September 28, 2026
Patrick Gorski/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Jalen Hurts had to try and do it all himself again.
Jalen Hurts was peering out from the blue medical tent, livid because he was in there for a concussion check he didn't want, and probably because he had to watch Andy Dalton toss a softball of a goal-line interception in his place.
The entire Delaware Valley was probably with him on that one.
The Eagles were terrible through the first half Monday night against the Chicago Bears.
Five sloppy and needless penalties on both sides of the ball cost them 31 yards, which either killed a Philadelphia drive or extended a Chicago one scot-free; what is supposed to be a fierce pass rush couldn't get to a 38-year old third-string Case Keenum; and what is supposed to be a solid secondary with Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Riq Woolen was leaving craters to get carved up...by a 38-year old third-string Case Keenum.
Yet somehow, the Eagles were only left down, 10-0, pressing late into the half. And somehow, Hurts cleared the check after getting lit up a step out of bounds by Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson to get back into the game.
He led an eight-play, 67-yard touchdown drive with less than two minutes left, which included a 30-yard shot downfield to DeVonta Smith, Zach Ertz's first completion in his return back to the Eagles, an eight-yard screen to Smith down to the 1-yardline with seconds left and the clock rolling, and then a hurried "Tush Push" that got seven on the board a split-second before the timer hit zero.
The Eagles ended up with life from the whole ordeal going into the half, and with the ball coming back to them. But the anger never left Hurts' face, in maybe the most he's publicly emoted in months.
The rest of the night never really gave him a reason to let it go, with the Eagles falling apart in a 27-7 loss.
The penalties got cleaned up, so there's that, but the offensive line had its third straight week of operating as a functional turnstile, while play calls increasingly got blown up, which left Hurts with little other choice than to try and make something out of nothing – for the third straight week.
Oh, and the defense got carved up for a backbreaking 41-yard touchdown pass to Kalif Raymond in the third quarter, and 24-34 passing for 247 yards and two touchdowns...by a 38-year-old, third-string Case Keenum.
Eagles football for you.
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles had nowhere to go Monday night against the Bears.
Patrick Gorski/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
They're 2-1 now, which is hardly cause for panic in the big picture – at least not yet – but how it's all happening is concerning.
The offensive line, long the pride and joy of the team, can't hold a pocket for any more than two seconds, even after the reshuffle to get Drew Kendall in for a banged-up Landon Dickerson.
The run game is struggling to gain any traction because of it, despite Saquon Barkley doing everything he can (this time for 15 carries and 82 yards that didn't get them much of anywhere).
And a defense that should be able to get to the quarterback, and cover, so far hasn't been able to do much of either – even against a 38-year-old third-string Case Keenum.
That's brought the first three weeks down to Hurts, which for better or worse, has proven how important, and how much more clutch and complete of a quarterback he really is.
He's the reason why the Eagles beat the Commanders in Week 1, when little else was working, so a crucial run and pinpoint passes had to be what pulled them through.
And he was the reason they survived the Titans in Week 2, when he orchestrated the game-winning drive and improvised off a broken play to make the deciding and last-second throw to Darius Cooper in the end zone.
And he was the reason why the Eagles had some semblance of a chance going into halftime Monday night in Chicago, until all of the Eagles' other failings compounded into way too much to overcome from just one position.
The Eagles are dependent almost entirely on Hurts right now, after a relentless offseason of debate, once again, over how good of a quarterback he really is.
But he was the reason the Eagles got to 2-0.
And the reason he needed to get out of that tent on Monday night for the Eagles to even have a chance of staying in it...against a 38-year-old, third-string Case Keenum.
Hurts became the most important at work for the Eagles, and on Monday night it was ruining his life.
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