Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Game Review – CHI 27, PHI 7

Posted September 30th, 2026 | No Comments »

I was genuinely curious to see how the Eagles would play in Chicago after two uneven performances to start the season. Needless to say, I was not impressed with what I saw. As Steve McCroskey put it, “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.”

The Eagles got out-played. They got out-coached. They got out-everythinged. It was ugly. Ben Johnson getting the best of Nick Sirianni and even Vic Fangio isn’t shocking. Johnson has the potential to be a special coach. I did not expect Case Keenum to out-play Jalen Hurts. I did not expect the Bears defense, which gave up 37 points to Carolina, to out-play the Eagles D.

Brutal night.

Check out this blurb from Zach Berman.

This is the rare loss that seems even worse than when I left the stadium. Reviewing the game and the data shows just how concerning this was for the Eagles. It was their first 20-point loss since the 2023 season and matched the lowest scoring output of the Nick Sirianni era. It was their least efficient offensive performance of the Sirianni era, based on EPA per drive. The team was listless, heavily penalized, and lacked answers on both sides. And this didn’t happen against Patrick Mahomes — they faced a third-string quarterback who hadn’t started a game in 1,009 days and a defense that allowed 37 points and 478 yards in Week 1.

Yikes.

COACHING

The Bears were embarrassed by their 9-3 loss to the Vikings in Week 2. Johnson had them fired up and ready to play. Sirianni clearly did not have the Eagles at the same level. The biggest strategic mistake came when Sirianni decided to punt on 4th down in the second half. He admitted after the game that he should have gone for it. Some think he should have called timeout when Hurts was being checked for a concussion. I don’t think you can fault him for that. Too many unknowns in that situation.

Sean Mannion had a good plan in the first half. The Eagles out-gained the Bears 186 to 176 and only trailed 10-7. The Eagles ran a WR screen with 19 seconds left in the first half. Hurts was able to then get the team lined up and the ball snapped with one second left. He pushed his way in for a TD. The result was good, but that was a highly risky call with no timeouts. The second half was terrible.

Fangio is one of the great defensive coordinators of all time. Unless he’s facing Ben Johnson. Ugh. Chicago caught the Eagles off guard by throwing the ball as much as they did. They had open receivers all night long. Fangio just couldn’t come up with enough answers.

OFFENSE

Hurts was solid in the first half. The Eagles had bad luck when he had to be checked for a concussion while the offense was in the red zone. Andy Dalton replaced him and threw a horrible INT in the end zone. Hurts returned to the game and was good on the final drive of the half. He did not play well in the second half.

The OL blocked really well in the first half. The running game was really good when going to the left side. Jordan Mailata was really good. It was encouraging tosee the OL play to the level we’ve seen in the past.

I thought Zach Ertz was fine in his 2026 debut. He did miss a block on a quick screen to Lemon. Those plays have been awful this year. DeVonta Smith was 6-65. He also drew a PI call for a good gain. Smitty made a beautiful grab along the right sideline for a gain of 30. He almost scored on the quick screen late in the half. Great effort on that play.

DEFENSE

Unbelievably frustrating.

Fangio said the Eagles missed 11 tackles by his count. There were multiple penalties that were costly. The worst was when Moro Ojomo jumped offside on 4th & 1. Ugh.

The safety play in this game was bad. I did think Michael Carter had some good moments. He and Marcus Epps rotated.

Jonathan Greenard made his season debut and looked good on some plays. You can see how disruptive he can be. The Eagles need more of that. Keenum got the ball out very quickly in this game and that negated the Eagles rush. There were some plays when they got into the backfield, but couldn’t get to Keenum in time.

Quinyon Mitchell had 2 PDs and 2 TFLs.

The Eagles controlled the run in the first half, holding Chicago to 27 yards on 13 carries. The Eagles offensive struggles hurt the defense in the second half and they gave uo 101 rushing yards. You really can see the importance of the offense and defense helping each other.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Braden Mann wasn’t at his best in this game. He only averaged 41.8 yards per punt.

Kelee Ringo had a penalty that wiped out a good punt return by Covey.

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