CHICAGO — Jalen Hurts’ cellphone crooned with Anita Baker’s voice when he left the Soldier Field locker room. It was warm music during a postgame thawing after a frigid afternoon when he couldn’t feel his hands, threw two interceptions for the first time this season, endured bone-chilling hits and still escaped with a win.
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“Getting me some sweets on the plane ride home,” Hurts said. “Watch the tape, learn from it and move forward.”
The Eagles’ 25-20 victory was their 13th this season, tying a franchise record. That’s a worthwhile reminder for a team one win from clinching the NFC’s top seed. Because the game’s lesson seemed to resonate as much as the result.
“We’ve got to protect the ball, we’ve got to clean up the details,” said A.J. Brown. “Because when it matters, it’s going to be hard — stuff like that can’t happen. And sometimes there ain’t no coming back from that.”
The Eagles turned the ball over three times, losing the turnover margin for just the second game this season. They didn’t hand it off to Miles Sanders until midway through the second quarter, and they possessed the ball for fewer than nine minutes in the first half.
“It was just a sloppy-ass game,” Lane Johnson said.
Listen to these descriptions and you might worry. Then look at the stat sheet and see the Eagles totaled 421 yards of offense. They converted 56 percent of their third downs. Two receivers went for over 100 yards, including Brown, who set a career high with 181 receiving yards. There are other teams in the NFL who would start a season highlight film with that type of performance.
The yardage was the byproduct of a pass-happy approach against the Bears, who entered Sunday allowing an average of 33.5 points over their last six games. The Eagles’ 14 carries by running backs were tied for the fewest of the season, and it came one week after Sanders set a career high in rushing yards.
There’s not much Eagles fans enjoy debating more than the run-pass ratio, so it’s likely the offense’s pass-happy approach will be a topic in Philadelphia this week. It’s a reasonable argument, considering the Bears entered the game ranked No. 27 against the run and there were 16 mph winds and a wind chill of 3 degrees. Then again, look at the results.
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“You go in there and think you have some matchups you like,” Nick Sirianni said. “At the end of the day, A.J. Brown had (181) yards and DeVonta (Smith) had 126. So we saw some matchups that we liked out there. I think that’s just how we went out today. It wasn’t our best game, like we know.”
When Philadelphia ran the ball, it was mostly with Hurts. He had 17 carries (two were kneeldowns) for 61 yards and three touchdowns, and the 15 non-kneeldowns were his second most of the season. But Sirianni suggested that most of Hurts’ runs weren’t designed and were options in which he reads the defense.
“That was part of our game plan against the defense we were looking at,” Sirianni said. “It’s not necessarily quarterback-centric, but you’re reading things on the backside. …Then a couple called runs, we felt safe with those, and they ended up being safe the way we looked at it.”
The Eagles’ first touchdown came on a 22-yard run by Hurts when he checked into a wide-open quarterback draw after anticipating the Bears’ blitz. It was the right decision and gave the Eagles a lead they never surrendered.
Don't blink#PHIvsCHI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/jX0KQ6cEtf
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 18, 2022
The downside to the quarterback runs is they left Hurts exposed to big hits. Sirianni acknowledged Hurts would be sore, but he also said the direct hits when Hurts is square with the defender aren’t as dangerous. There was one play when Hurts was on the ground longer than usual, although he popped up and played without issue.
“It wasn’t the first time I’ve been slow (getting up), won’t be the last,” Hurts said.
The weather had more of an effect on Hurts than the hits. He said his lesson from this game was that he must better “tune myself up” in cold conditions. Hurts tried warming up before the game with two gloves, but he played with only a glove on his non-throwing hand. He was “trying to find my groove with it,” except his hands were numb early in the game. He also acknowledged he didn’t have good vision on the field.
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“I ended up throwing two interceptions and hurt the team,” he said.
The interceptions were uncharacteristic of Hurts, who entered the game with only three on the season. Sirianni’s biggest takeaway from the game was the giveaways; he knows what happened and has an idea of how to correct them.
The discouraging part for the Eagles was that Hurts looked shaky early in the cold. The encouraging part was the way he heated up thereafter. He started the game 4-of-10 for 47 yards with two interceptions. He then went 18-of-27 for 268 yards following the second turnover. Teammates noticed how Hurts didn’t get frustrated or even affected by the turnovers.
“He’s faced tougher stuff in his life other than throwing two picks,” Brown said.
It helps to have Brown and Smith. Part of the reason the Eagles liked their matchup with the receivers is that they are often mismatches for opponents. Brown’s 1,201 receiving yards this season are the most of his career, yet he didn’t think the 181 yards Sunday were enough.
“I feel like I could have had an even bigger day,” Brown said.
How big?
“Pushing 300,” he said.
The Bears’ game plan against Brown was to take away inside leverage and force him to the sideline. Brown thought the Eagles needed to take advantage of that coverage with downfield passes, even if the wind made it a challenge. He had a 29-yard catch in the third quarter before a 68-yarder in the fourth that helped extend the Eagles’ lead to 12 points.
“They brought him in to do the things that he did today,” Smith said. “Him coming in was good. One, ’cause it kind of gets some of the attention off of me. And then being able to learn from a guy like him, great receiver, great leader, great guy overall. So just him coming in, teaching me some things, allowing me to elevate some.”
Smith’s significant plays include catches of 45 and 38 yards and a blitz-beating, 14-yard catch on a screen to move the chains on a third-and-10 when the Eagles were backed up on their 4-yard line. It was the second time in three weeks both receivers topped 100 yards. No wonder Sirianni liked his matchup at receiver.
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That’s why Sunday’s game will include mixed analysis leading up to the Christmas Eve showdown with the Cowboys. It was a substandard performance, yet the Eagles still had more yards than their season average (and the season average of all but one team) and more points than the season average of 24 teams.
They’ve established a high bar to reach each week. Such is life for a 13-1 team.
The conditions won’t be the same in future games — Hurts had never played in weather as cold as Sunday — although a path through Philadelphia in the postseason will include hand-numbing temperatures.
“It ain’t Chicago,” Hurts said.
No, but neither are playoff opponents.
The Eagles would have a harder time rebounding from three turnovers against a better defense. They might not be able to rely on a six-sack performance against better offenses. But all that matters is winning, and they did that Sunday. A plane ride listening to Anita Baker is more soothing after a victory.
(Photo of Lane Johnson and Jalen Hurts: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
