with all the Eagles fans and just the reception kind of running onto the field. So, yeah, definitely a lot of emotions. And like I said, just a blessing.”

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com