CHICAGO – It was so cold that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said he couldn’t feel his hands early in the game.
He played like that because it was 18 degrees during the game and the 16 mph wind made it feel like 4 degrees.
Hurts had two interceptions in the first half as the Eagles played what Lane Johnson called a “sloppy game.”
But the Hurts and Eagles offense got hot enough to beat the Chicago Bears 25-20 on Sunday.
“I think early in the game I didn’t really feel my hands,” Hurts said. “It was really cold. Personally, I didn’t have good vision on the field. There were a lot of different things going on.”
Still, Hurts rebounded and threw for 315 yards, while AJ Brown had a career-high 181 yards — the third time this season he’s set a career high — and DeVonta Smith added 126 receiving yards.
And Hurts rushed for three touchdowns, including a 22-yarder on a quarterback draw in which he ran untouched.
Eagles coach Nick Siriani, when asked what he saw of Hurts in that game, said, “I don’t want to answer that.”
Then Johnson did.
“He checked it and then the safety (showed) the blitz and then Kelce (blocked) it,” he said. “She was just wide open. It’s good when I see her wide open.”
It was enough for the Eagles to improve to 13-1, setting the franchise record for most wins in a season, with 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 would clinch not only the division, but a playoff seed as well as a first-round bye.
It just so happens that the Eagles will play the Cowboys this Saturday in Dallas.
At least the Eagles’ defense gave the offense a chance. Haason Reddick had two sacks, had two fumbles and recovered another. In all, the Eagles sacked Bears quarterback Justin Fields six times, giving the Eagles a league-leading 55 points 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 situation, their guys (on the defensive line) went hunting. That’s why we’ve got one of the best D-lines in the league and guys are really eating. They eat well, so they never leave the game hungry.”
It was a struggle for the Eagles offensively from the start. Hurts had two interceptions in the first half and Myles Sanders also had a fumble that led to the Bears’ only touchdown of the first half.
In fact, the Eagles insisted on passing the ball despite the cold and wind. Sanders, who entered the game with 1,068 yards, didn’t touch the ball until the end of the first half in 6 minutes.
The second half didn’t get much better as the Eagles went on a 19-play drive that spanned 8 minutes, 38 seconds of the third and fourth quarters. But the Eagles came up empty when Jake Elliott’s field goal bounced off the post (just once, though).
“I just felt like some of our runs were stopped early,” Johnson said. “And it’s hard to be sure of that when the results aren’t there. So we kept throwing it and the guys made plays.”
This was true with both Smith and Brown. Smith had three catches for 104 yards in the first half. That included a 38-yard reception on the final carry of the first half that was capped by Hurt’s 22-yard TD run. That gave the Eagles a 10-6 lead at halftime.
Then on the first play of the second half, Hurts hit Brown for 29 yards to the Bears’ 2, and Hurts capped the drive, giving the Eagles a 17-6 lead.
But Fields, who rushed for 95 yards and threw for 152, kept the Bears close. In the second half, he ran for 39 yards after escaping from Redick, who sacked him well behind the line of scrimmage. That led to David Montgomery’s 9-yard TD.
The Bears still trailed 17-13 in the fourth quarter when Hurts threw to Brown for a 69-yard 3-yard touchdown. Hurts hit that kick again to lead 25-13.
Fields’ 35-yard pass to Byron Pringle with 2:43 left put the Bears up 5.
The Eagles won the game on a third-and-6 Hurts pass to Brown with just under 2 minutes left.
It was an apt metaphor for the Eagles’ cold-blooded victory.
A party of Eagle sacks
The Eagles continued to approach franchise sack records. They sacked Fields 6 times in the third quarter – two each by Redick, Josh Sweet and Javon Hargrave. Hargrave has a career-high 10 sacks on the season, joining Reddick (12) in double figures.
As a team, the Eagles have 55 sacks on the season, seven shy of the franchise record set in 1989. It’s also the first time the Eagles have gone three consecutive games of five or more since 1997.
Why the Eagles kept Goedert on VK
Dallas Goedert said two weeks ago that he fully expects to be activated off injured reserve this Sunday, the first game in which he is eligible to play.
Still, the Eagles let Saturday’s deadline pass without activating Goedert, even though Goedert returned to practice last week. It’s possible the Eagles gave Goedert an extra week to rehabilitate his shoulder so he’ll be ready for the Eagles’ opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday.
BALIVA VS. FIELDS:These Eagles have seen Justin Fields play for years in college; will he surpass Jalen Hurts?
“He’s getting there,” Siriani said. “He had a good week of practice (last week), what he did. We felt he wasn’t quite ready yet, and when he’s ready, he’ll go.”
The Delaware native is on the Bears’ D-line
Red Lion Christian Academy star Angelo Blackson is in his third season with the Bears, but he hasn’t played much in 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 2½ sacks in each of the last two seasons, but none this season.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
