Sunday Football Afterword: Eagles vs Bears

Brandon Boykin added a score to the offense's six touchdown with a
54-yard pick-6 off Jay Cutler in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's win.

Cory Puffett

After the results of the earlier games on Sunday, there wasn’t much meaning to Sunday night’s matchup between the Eagles and Bears. The exception was that Chicago could clinch the NFC North with a win in the City of Brotherly Love.

Instead, the Eagles handed the Bears a huge loss by hanging 54 points, the most any team has scored on the Bears since Detroit hung 55 on them in 1997.

Jay Cutler struggled in one of the few Week 16 games that did not have adverse weather conditions. To be fair though, it was hardly all his fault. Chicago’s offensive line did little to stop Philadelphia’s front seven. Cutler was sacked five times for 46 lost yards. Matt Forte and Michael Bush combined for just 49 yards on 16 carries.

Philly’s offense had no such problems. They scored 21 points each in the first and fourth quarters. Nick Foles completed 21 of 25 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns.

LeSean McCoy has 18 carries for 133 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Bryce Brown added 115 yards and a score on nine carries. Chris Polk also scored on the ground as the Eagles gained 289 yards and four rushing touchdowns on 36 carries. That’s a team average of 8.0 yards per carry!

Sunday night’s loss sets up an NFC North Championship next Sunday for the Bears and Packers in the Windy City. The storyline we’ll all be following this week is whether Aaron Rodgers is cleared to return for that game.

If Rodgers is inactive, Matt Flynn will make his fourth start of the season and he has shown signs of improvement every week, even in Sunday’s 38-31 loss to Pittsburgh. Eddie Lacy adds balance to Green Bay’s offense and could help them pose similar issues to Chicago’s defense as what they saw in Philly on Sunday night.

Philadelphia will play a second straight Sunday night game in the 2013 regular season finale, an NFC East Championship in Dallas. The Eagles hold a one-game lead on the Cowboys, but Dallas owns the most important tiebreakers, so a win will put Dallas in the playoffs and keep Philadelphia home for the new year.

Final Score:

Chicago Bears – 11

Philadelphia Eagles – 54