On The Road To Victory

With a record of 13-1, the top seat in the NFC and NFL all together, the Philadelphia Eagles return home to the city of Brotherly Love, after a somewhat disappointing victory over the 3-11 Chicago Bears.

Why is a win "somewhat disappointing" you may ask? Well... when the top team faces one of the bottom tier teams in the league, anything short of a blowout can is viewed as disappointing. The Eagles flew into Chicago as an 8.5 point favorite to win the game, which they did, but at many times during the match up, it seemed like they might let the game slip away, sort of like they did with in the Week 10 loss to the Washington Commanders.

The game started shaky for both teams, the Bears had a few penalties on their first possession that set them back at bit, until Justin Fields threw a 20 yard bomb to Equanimeous St. Brown to gain their first 1st down. St. Brown was injured on the play however, eliminating the Bears top receiver. You would think with all of this happening on the first drive, Philly would be a shoe-in to win the game, but you'd be wrong, at least at this point.

The Bears end up punting the ball away after Avonte Maddox broke up a 4th and 2 pass attempt by Justin Fields, and the Eagles took over for the first time. Jalen Hurts threw a great pass to Devonta Smith, who made sure to get himself open when he saw his QB was getting chased down outside the pocket. It was a really good 1st down conversion, but on the very next play Jalen Hurts threw his first interception of the game on a bomb to A.J. Brown, a very bad call after a very good conversion. The Bears took over once again, and on the next drive, go 3 and out after Josh Sweat hits his 8.5th sack of the season. All seems good so far right? Well... I guess so, but there is still no score in a game of top tier vs bottom of the barrel.

Well, the Eagles take a note from their Windy City opponents and also go 3 and out on the next drive after 2 failed pass attempts to WR 1 and 2. The Eagles at this point seemed pretty ineffective at the deep pass. No points on either side of the board as the Bears once again have possession, after Brett Kern makes his Eagles debut in place of Punter Arryn Siposs, who is out with an injury. Kern was a pro-bowl punter with the Tennessee Titans just a season ago, but his first punt as an Eagle was iffy at best. Thankfully he only had to kick the ball away one more time in the game.

Chicago once again is unsuccessful as well, after a few lackluster attempts, and a huge sack by Javon Hargrave on 3rd down with 1 yard to go. Despite the lack of performance by the Eagles offense, at least by the end of quarter 1, the defense seemed to be firing on all cylinders.

The second quarter was a little better, Britain Covey brought in a fair-catch at the 19 yard line, and on the next drive Hurts hit Smitty for a nice pass, and an even better 45 yard gain, as Smith outran a defender and raced down to the 34 yard line. A couple of plays later Hurts hit Brown on a slant for 16 yards after getting a defender on a fake hand-off to Miles Sanders. This drive was looking very good until Tyree Jackson got a holding call during a short throw to Quez Watkins. Right after that, Brown had a back of the end zone pass deflected by a defender that should have been an easy TD grab. On the following 3rd down play, Hurts hit Brown for a few extra yards, but ultimately it had no effect. Jake Elliot marched on to the field and hit one of his 2 Field Goal attempts. The Eagles take the lead by 3, but realistically they should have been up by at least 2 scores at this point of the match up.

The Bears once again have the ball, and on this drive, Justin Fields works his leg-magic after somehow escaping a nearly decapitating sack by Haason Reddick, and proceeds to scrambles for 21-yards. Haason Reddick followed up on the next play with a nice strip-sack on Fields, but the Eagles did not manage to recover the ball, leaving Chicago ready for a few more good plays, including another missed sack by Reddick and another Fields scramble. The drive ended with a David Montgomery rushing TD. The score only elevated to 6-3 however, after Bears kicker Cairo Santos missed the extra point. Eagles fall to the losing side of the Week 15 game.

