CHICAGO − It was so cold that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said he couldn’t feel his hands early in the game.
He played that way, as it was 18 degrees at game time, with 16 mph winds that made it feel like it was 4 degrees.
Hurts threw two interceptions in the first half as the Eagles played what right tackle Lane Johnson called “a sloppy-assed game.”
But Hurts and the Eagles’ offense warmed up enough to beat the Chicago Bears 25-20 on Sunday.
“I think early in the game, I really couldn’t feel my hands,” Hurts said. “It was very cold. I didn’t really have good vision on the field, personally. It’s a lot of different things going on.”
Still, Hurts recovered to throw for 315 yards, while A.J. Brown had a career-high 181 yards receiving − the third time this season that he set a career high − and DeVonta Smith added 126 yards receiving.
And Hurts rushed for three touchdowns, including a 22-yarder on a quarterback draw in which he ran in untouched.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, when asked what Hurts saw on that play, replied: “I don’t want to answer that.”
Then Johnson did.
“He checked it, and then the safety (showed) blitz, then Kelce (blocked) it off,” he said. “It was just kind of wide open. It’s good when I see it wide open.”
All of it was enough for the Eagles to improve to 13-1, tying a franchise record for wins in a season − there are still three games remaining. More importantly, the Eagles lead the Dallas Cowboys by three games in the NFC East. The next Eagles win or Cowboys loss will not only clinch the division, but also the top seed in the playoffs, and the first-round bye that goes with it.
It just so happens that the Eagles play the Cowboys this Saturday in Dallas.
At least the Eagles’ defense gave the offense a chance. Haason Reddick had 2 sacks, forced 2 fumbles and recovered another. In all, the Eagles sacked Bears quarterback Justin Fields 6 times, giving the Eagles a league-high 55 on the season.
“It’s amazing,” cornerback Darius Slay said. “They really dominated the game, controlled the game. Every time (Fields) got into a drop-back situation, them guys (on the defensive line) went hunting. That’s why we got one of the best D-lines in the league, and guys are really eating. They eat good, so they’ll never leave the game starving.”
It was a struggle for the Eagles’ offensively right from the start. Hurts threw his 2 interceptions in the first half, and Miles Sanders also fumbled away the ball, which led to the Bears’ only touchdown in the first half.
In fact, the Eagles insisted on passing the ball despite the cold and windy conditions. Sanders, who came into the game with 1,068 yards rushing, didn’t touch the ball until 6 minutes remained in the first half.
It didn’t get much better in the second half as the Eagles embarked on a 19-play drive that used up 8 minutes, 38 seconds spanning the third and fourth quarters. But the Eagles came away empty when Jake Elliott’s field goal bounced off the upright (only once, though).
“I just felt like some of our runs got stopped early,” Johnson said. “And it’s hard to get confident in that when the results aren’t there. So we kept throwing it up, and guys were making plays.”
That was true with both Smith and Brown. In the first half, Smith had 3 catches for 104 yards. That included a 38-yard reception on the final drive of the first half that was capped by Hurts’ 22-yard TD run. That gave the Eagles a 10-6 lead at halftime.
Then on the opening drive of the second half, Hurts went to Brown for 29 yards down to the Bears’ 2, and Hurts finished that drive off, giving the Eagles a 17-6 lead.
But Fields, who rushed for 95 yards, and threw for 152, kept the Bears close. There was his 39-yard run in the second half after escaping Reddick, who had him sacked well behind the line of scrimmage. That resulted in David Montgomery’s 9-yard TD.
The Bears still trailed by 17-13 in the fourth quarter when Hurts threw deep to Brown, who hauled in the reception for 69 yards to the Bears’ 3. Hurts again finished off that drive for a 25-13 lead.
Fields’ 35-yard pass to Byron Pringle with 2:43 left pulled the Bears to within 5.
The Eagles iced the game by converting a 3rd-and-6 on Hurts’ pass to Brown with just under 2 minutes left.
It was a fitting metaphor for the Eagles’ frigid win.
Eagles’ sack party
The Eagles continued to close in on franchise sack records. They sacked Fields 6 times into the third quarter − two each by Reddick, Josh Sweat and Javon Hargrave. Hargrave has 10 sacks on the season, a career-high, joining Reddick (12) in double digits.
As a team, the Eagles have 55 sacks on the season, 7 short of the franchise record set in 1989. It’s also the first time the Eagles have had 3 straight games of 5 or more since 1997.
Why Eagles kept Goedert on IR
Two weeks ago, Dallas Goedert said he fully expected to be activated off injured reserve this Sunday, the first game in which he’s eligible to play.
Yet the Eagles let the Saturday deadline pass without activating Goedert, even though Goedert returned to practice last week. It’s quite possible the Eagles gave Goedert an extra week to rebuild strength in his shoulder so that he will be ready for the Eagles’ showdown next Saturday against the Dallas Cowboys.
HURTS VS. FIELDS:These Eagles saw Justin Fields’ game for the ages in college; will he surpass Jalen Hurts?
“He’s getting there,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “He had a good week of practice (last week), the things that he did. We felt like he wasn’t quite ready yet, and when he’s ready, he’ll go.”
Delaware native on Bears’ D-line
Red Lion Christian Academy star Angelo Blackson is in his third season with the Bears, but he hasn’t played much over the last three games.
Blackson was a fourth-round pick of the Titans in 2015, and has since played for Houston and Arizona. He had 2.5 sacks in each of the last 2 seasons, but none this season.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
