September 29, 2026

Game ball, three stars, and snap count analysis: Week 3, Eagles at Bears

What the snap counts say about an ugly Monday night for the Eagles.

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Matt Marton/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Saquon Barkley was a rare bright spot for the Eagles on Monday in Chicago.

In their Week 3 loss to over the Chicago Bears, the Philadelphia Eagles played just 50 snaps on offense and 72 on defense. Let's just get right to the snap counts and some notes. Special recognition probably isn't so warranted this week.

Quarterback

• 46 snaps: Jalen Hurts

• 4 snaps: Andy Dalton

Notes: Hurts didn't have a good game, obviously. He was 16 of 25 for 153 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT. He made a bunch of plays the first two weeks of the season and won games when the team around him wasn't giving him a lot of help. But that wasn't going to be sustainable.

I will say this for Hurts: He took an absolutely massive hit and was immediately desperate to get back into the game. I also enjoyed seeing some rare emotion from him on the sideline when he wasn't allowed to go back in the game.

As for the backups, we already talked about Andy Dalton in our 10 awards post, and I don't want to beat a dead horse. What I would really like to know is when, how, and why the team has soured on Tanner McKee to the degree that they have. Last summer, McKee was looking like a backup that the team could feel great about.

He had a bad game in the Eagles' "resting starters" game Week 18 last season, when he was good for one quarter when he had DeVonta Smith to throw to, and then bad after Smith exited the game and he was throwing to practice squad guys behind the second-string offensive line.

That couldn't have been IT, right? I mean... right? Is that game why they traded for Andy Dalton, and more or less decided that Dalton was their QB2? I'd really love to hear an honest answer from the organization on why they soured on him.

Running back

• 36 snaps: Saquon Barkley

• 13 snaps: Will Shipley

• 2 snaps: Tank Bigsby

Notes: One of the rare bright spots from this game was Barkley, who I thought ran with good explosiveness and vision. He finished with 15 carries for 82 yards. He'd have been over 100 yards on the night if not for a holding penalty on Tyler Steen that was away from the play, which wiped out a 19-yard run.

Bigsby fumbled, and my assumption based on his two snaps is that he did not see the field the rest of the night thereafter.

Wide receiver

• 50 snaps: DeVonta Smith

• 44 snaps: Dontayvion Wicks

• 35 snaps: Makai Lemon

• 6 snaps: Elijah Moore

• 5 snaps: Darius Cooper

Notes: Smith had 6 catches for 65 yards, and another spectacular catch. And guess what... the extreme attention he was always going to attract is a full go. Via Ben Solak:

Wicks did a nice job of making plays the first two weeks, but he was quiet in Chicago. With Dallas Goedert out and Johnny Mundt starting, it's kind of a no-brainer to give Smith all kinds of extra attention.

Tight end

• 26 snaps: Johnny Mundt

• 19 snaps: Zach Ertz

• 13 snaps: E.J. Jenkins

Notes: Ertz played, but was limited. He had 1 catch for 9 yards. He was upset with himself after the game because of a missed block, but obviously that has never been the strength of his game.

Offensive line

• 50 snaps each: Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens, Drew Kendall, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson

• 1 snap: Markel Bell

Notes: The offensive line was a bright spot in some ways, in that they finally started opening up some running lanes for Barkley. I also like what I have seen in a small sample size from Drew Kendall's first two "real" starts.

But man, the guards are an issue. I thought this could be a breakout season of sorts for Tyler Steen, and so far we haven't seen that. Meanwhile, Jurgens has gone from a legitimate Pro Bowl player in 2024 to one of the worst-performing offensive linemen in the NFL so far this season.

The Eagles will be patient there to some degree, but they are going to have to consider giving someone else a look if he doesn't improve drastically, and soon.

Edge defenders

• 53 snaps: Jalyx Hunt

• 44 snaps: Nolan Smith

• 29 snaps: Arnold Ebiketie

• 18 snaps: Jonathan Greenard

Notes: The Eagles as a defense have 3 sacks on the season. Only 1 is from this edge rusher group. All these stats that are out there like "pass rush win rate," or "quick pressures" are fine and good, and there's a place for them. But also, you know, tackle the quarterback sometimes while he's still holding the football.

Interior defensive line

• 51 snaps: Jalen Carter

• 42 snaps: Jordan Davis

• 39 snaps: Moro Ojomo

• 28 snaps: Byron Young

• 12 snaps: Ty Robinson

Notes: This is supposed to be one of the best iDL units in the NFL, if not the best. On paper. They have simply not played to their potential through the first three games.

Linebacker

• 70 snaps: Jihaad Campbell

• 66 snaps: Zack Baun

• 6 snaps: Jeremiah Trotter

Notes: I think Vic Fangio misses Nakobe Dean.

Cornerback and safety

• 72 snaps each: Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Andrew Mukuba

• 71 snaps: Riq Woolen

• 27 snaps: Marcus Epps

• 20 snaps: Michael Carter

Notes: Mitchell had a couple of pass breakups, including one on 4th and Goal that ended a Bears threat. As noted in our mailbag post Monday morning, Woolen has allowed almost no separation this year, but he is also grabby. It looks like it'll be a game-by-game adventure, in terms of how tight each officiating crew is going to call that. The Monday night crew was ultra-tight, in my opinion.

DeJean hasn't been the same player so far this season. He's fine. But that's a big downgrade from "All-Pro." One theory is that he's hurt. And, maybe. But another theory is that his added safety responsibilities are keeping him from being able to just play fast at his normal slot corner spot.

The safeties were awful in this game. Marcus Epps had a bad game Week 2 in Tennessee, and his night in Chicago started off immediately with a missed tackle. He doesn't even have a true "starting" role as the sub-package safety, but he's already losing snaps, as Carter filled in for him in some looks. Mukuba had a rough night. Just generally, there were far too many missed tackles, and open Bears receivers in the intermediate areas of the Eagles' defense.