Words cannot describe my feelings on this devastating loss. The Eagles, had a chance to get back to .500, playing at home, against a very beatable opponent in the Bears. However, they couldn’t find a way to win, and blew a 4th quarter lead once again. The Eagles have blown 4th quarter leads in four games. Including three at home. Blowing leads in the 4th quarter is not the characteristic of any playoff team.
Already three games behind the 6-2 Giants, a lot would have to happen for the Eagles to be playing in January, including a collapse by the G-Men. Yes, they do have a rough schedule ahead, but unlike the Eagles, the Giants find ways to win games. They survived the ultimate trap game at home vs. the Dolphins. I’m not saying it’s impossible, just that the Eagles will have to be more consistent on offense and defense to do it.
In terms of the passing game, the Eagles performed much like their win against the Cowboys. The Bears were determined, like the Cowboys not to give up any big plays, so they ran a lot of Cover-2. For anyone who doesn’t know, Cover 2 is when the two safeties on the field drop back into a deep zone. This gave the Eagles allot of room over the middle of the field to work. Check downs were aplenty in this game. Vick once again frequently targeted his TE, Brent Celek, who had 7 catches for 60 yards. The Eagles also used the screens and dump passes to keep defenders off their heels, as evidenced by McCoy’s five catches.
On very few occasions did Vick take shots deep, or get Jeremy Maclin or DeSean Jackson involved in the offense. Maclin had 4 catches, and Jackson had 2. These are not numbers to be proud of. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the Bears were starting two inexperienced safeties, and in general I’m not a big fan of their secondary as a whole. They are slow, and can easily be out run. They just out-manned the Eagles wide recievers with their physical play. They played bump-and run, which sometimes can be the Eagles Achilles heal, because of their smaller receivers. I don’t get why the Eagles didn’t try to go deep more often.
Most of their catches were either short or intermediate over the middle. This is going to continue to be the case if teams keep dropping safeties back into coverage. Especially for Jackson who relies on his speed down the field to get open, and sometimes doesn’t run great routes. I would like to see a more creative game plan from Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg to get the ball in both of their hands more often. They must be targeted down the field and be more involved in the offense.
In the first half, the Eagles tried to come out firing, and neglected pounding the rock. However, I liked that in the 2nd half; the Eagles used more balance and gave the ball more to McCoy. They realized that they needed to keep the Bears offense off the field, and that balance would let them drive the ball down the field consistently. Some of the moves McCoy made were stunning. On a couple occasions, he left defenders in their shoes, including future Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher.
On his 33 yard TD run, McCoy was given the open lane, and that’s all she wrote. He used his speed to burst down the field, along with Jason Peters, who once again made a good block that led to a score. When the Eagles use balance by running the ball, they are really hard to stop. It’s just pick your poison on offense.
The pass protection was mostly good throughout the game. Vick was constantly given time, and on a few instances he held onto the ball, and had to run out of harms way. The Bears did, on one occasion confuse the Eagles offensive line by running a stunt. Evan Mathis tripped, and this allowed the Bears to hit Vick. Vick just played very inconsistent. He really didn’t do anything special to win the game. He’s not taking the blame for the loss, but he is far from angel ether. His INT in the first quarter was horrible.
The Bears shifted coverage at the last second, which might have confused Vick. However, he still should have seen the LB and realized that there was no way he was going to fit that ball into coverage. This was a mental error on Vick’s part, and I question his decision making on the play. He was also in-accurate at times, and forced the ball into coverage on some key third downs.
The Eagles have put themselves in a very tough position to climb out of. This was a game that should have kept the Eagles win streak going. This didn’t happen. The offense was inconsistent at times. I liked that the Eagles committed to the run game in the 2nd half. However, they also failed to get the ball to their playmakers Maclin and Jackson, often and down the field.
Vick didn’t have his best game, and his INT was horrendous. He’s been very inconsistent when it comes to seeing the field. His inability to hit open receivers was a key to the loss. His high throw to Maclin cost the Eagles that first down at the end. The Eagles won’t win many games if Vick doesn’t play better than he did.
