Mike Vick continued his great play, throwing through the Bears cover 2 D for 333 yards and 2 TDs and rushing 9 times for 44 yards, but his first interception of the season, a back breaking one in the end zone in the final 2 minutes of the 1st half, loomed large. The Eagles defense also struggled mightily without Asante Samuel jumping routes and confusing Jay Cutler. In Samuel's absence, rookie Trevard Lindley, and Joselio Hanson combined to get beat several times as the Eagles allowed a plethora of 30+ yard plays. In fact Cutler had arguably his best game as a bear, throwing for 247 yards and 4 TDs and most importantly no Ints. In addition, Matt Forte rushed 14 times for 117 yards, which makes him the first 100 yard rusher the Eagles have allowed all season. So bottom line it was not a good afternoon for the Eagles defense and it cost them.
The Eagles had the early 3-0 lead thanks to a 45 yard Aker's field goal, but the defense hit a rough patch after that and the Birds found themselves down 14-3 at the end of the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter the defense finally held a couple times and the Birds actually controlled the ball for most of quarter as another Aker's field goal and an 8 yard TD pass from Vick to Jeremy Maclin to cut the lead to 14-13. The Eagles drove down into red zone again in the final minute of the half and looked poised to take the lead, before a Vick pass on 1st and goal from the 4 was tipped and intercepted by Chris Harris who returned it to about midfield. Just 6 plays later Cutler's 3rd TD pass of the afternoon lifted the Bears to a 21-13 halftime lead. The Eagles never really recovered from that misstep and it was 31-13 Bears before the Eagles defense finally held again.
Still the Birds did not give up, but they were forced to settle for field goals on their next 2 drives and that ultimately sealed their doom. Vick did manage get them in the end zone again with a 30 yard strike to Brent Celek to cut the lead to 31-26, but with only 1:48 left. The Eagles and failed to recover the ensuing onsides kick and just like that their winning streak had ended at 3. For now because, they beat the Giants last week, they stay in first place, but they'll need to withstand a short week and get a win Thursday night against the Texans if they want to stay there.
1 comment:
Its sad to see the Eagles lose however their record is still pretty good and I cant see them not making the playoffs with Mike Vick at the helm.
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