Bears hold on to topple Eagles

FROM THE MORNING CALL

CHICAGO — You could see it immediately on Eagles coach Andy Reid's face.

The anger within had bubbled to the surface before the first question could even be asked in the aftermath of a brutally distasteful 31-26 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday.

With clear, genuine and relatively rare disdain, Reid scolded his team for basically not being ready to play and having what looked at times like a cavalier attitude toward basic fundamentals such as tackling, blocking and communicating — the staples of good football at any level.

"Hats off to the Chicago Bears," he said. "They played better than we did and they coached better than we did in all phases. ... We obviously have to do a better job in the red zone [on offense and defense]."

What stuck out most in the series of misplays that cost the Eagles (7-4) a game in which they finished with advantages in almost every statistical category was an interception 2 yards deep in the end zone by Bears safety Chris Harris, who returned it to the Eagles' 37-yard line in the closing minutes of the first half.

The Eagles were trailing by just one point at the time and had a chance to gain the lead and the momentum heading to halftime. Instead, the Bears encountered almost no resistance whatsoever in driving so quickly toward another touchdown that the Eagles nearly had enough time to respond before halftime.

They didn't, though.

Then, to make matters worse, they gave up a 46-yard kickoff return to Devin Hester leading off the second half. That set the stage for a lightning-quick touchdown drive aided by a 15-yard penalty on rookie safety Nate Allen for a horse-collar tackle of Hester. Hester gained 18 yards on that play, an improvised pass by Jay Cutler, perfectly symbolizing the kind of day it was for a defense that one week earlier gave the New York Giants fits for the better part of 60 minutes.

Cutler (14 for 21, 247 yards, four touchdowns) scrambled out of trouble to dump it to Hester, who was inexplicably left alone near the sideline.

Almost all of the Bears big plays — and there were a bunch of them — came on short dumps or runs in which ballcarriers maneuvered their way through a maze of Eagles defenders with the ease of a seven-on-seven drill in shorts and shells.

In the first half, running back Matt Forte rumbled 61 yards to set up the Bears' first touchdown. On their next series, Hester went 39 yards down the left sideline with a pass delivered to him in the flat. That set up another TD.

Their third touchdown was set up similarly, on a short pass to Earl Bennett that went for 30 yards.

"We've just got to tackle better," cornerback Dimitri Patterson said. "That's the bottom line. We can sit there and make excuses about the surface. Everybody knows the Bears' surface is terrible. That's nothing new. It's like playing in a swamp. But it is what it is."

"There's a point where you have to put your foot down and stop it," Reid added. "As coaches and players, it has to be stopped. That starts with me. I've got to have that thing the right way, and I didn't get it done on my end today."

True enough, as Reid's decision-making was highly questionable as well.

With less than five minutes remaining and the Eagles staring at a fourth-and-goal from the 18 while trailing by 15 points, Reid decided to send David Akers out for 36-yard field goal.

"Things weren't going well and I wanted points," Reid explained. "So I went with the points. ... I didn't want to come out of there with no points."

That meant that the Eagles, after scoring a touchdown on their next series to make it 31-26 with just under two minutes remaining and no timeouts left, had to attempt an onside kick.

That didn't work either, as Bears wide receiver Johnny Knox came down with it, enabling his team to run out the clock and hand Eagles quarterback Michael Vick his first loss as a starter in a game he was able to finish.

Vick was 29 of 44 for 333 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but the Bears did hit him quite a bit, dropping him for four sacks along the way.

In five trips to the red zone, the Eagles scored just one touchdown.

"We just beat ourselves," Vick said. "Plays that we can make, we just didn't make them. And I think when we go back and watch the film, we'll see so many opportunities that we had that we didn't capitalize on. And we just have to get better, starting with me."

Particularly frustrating was Vick's inability to exploit the skills of his top playmaking receiver, DeSean Jackson, who was limited to two receptions for 26 yards.

Vick did find tight end Brent Celek for a magnificent 30-yard scoring strike that set the final score, but it was too little, too late for a team that just didn't seem ready for what the Bears were throwing at them.

"We didn't capitalize on anything," Celek said, shaking his head with disgust. "You can't go down there, expecting to get seven and get three or turn the ball over. So going forward, we've got to fix that. That just hurts our team."

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