“I think I could have played a lot better in this game”, Vick said after the game. “Obviously, I need to go back and watch the film but deep down I know there are things I could have done better. Against a team like that, you have to be precise. You have to be on point. You can’t miss opportunities that you have to be taking advantage of. Yeah, Coach played us in some good positions but we didn’t make the plays.”
“That’s kind of the way it is. It’s always been that way in this offense”, Reid said in response to a question about being unable to win when Vick plays poorly. “That’s the way that it is in the National Football League with quarterbacks.”
This team is too inconsistent on both sides of the ball. This must change for the Eagles to go on a run. A lot of things must happen, which are out of the Eagles control for them to make the playoffs. However, I’m not giving up hope yet with John Skelton and the Cardinals coming into town. Every game from now on is a must win, including a big game in the Meadowlands in less than two weeks. It’s time to start soul searching, because the Eagles toughness will be tested in the coming weeks.
FINAL Grade:C
Im a huge fan of Vick but he isnt an elite qb never will be and he will never win this team a superbowl. Here’s a little fact for everybody. Michael Vick has NEVER in his career had back to back winning seasons when he was with the Falcons. He is an idiot,he shouldve been picked off like 4/5 times. he forces throws. Throws to defenders.STILL CANT READ A DEFENSE AND BEEN IN THE LEAGUE 10YRS. The Guy is a just a fucking idiot. He really is no different than Mcnabb, but Mcnabb didnt even throw some of them dumb ass passes Vick was throwing Monday Night. We should tank the season, trade vick , and find away to get Andrew Luck.
Hard to run the ball when you start out -4 and no gain on your first two carries. Out of his 16 carries, 8 went for no gain or minus yardage. Only two of his carries went for over 10 yards–one for 18 and the TD of 33–so that means that the other 14 runs went for a grand total of 20 yards.
Sorry supabad, I have to disagree on Vick–he was forcing throws because Jackson, Maclin and Avant couldn’t get off jams. His one horrible throw, I’ll agree was when he was picked off inside the Bear 20. No way was Jackson even remotely open–but I have to wonder if he’s trying to get Jackson involved early, no matter what, or if Jackson and his constant whining are starting to get to Vick. I think Vick is starting to get frustrated with some of their play–Jackson didn’t even look like he was going after a catchable pass thrown over the middle in the 2nd; Maclin with the drop of a between-the-numbers pass in the 1st when he had about 40 yards of space–on the last drive when he threw two incompletions, it looked like he had the whole middle to scramble for yardage, which he usually does. As far as the Falcons never having back to back winning seasons with him at QB, you ought to do a little homework–the Falcons had NEVER had consecutive winning seasons, no matter who the QB.
to Bobby,
VIck should have been picked 2 more times,
That floater he threw to D-Jax at the sidelines in the 4th Quarter could have easily been picked for a TD going the other way
Then on a earlier 3rd down play at the beginning of the 4th quarter he was flushed out of the pocket rolling to his left and threw back across the middle that was right into the arms of a Bear Defender which should have been picked..
Then there was bad passes in the 1st half, 1 to Celek down the middle and 1 to MAclin in tight double coverage.. Vick was off the mark and played a poor game, there is no dancining around it..
Go after Hanesworth he will play for us take a chance we have nothing to lose our LB’s and DEF. COOR IS HORRIBLE
Why Pick Up Haynesworth at this time Summup
The Eagles are not going to the Playoffs this Season anyways..
Surely Haynesworth does not figure in any future Eagles plans..It’s time to Play the youngsters and see if Trevor Laws and practice squad player DT Cedric Thornton can play at the NFL level and make a determination whether they fit in the Eagles Future plans..
If Dawkins was still on this team we’d probably be undefeated.
There’s no veteran leadership and “know how” in this defense. Just a bunch of guys picking up checks.
The trap run to the right worked 90% of the time for 5 yards or more.
Where was the defensive leader?
Where was the linebacker or safety to blow up a hole on one of those traps?
Another “Wait until next year” season.
Eagles need to get Dawk here next season for a curtain call and hopefully Spags get fired from the Rams so we can have a real defensive coordinator.
Let Juan clean jock straps….heard he learned well with his many lunches discussing detergents with the laundry guy and he washed a few loads during his time in High School.