It’s too late to fix the Eagles’ offense

The Eagles stood in the quiet of their locker room staring down the same problems they've been saying they'll get fixed all season.

But it's 13 weeks in now. It might be too late.

The Eagles lost to the upstart Chicago Bears, 24-15, on Friday at a furious and then apathetic Lincoln Financial Field.

Their offense remained a mess, as increasingly aggravated boos from the home crowd met them at every misstep.

They went three-and-out four times, punted it away five times, Jalen Hurts threw an interception and fumbled, and Jake Elliott missed a point-after attempt and a field goal, all in potentially game-altering spots.

Then across the board, the Eagles were outrushed on the ground 281-87, got crushed in time of possession 39:18-20:42, and in a brutal blow to their ego specifically, they lost the turnover battle 2-1.

One of the few points on the stat sheet that they did beat the Bears in, but the one no team ever wants to claim: Penalty yardage, where the Eagles went backwards 44 yards on seven flags compared to Chicago's 35 on four fouls.

Saquon Barkley continued to go nowhere, carrying the ball 13 times for just 56 yards, while watching the Bears ride D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai to over 100 yards rushing each on the other side.

Jalen Hurts went 19-for-34 passing for 230 yards, and A.J. Brown led the Eagles in receiving with 10 catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns. The latter score, however, came in garbage time and with the Eagles' offensive gameplanning almost seeming to go out of its way to avoid the middle of the field until late, even with the knowledge openly out there that Chicago was heading into Friday without its best linebackers.

The Eagles' offense was painfully one-dimensional and predictable, like it's been for the better part of the season now. But Friday might've arguably been their sloppiest, most out-of-sync, and uninventive effort yet.

Hurts mistimed and misfired throws, Dallas Goedert was seldom seen on a day when the big tight end really could've been a focal point against the Bears' weakened linebacker corps, DeVonta Smith's presence faded from halftime onward, and Barkley was still struggling to break through at the line of scrimmage while Tank Bigsby behind him was nowhere to be seen.

And the Eagles didn't have the benefit of a big lead that they built up for themselves quickly, like they did last week in Dallas before it all collapsed.

They left themselves chasing the Bears the entire time.

When they needed a first down, they got a short, ineffective gain or a yellow flag went flying. When they needed a big scoring drive, they went three-and-out.

They couldn't do themselves any favors.

"We just didn't execute enough to keep drives alive," Goedert said. "Really just comes down to that. Seems like it's just a recurring theme of what's been happening the last few weeks, and we gotta get it fixed. I believe we will.

"We got a lot of time to sit and figure things out, and hopefully we can come back on Monday and play a cleaner game."

And in a sense, yes, the Eagles will have a 10-day mini bye week, so to speak, since their next game isn't until next Monday night against the Chargers in LA.

It is a bit more downtime to regroup than a team usually would have this late into the season.

But at the same time, they only have five games left on their regular-season schedule starting with the Chargers.

This time last season, the Eagles still had their offensive warts, but they knew who they were. They prided themselves on their rushing attack and Barkley's path to a 2,000-yard season, and could get away with methodically draining the clock with whatever lead they had because they were strong enough of a team in the trenches to do that.

But this season, they don't have any of that.

Eric Hartline/Imagn Images

A.J. Brown was the Eagles' leading receiver for an offense still struggling to go anywhere.

Barkley has been struggling all year, and the offensive line at this point is banged up and clearly isn't as strong or as elite as it was. Hurts hasn't been able to make up the difference with his arm, even with Smith, Brown, Goedert, and Jahan Dotson as his passing options, and with everyone underwhelming showing, offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo only becomes a greater subject of Philadelphia's scorn.

Friday's dismal effort reached a new boiling for that, but head coach Nick Sirinni said postgame that while they're going to be evaluating everything in the days ahead, a change of offensive playcaller isn't coming.

"I have confidence in the entire group," Sirianni said. "I know it will keep coming back to Kevin, but if I thought it was one thing, then you make those changes. Obviously, it's a lot of different things.

"We all have a part of it. Kevin has a part of it, I have a part of it, all the coaches have a part of it, all the players have a part of it. You win and you lose as a team. It's never one thing."

But if that's the case, it might be too many and too late to fully fix them.

• MORE EAGLES
• The pivotal plays from a listless Eagles loss to the Bears
• Eagles Week 13 stock watch: Philly's defense forgets to stop the run against Bears
• Eagles vs. Bears instant observations: Run defense, lingering issues have officially started Birds' slide

The playoff race is taking clearer and clearer shape. The Eagles are still 8-4 after Friday, and leading the NFC, but Dallas is suddenly closer to them than they were after the Birds lost two straight and the Cowboys three straight. The Bears also improved to 9-3 and leapfrogged the Eagles for the current No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff standings, while claiming the statement win they've been looking for in a breakout year.

The Eagles? They're still trying to figure out their offense at a point in the season when teams should know who they are, and after just barely scraping by for weeks with luck that just might've run out.

"I got confidence in this team," Hurts insisted postgame. "I got confidence in us when we're collaborative. I got a lot of confidence when we have an identity, so I think that's the first thing we gotta establish."

But in the face of the same problems they've been saying they'll get fixed all season, it might be too late for any of that now.

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