September 28, 2026

Eagles Week 3 stock watch: Quinyon Mitchell makes a few plays, everyone else looks bad in Bears loss

Perhaps it's time to reassess how good the Eagles are. Good teams don't make this many unforced errors.

By Evan Macy
PhillyVoice Staff

Matt Marton/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect

Quinyon Mitchell couldn't stop the Bears offense all by himself.

The Eagles were outplayed by a better team in Week 3 — a team with a 38-year-old third-string quarterback who looked like a Pro Bowler.

After two close call wins over lesser opponents to start the year, it might be time to reclassify the Eagles this season. They might not, at least here at the end of September, belong with the likes of the Super Bowl contenders. They definitely don't belong with the Bears, who were not the least bit intimidated by Philly's star-studded defense in a 27-7 win in Chicago Monday night.

As we do every week, here's a look at something to feel good about, and something to be worried about as the Birds fell to 2-1 with the Rams ahead on a short week.

Stock up: Quinyon Mitchell, the All-Pro 📈

The Eagles made this section hard in this one. Early on, Saquon Barkley looked fantastic, averaging more than six yards per carry on his first 12 run attempts. But the offense hit a wall in the second half, as did his production.

The defense isn't creating turnovers or sacks, and the offense isn't creating points.

None of that is the fault of ace cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, who had a breakout game.

An absolutely clutch Mitchell stop came on what seemed like a crazy early game fourth-down attempt inside the 5-yardline. With the Bears up seven already, Mitchell got in the way:

Q said NOPE ❌ pic.twitter.com/BkqcSasoEr
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 29, 2026

Unlike other ballhawk cornerbacks, Mitchell's instincts seem to be breaking up the play first. Had he gone for the interception there he actually might have had one (the Eagles have none this year), and a 99 yard touchdown to boot.

The veteran made another stop on a key third down later in the first half, again batting the pass down instead of making an attempt at the ball.

Mitchell added two tackles for loss, one of them on a screen pass in the third quarter that forced a punt. In total he had seven tackles.

Even with Mitchell's solid play, the secondary was ripped apart, as Case Keenum went 24-for-34 for 247 yards.

Stock down: The fundamentals 📉

For a team that has made the postseason for five straight years and has one of the older and more experienced rosters in the league you'd expect them to make fewer critical mistakes than most teams.

But for all the talent and years of experience — with Super Bowl winners up and down the roster — the Eagles shot themselves in the foot to a frustrating and costly degree.

Ignoring for a second that the defense, one of the best in the NFL last year, was carved up by a 38-year-old who hasn't played in three years, the mistakes were brutal and constant. Unforced errors are avoidable and made the Eagles look like a bunch of undrafted rookies playing in the third preseason game.

Just a few noteworthy mistakes:

• A pretty bad intentional grounding call killed the Eagles' first drive after two first downs on first down.
• A holding penalty on guard Tyler Steen erased a 19-yard Barkley carry in the first quarter. That mistake led directly to Tank Bigsby's fumble deep in Bears territory on the very next play.
• Cornerback Riq Woolen was tagged for illegal contact on a third down incompletion that would have gotten the defense off the field in the red zone.
• Nick Sirianni, amid a flood of confusion, decided not to call a time out after Hurts was called into the blue tent for a concussion test. And then, after two failed run attempts, let his back up Andy Dalton throw — predictably — an end zone interception.
• Sirianni made a second logistical error in the second half with the offense stuck in the muck and the Birds down two scores. With a fourth and two at midfield, he took a delay of game and punted. It's hard to come back and build momentum when you surrender.

This is an unbelievably large mistake by the Eagles to not go for a 4th and long 1 at the 49 down by 13 points.

One of the biggest win probability mistakes I can ever remember from Sirianni pic.twitter.com/jGyY0UhE7o
— Ryan Paganetti (@RyanPaganetti) September 29, 2026

• Hurts got in on the turnover game, throwing a pick on a critical fourth down attempt in the third quarter. The Eagles are minus-six in the turnover department.
• In a blatantly obvious "try and draw the offsides and then punt" situation on a fourth down in the fourth quarter, Moro Ojomo jumped off sides. Embarrassing. Later on that series, Andrew Mukuba was called for a defensive hold on what would have otherwise been a third down sack. The Bears slammed the door shut by making it a three-score game a few plays later.
• Do missed tackled count as unforced errors? Marcus Epps missed a tackle on the first play from scrimmage, continuing a trend of Eagles defenders failing to finish plays. Their excess of pressure, but lack of sacks is the worst example of this.