What happened?
The Chicago Bears dealt Michael Vick his first loss as a starter for the Eagles, ending Philadelphia's three game winning streak and putting them back in a first place tie with the New York Giants.
The Good:
Jason Avant had eight catches for 83 yards.
Brent Celek actually caught a touchdown pass, and had three catches for 50 yards.
Trent Cole sacked Jay Cutler twice.
Brandon Graham had pressure on Cutler several times, and sacked him once.
The Eagles only had three penalties for 19 yards.
The Bad:
Michael Vick passed for 333 yards and two touchdowns, but never looked comfortable against the Chicago defense. He also threw his first interception of the year in the red zone and was sacked four times.
LeSean McCoy only carried the ball ten times for 53 yards. I don't care about yards per carry or how many catches he had, that's not enough runs for him.
DeSean Jackson had just two catches for 26 yards. Yep, I'm calling him out, too.
The Eagles allowed Matt Forte to be the first running back to gain 100 yards off of them this season. Forte picked up 117 yards on just 14 carries, including a big 61 yard run in the first quarter.
The Ugly:
The Eagles had 22 more pass attempts than rush attempts. That's not a balanced attack.
In five trips to the red zone, the Eagles scored a single touchdown.
Jay Cutler went 14 of 21 with four touchdown passes. When Jay Cutler almost has a perfect quarterback rating, you've messed up.
The Eagles were horrible on kick coverage, allowing an average of 27.7 yards per return.
The Breakdown:
There's really not that much that can be said about this game. Sure, the Eagles only lost by five points, but it felt like a lot more than that. The Chicago Bears took the Eagles behind Soldier Field and gave them an old fashioned ass whooping. That's what last Sunday's game was.
The stats don't matter in a game like this. Michael Vick may have thrown for 333 yards, but he was running for his life most of the time, and the Bears had a perfect gameplan to shut the Eagles down. All Chicago had to do was get pressure and leave their safeties back, looking for the deep pass to DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin. Just like against the Giants, Vick couldn't adjust when he needed to, and several of those over 300 passing yards came when the game was out of reach. In fact, the biggest moment of the game came when Vick threw his first interception of the year. The Eagles looked like they were going to take a 20-14 lead into the half when Vick led them into the red zone late in the first half, but Brian Urlacher tipped Vick's pass in the end zone, and Chris Harris intercepted it. With 38 seconds left in the half, Jay Cutler found Earl Bennett for a touchdown, and instead of the Eagles being up at the half, Chicago took a 21-13 lead that they would never give up.
For the second game in a row, the Eagles had missed chance after missed chance in the red zone. In their last two games, the Eagles have two touchdowns in ten red zone chances, and that's not good enough for a team that thinks they have a chance to win the NFC. Right now, this team might not even be good enough to make the playoffs, so they need to get their act together, and fast. Seriously, two touchdowns in their last ten chances? I know that they've played the Giants and Bears, and those are two good defenses, but still, that's nowhere close to good enough. There were more missed chances on Sunday, with Vick overthrowing receivers, or having to throw passes away because of the rush. It wasn't all on Vick against Chicago. The offensive line had a role to play as well, and they didn't do it that well. Vick was running for his life for most of the game, and rarely had a chance to get comfortable in the pocket. Yes, Michael Vick is a running quarterback, but he's been more and more of a pocket quarterback this season, and he needs time to find open receivers. If the offensive line can't give him time, he's done. The Giants showed that two weeks ago, and the Bears made it work even better last week.
The defense also had issues against the Bears. You can blame it all you want on the turf situation in Chicago, but the fact of the matter is good teams don't have issues with turf. They can play well on any surface. Matt Forte became the first running back this year to pick up 100 yards on the ground against the Eagles, and the defense just looked slow in general. Stewart Bradley was horrible, and the pass defense made Jay Cutler actually look like a first round pick. There's no way that missing Asante Samuel counted that much during this game. It's just not possible. Dimitri Patterson had been solid before last week, and Joselio Hanson is usually a good option, but neither one looked good at all. They gave up big play after big play, and that was how the Bears managed to get into scoring position so many times. Chicago used the big play very well last Sunday, and they did it early and often.
To be honest with you, having the Eagles go 3-1 through a stretch against the Colts, Donovan McNabb and the Redskins, the Giants and the Bears is pretty damn good, all things considered. However, they still needed to win this game against Chicago. This was a prove it game for this team, which had all but been anointed as the best in the NFC. While that still might happen, the Bears took the blueprint that the Giants made for stopping this offense, and they worked it to perfection. If the defense can't get caught up, then things are going to get very interesting down the stretch. Tomorrow night, the Eagles play the Houston Texans, who have one of the better offenses in the league, but boast one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL. This game could be very, very fun, but it's a must win for both teams.
It's just a matter of who wants it more. I bet the Eagles do.
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