The Eagles' defense came up big one more time to put the team in the clear, or at least that's what most watching Monday night would've thought.
On what felt like a do-or-die 4th and 1 for the Packers at their own 44-yard line, with just 1:30 left, Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love handed the ball off to his running back Josh Jacobs on an inside zone that you could hear defensive tackle Moro Ojomo call out before the snap on the ESPN broadcast. Jacobs cut back to his right looking to pivot into turning the corner for just that lone yard his team needed to stay alive, but as he did, Philadelphia's newest hero Jaelan Phillips shed his blocker, grabbed the running back, and dragged him to the ground as the ball popped loose well short of the marker.
Reed Blankenship recovered the fumble for Philadelphia, a flag on the play went against the Packers for an illegal formation to uphold the turnover, and up three, all the Eagles had to do was manage whatever clock was left to leave a freezing Lambeau Field victorious…
But of course it couldn't be that simple.
Sitting in marked field-goal range for kicker Jake Elliott, the Eagles ran stunted 1-2-yard runs that left them at a three-and-out, but with only 33 seconds left and a try at a kick that would put them up six if sent through the uprights.
The Eagles didn't do that, though, nor did they elect for a short punt that could pin Green Bay back deep with little time.
They kept Jalen Hurts and the offense out there on a 4th and 6, dialing up a deep throw toward the end zone for A.J. Brown that the Green Bay secondary kept a beat on the entire way and broke up.
The Packers got one last chance, again, that was only finally put to bed on a horribly botched prayer of a 64-yard field goal try from their kicker Brandon McManus.
The Eagles won, 10-7, to take a huge NFC matchup coming off their bye week.
But still, what was going on with that call from head coach Nick Sirianni at the end?
"We're up three, and I would've liked to be in a little closer to kick a field goal," Sirianni detailed postgame. "You play every situation a little bit differently, but it was into the wind on that one. I knew the kick would have to be on a little bit lower trajectory on that particular one. I got a lot of faith in our offense. It didn't work out on this one. We just didn't get it."
The Eagles go for it and don't get it!
Green Bay takes over 👀
PHIvsGB on ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/TWKLrNCSyD— NFL (@NFL) November 11, 2025
Elliott kicked through Monday night's lone field goal in the third quarter from 39 yards out to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead.
Had Sirianni elected to send Elliott back out to try and make it a six-point game at the end, that attempt would've been from about 52 yards away and going against the wind as the coach noted.
Sirianni has also shown and stated tons of confidence in his offense through gutsy dice-roll calls before, especially with drawn-up Hurts-Brown shots downfield.
Last season against the Giants on the road, the Eagles were faced with a 4th and 3 at around midfield late into the first half, and kept their offense out there. Hurts took the snap from the gun, dropped a couple steps back, then launched up a pass down the left sideline that Brown caught in stride as he broke the plane for a touchdown. That play opened up the floodgates toward a 28-3 blowout, which all came after another big catch from Brown against Cleveland the week before that let the Eagles drain the clock late in a 20-16 win.
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Then, in the win over the Vikings a few weeks ago, the Eagles were looking at another 4th down just inside Minnesota territory in the first quarter. As the play broke down, Hurts signaled for Brown to go deep and sailed up another deep throw, and the receiver grabbed it for the first touchdown of a 28-22 decision that reset the Eagles after consecutive losses.
It's a double-edged sword, but one that Sirianni has proven to be willing to live and die by with this era of the team, and for however logical it may or may not seem from the outside.
It's worked in the aforementioned cases above.
Monday night, though, with the game on the line at Lambeau, it didn't, and it gave the Packers just that extra bit of life that needed to be withstood.
"But the decision, I stand put on that decision, especially being up three," Sirianni said after the Eagles withstood Green Bay. "Because you go up six, they're still gonna need a touchdown, throw a Hail Mary, everything like that. We would've ended the game if we got that, and then I got a lot of faith in our guys to be able to do that."
It just left a ton of Eagles fans watching pulling their hair out, because of course Monday night couldn't be that simple.
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