We already knew before last Friday's Eagles game against the Bears that the Birds had a rushing offense problem and passing offense problem?
Are they now entering the last leg of their season with a rushing defense issue?
They aren't just coming off a historically bad outing against the Bears, whose 281 rushing yards in their 24-15 win on Black Friday were the third-most ever by an Eagles opponent since the AFL-NFL merger, but they've allowed 406 rushing yards on 78 carries over the past two games, which includes last Sunday's 24-21 loss to the Cowboys.
The Bears averaged 6.0 yards per carry against the Eagles, the highest average against the Eagles on 45 or more carries since 1970, and their 47 carries marked just the third time in the past 25 years that a team even managed that many or more against Philadelphia.
The Cowboys have now twice exposed the Eagles in the run game, combining for 244 rushing yards on 53 carries in the two-game NFC East split, averaging 4.6 yards per carry in the series. Last Sunday, they ran 31 times against the Eagles.
Earlier this year, the Giants ran 39 times against the Eagles for 172 yards, and now the Eagles have allowed at least 30 rushing attempts in a game three times this season – their most since the dreaded 2020 season, when their 4-11-1 record led to Doug Pederson's firing.
Are they wearing down?
Now the Eagles must get ready for a Monday night showdown against the Chargers, who rank 12th in rushing yards and 13th in yards per carry but have seen a big increase in their rushing attempts lately.
The Chargers, whose head coach and offensive coordinator are longtime proponents of a foundational run game, lost both of their offensive tackles for the season and have been without first-round running back Omarion Hampton since Week 5 with a fractured ankle. The losses forced the staff to lean more on the pass for a big chunk of the season.
But the Chargers have rediscovered their bread-and-butter run game, with 30 or more carries in four of their past five games and 40+ in two of them. They have the NFL's eighth-most rushing yards in that span and third-most attempts.
In their 31-14 win Sunday over the Raiders, the Chargers ran for 192 yards on 40 carries, with running back Kimani Vidal going for 126 yards on the ground.
But two developments that have nothing to do with the Eagles' recent leakiness in run defense could also influence the Bolts to keep their run game churning – Hampton's potential return, and surgery on quarterback Justin Herbert's left hand to repair a fracture that could keep Herbert sidelined Monday and put backup Trey Lance into the starting spot.
Herbert said he expects to play despite the procedure, but we'll know more about that in the coming days. Hampton, who's been on Injured Reserve since Week 5, has already been practicing and was likely withheld against the Raiders because the Chargers knew they wouldn't need him.
The extra rest this week gives Hampton, who had his first 100-yard game the week before his ankle fracture, more time to be ready to go against the Eagles. He's averaging 4.8 yards per carry, which would be top-10 among NFL running backs if he had enough carries to qualify.
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The scary part, for the Eagles, is that teams have taken to running right at the heart of their defense. A plethora of double-teams and wham blocks executed by the Cowboys and Bears helped drive mammoth defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter – the two pillars of the Eagles' interior line – off the line of scrimmage, making it tougher for Eagles linebackers to get around blocks and into gaps.
Another Eagles iDL, Moro Ojomo, is more of a long-armed, quick-burst pass rusher than a stout, point-of-attack defender, although he wouldn't be considered a bad run defender, just not an elite one.
Depth on the interior line isn't as strong as it typically has been for the Eagles, and they're not getting as much production from their fourth defensive tackle, Byron Young, as they did last year, when it was Ojomo. Young played 44% of the snaps Friday, his second-most this season, and might need to play a bigger role to help coordinator Vic Fangio get his run defense settled moving forward.
There would seem to be a valid argument that the offense's high three-and-out rate and woeful third-down rate is taxing the defense. The defense has played 69 more snaps through 12 games than it did in 2024 – about six snaps per game.
But more alarming is that each of the top three interior linemen is playing a higher percentage of snaps than last year, with two of them making a seismic jump:
| Snap % | 2024 | 2025 |
| Jalen Carter | 84% | 85% |
| Jordan Davis | 37% | 62% |
| Moro Ojomo | 37% | 65% |
Maybe a more encouraging sign would be the Eagles' recent history of getting their run defense right after breakdowns. Last year, the Eagles opened the season by allowing 163 rushing yards on 21 carries (7.8 YPC) to the Packers in São Paulo, Brazil, followed by another letdown in a Week 2 loss to the Falcons, who ran for 152 yards on 28 carries (5.4).
The Eagles then didn't allow more than 100 yards rushing again until Week 13 against the Ravens, a game the Eagles won. After Week 13, the Eagles only allowed one opponent to average more than 4.2 yards per carry against them.
But even if the run defense gets fixed, there are still other issues – namely, the offense – to get figured out. If that's possible at this point.
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