Menu Close

Eagles vs. Bears Week 12 Observations and Reaction with Videos

Adrian Fedkiw|

Not only are the Philadelphia Eagles the best team in the NFL, they’re also the best dancing team in the league too.

Case in point.

Call it the Philly Shuffle – or the Electric Slide if you want to get technical.

Carson Wentz tossed three more touchdown passes, the Eagles didn’t allow a Bears first down in the first half and Philadelphia cruised to a 31-3 victory Sunday afternoon against Chicago at Lincoln Financial Field.

It was a dominant defensive display over the first 30 minutes. The Bears had more penalty yards (36) than total yards (33). The Eagles, meanwhile, racked up 272 first half yards and picked up 16 first downs. Chicago didn’t move the chains until the 14:08 mark of the third quarter. Jordan Howard, who came into the game third in the NFL in rushing yards, was limited to six yards on seven carries. The Bears as a team tallied just six yards on the ground on 14 totes. The Eagles’ front seven excels against the outside zone runs and stymied Chicago all afternoon and once the Bears got behind 24-0 at the break, it was too insurmountable of a hill for rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to climb.

Despite controlling the game and winning it by 28 points, I did think the Eagles were sloppy at times. They fumbled the ball four times and lost three of them and committed 11 penalties for 70 yards. Those are mistakes you can get away with playing the Bears, but the competition is about to heat up the next two weeks when the Eagles visit the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams on their two-game West Coast swing.

Wentz finished 23-of-36 for 227 yards and was 8-of-10 on third down for 95 yards. Zach Ertz led the way with 10 receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown, while former Bear Alshon Jeffery posted five catches for 53 yards and a score. LeGarrette Blount topped the Eagles in rushing with 97 yards on 15 carries.

The Eagles opened the scoring at the 6:04 mark of the first. Wentz hit Jeffery on an out-route for a 14-yard completion on a 3rd-and-8 before flipping a 17-yard dart to Ertz a play later for a score down the right seam.

I referenced the fumbles above, it happened on the defensive side of the ball too. Malcolm Jenkins coughed one up after picking off this Trubisky pass.

Then came a Blount fumble on the Eagles’ ensuing series following a 35-yard run, but no worries as the Birds found paydirt on their third touch. The cohesion between Jeffery and Wentz continues to improve, evidenced by this back-shoulder ball to Jeffery for 16 yards. This is Jeffery’s most comfortable route, but Wentz has thrown this pass far too inside for Jeffery’s liking all season.

That wasn’t the case here.

Three plays later, Wentz played Houdini as he spun away from Cre’von LeBlanc on a scramble to the right. Chicago had the screen perfectly covered and Wentz had the pocket presence to spin out of LeBlanc’s would-be tackle before taking off for 16 yards to move the sticks on a 3rd-and-9.

Nelson Agholor then found the end zone for the sixth time this season when Wentz flipped a screen out to him to the right. He turned the corner on Eddie Jackson along the right sideline and leapt across the goal line from the 4-yard line. The touchdown made it 14-0 Birds early in the second.

Jake Elliott knocked through a 45-yard field goal on Philly’s next trek and used a 13-play, 69-yard scoring march on their final drive of the first half for their 24-0 margin heading into the locker room. Wentz showed off the touch to toss this 6-yard touchdown to Jeffery in the back of the end zone. The Eagles have now recorded 18 touchdowns in their last 20 trips in the red zone.

The touchdown celebration was even better.

STRIKE!!!

The play of the first half goes to Kenjon Barner, who alertly pulled Jaylen Watkins away from this loose ball following an Eagles punt.

The final Eagles touchdown came on another head’s up play, this one by Agholor, who pounced on a Jay Ajayi fumble in the end zone after he rumbled for a big gain down the right sideline.

With the victory, the Eagles’ magic number to win the NFC East is down to one. They can wrap up the division as early as Thursday if the Washington Redskins can beat the Dallas Cowboys. If Dallas wins, Philadelphia would have to win in Seattle to clinch.

 

You can follow Adrian Fedkiw on Twitter (@AdrianFedkiw) and e-mail him at [email protected]. Subscribe to The Bitter Birds on YouTube here. Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.