The next drive was bad for the Eagles, at least at first. Miles Sanders got his first carry for 1 yard, and then BOOM! Hurts throws another INT on the next play with a pass that was either intended for Watkins (too long) or Brown (too short). Hurts had only 3 INTs on the year before his 2 INT game on Sunday. Thankfully neither of his turnovers resulted in Chicago scores.

The Bears went on to fumble for a loss of 4, and get deflected by a big Haason Reddick hand to end another drive, despite a great run around Brandon Graham by Fields on first down. The defense looked phenomenal at this point with multiple sacks and few yards allowed on the ground or through the air. The clock was winding down though, and it didn't look like the Birds were going to take the lead before the half.

On the next drive Devonta Smith drew an illegal contact penalty to get down to the 31 yard line, and then caught an amazing pass from Hurts for an additional 38 yard gain. 2 more plays and it looked like another Eagles field goal was coming, but on 3rd and 8, Hurts reads a safety blitz perfectly, and basically walks the ball into the end zone from the 22. Ok, ok, now the Eagles looked like the 12-1 team they were at that point. Nice drive, the Birds go up 10-6 after a flaky 1st half.

With only 43 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, the Bears fail to get the 1st or a score, and Josh Sweat hits Fields for his second sack of the game. That put the Eagles up to 5 total sacks in the first half of Week 15. The Eagles still lead the NFL in sacks on the season.

Halftime rolls by and the Eagles get the ball, after an amazing 58 yard kick return by the Giant Killer Boston Scott. This was shortly followed by a huge pass from Hurts to Brown, down the right side for 28 yards, but Brown seemed to let off the gas and fell to a defender at the 2 yard line. Another missed opportunity by Brown who, despite ending with 181 yards on the game, never scored a TD. The Eagles stacked up on the goal line soon after, and Hurts easily jumped into the end zone for his 2nd rushing TD of the game, after a shift in the line, and rookie Center Cam Jurgens lined up at WR (no clue why but it looked cool). Eagles jump to a two score lead, 17-6. This seemed to be the start of the should-have-been blowout!

Then, after a Jason Hargrave sack and another Bears 3 and out, the Eagles committed yet another turnover on their next drive, when Miles Sanders dropped the ball for his first fumble of the season. The fumble lead to a few good Bears plays and a 10-yard Montgomery TD pass. Bears jump right back into the game, only down by 4 points, at 17-13. The whole thing goes right back to not looking so good for the Bird Gang.

The Birds proceed to go 3 and out on the next drive, and Kern gets his second punt as an Eagle. The Bears take over, Fields burns Graham for another first down on the ground, and then on the next play, Avonte Maddox knocks the ball loose from Velus Jones, and Week 15 MVP (appointed by me personally, despite Fields escaping multiple sack attempts by him) Haason Reddick scoops up the ball to add a fumble recovery to his 2 sacks and big deflection earlier in the game. Eagles get the ball back, still 17-13.

The Eagles end up facing a 4th down situation, in which Brown gets the ball basically smacked out of his hands, on what should have been an easy grab and tuck for the first down. Bears get the ball back, the story continues.

The Bears go 3 and out after a huge play by linebacker T.J. Edwards, who hunted down Tight End Kmet after a gain of 6 yards. The Bears punt it away deep to the Eagles 4 yard line, with not too much time to spare in the 3rd quarter. Score still 17-13.

The next Eagles drive is a solid one for Smith. He hauls in a screen pass on 3rd and 10 for the 1st down, and then another 1st down on 2nd and 7 to end the 3rd quarter. First play of the 4th was a nice catch for 12 by Brown on the slant, followed next by Sanders' biggest run of the game for another 18 yards. The Eagles end up in another 4th down situation, but a great block by A.J. Brown allows Hurts to barely sneak it across the line for a 1st. This is followed by another Brown slant grab, and another Hurts sneak, to barely squeeze into the Red Zone on 3rd and 1. Nothing happens after though, and the Eagles settle for a Field Goal attempt. Jake Elliot kicks into the Chicago wind and DOINK! the ball smacks off the post for no score. Still 17-13. We can't blame Elliot much for this though, it is the Windy City right?

On Chicago's next drive, Justin Fields once again escapes a Reddick sack and scrambles for a good gain, but is injured on the play AND there is an offensive holding call that sends the ball back. Fields is taken to the locker room, Eagles get the ball back with just under 7 minutes to go in the game, after a pass from backup QB Peterman is blocked by Big Play Darius Slay! STILL 17-13...

The next drive is quick, clean, and awesome! Hurts lobs a monster pass to Brown, who manages to stay inbounds for 68 yard, all the way down to the 3-yard line. Next play Jalen Hurts sneaks into the end zone for 6, and the Eagles send him back into action for the 2-point conversion. It is successful and the Eagles force the Bears to need 2 TDs to win. Once again the Eagles looked how they should have all game, too bad it took so long to get there.

The final Chicago drive results in a few good plays by the defense, a 3rd down conversion by Fields and Webster, and on the following play, the Eagles secondary loses Pringle in the back field, who is wide open for a massive 35 yard TD grab. Once again the score goes back to not reflecting how good the Eagle's are this season. Eagles - 25 Bears - 20.

Fortunately for the Birds, Smitty grabs the one-side kick attempt by the Bears. The Eagles go to 3rd and 6, but just after the final 2:00 warning, Hurts snags Brown one more time on the slant to keep the clock running, and end the game.

The Eagles elevate to 13-1, the best record in the league, but man, was that game underwhelming in comparison to the last 3 they played. On top of that, reports have been coming in that Jalen Hurts suffered a shoulder sprain on a big hit he took in the Week 15 PHI v CHI match up. A scary thought for a team that heavily relies on their QB1 and his versatility.

The Eagles can clinch the division and the #1 seed on Christmas Eve with a win over their NFC East rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, who just came off an embarrassing overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Will Hurts be ok to play or will Gardner Minshew be making his first start of the 2022 season? Will the Eagles clinch the NFC East or will the Cowboys keep their hopes alive, after clinching a guaranteed playoff spot thanks to over NFC East rival New York Giants win over the Washington Commanders? Right now we don't know, but we can simply hope Hurts is well, and the Eagles get the job done!

Catch you guys next week ON THE ROAD TO VICTORY!

Bonus Stat Recap:

Let's Check Out The BEST Stats of Philly's Week 15 game:

Jalen Hurts was 22/37 for 315 yards, but threw 2 INTs and 0 TD passes. He makes up for a merely decent pass game for a dominant 17 carries on the ground for 67 yards and the game winning 3 rushing TDs. Besides Jake Elliot's 5-points, Jalen is the only one to score the entire game.

A.J. Brown fails to score despite a monster game with 9 receptions and 181 yards, including a handful of clutch 3rd down catches. Great for him, but also not great for the score. Good thing the Eagles won.

Devonta Smith has an amazing game all around. No scores, but he was important on 5 receptions and 126 yards. Again good for him, not for the score. Thanks Hurts!

K'von Wallace and T.J. Edwards played well with 7 and 5 tackles on many important plays. The defense really looked well majority of the game.

Josh Sweat, Haason Reddick, and Javon Hargrave all came to eat... twice! With 2 sacks each. Haason Reddick also picked up a big deflection and a fumble recovery (thanks to Avante Maddox, who also made a couple important plays) and was putting pressure on Fields almost the entire game. The Eagles lead the NFL in sacks and turnovers.

Boston Scott returned 3 kicks for 92 yards and that averaged him 30 yards per return. Not bad, tough we didn't see him in on any running plays.

Jack Elliot put up 5-points, but "doinked" a 29-yarder, making only 1 of 2 field goals and both extra points for a 50% FG completion rate. We can't really blame him for the miss when you're playing in the Windy City though, can we?

Thanks for reading! Fly Eagles Fly, On The Road To Victory!