Grayson’s Grades: Eagles loss versus Bears

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles failed to bounce back from Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys and lost for the second time this week when the Chicago Bears came to Philadelphia and beat them 24-15.

The Eagles offense struggled once again to find any success moving the ball. There were once again too many penalties that killed any progress they were making offensively coupled with a pair of turnovers by Jalen Hurts. Eagles Kicker Jake Elliott also missed a field goal and an extra point.

Meanwhile, the defense was gashed for 281 rushing yards. They allowed a pair of 100-yard rushers. The Eagles also allowed the Bears to convert 10 of 17 third downs.

When asked on "Speakeasy" with LeSean McCoy and Emmanuel Acho in the locker room if the Eagles offense was predictable, former Eagles and current Bears Safety CJ Gardner-Johnson just winked at the camera and laughed.

The Eagles have lost two in a row and are heading in the wrong direction as the season heads into the pivotal month of December. The offense is atrocious, especially considering the weapons they have while the defense failed to win the line of scrimmage leading to huge running holes coupled with poor tackling.

It begs the question, what changes should be made before the Eagles visit the Chargers a week from Monday? And what changes will be made? Head Coach Nick Sirianni said after the loss that Kevin Patullo will still be calling the plays. However, it remains to be seen if Owner Jeffrey Lurie and General Manager Howie Roseman will get involved and have a different idea regarding that.

Here is the latest edition of Grayson's Grades:

A

AJ Brown - Brown had another solid performance, but both of his best games this season have come in Eagles losses. He caught ten passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. He was one of the few bright spots on an offense that struggled mightily to make plays when they needed to the most. Brown should be a featured part of this offense, but they need to stay on the field long enough and consistently enough for him to get some help from other players on the offense.

B

DeVonta Smith - Smith saw his share of targets, but was unable to find a lot of room for yards after the catch. He had five catches for 48 yards. His longest reception was 30 yards so he only managed 18 yards on his other four catches. Smith seems to be at his best when he mixes in a deep ball. That proved to be difficult due to the windy conditions at the Linc.

C

Jalyx Hunt - Hunt made a huge play on defense when the team needed it. He read a screen pass and managed to pick it off and tack on a nice return. Hunt made that pick in the third quarter giving the Eagles great field position. Unfortunately, just four plays later they turned it over when Jalen Hurts had the ball ripped away on a tush push. Hunt had three tackles, two quarterback hits, one pass successfully defended and one interception.

Jalen Carter - Carter failed to win a lot of his battles at the line of scrimmage but he did have an impact every now and then. Carter had four tackles with a sack, two tackles for a loss, one sack, two passes successfully defended and one quarterback hit. While Carter had some good moments in this game, he needs to be more of a consistent disruptor on the defensive line. It's also fair to see he needs more help from his teammates on the defensive line.

Saquon Barkley - Barkley showed signs of putting together some consistent runs. He averaged more than four yards per carry. Barkley's longest carry went for 15 yards. However, he did have a big mistake when he was wide open in the flat and took his eye off the ball too early leading to an incompletion when he had plenty of open green grass in front of him. Barkley hit holes better in this game than he has recently. There are some positive trends in the rushing attack, but still very far from being anywhere nearly as dominant as it was last year.

D

Defensive Line - When you allow the opponent to rush for 281 yards with not one but two 100-yard rushers, it is guaranteed to be a long day on defense. The Defensive Line frequently lost the battle at the line of scrimmage leading to big gains on the ground by the Bears. Chicago faced a lot of second and medium or third and short situations. It's part of the reason why they converted 10 of 17 third down attempts. Typically the Eagles do a decent job of stopping the run and win the battles at the line of scrimmage. They did not do that in this game and it allowed the Bears to also have the ball nearly twice as long as the Eagles did. The time of possession finished with Chicago having it 39:18 compared to 20:42 for Philadelphia.

F

Jalen Hurts - Hurts missed some open receivers, he also turned it over twice which clearly cost his team. He made some nice throws to AJ Brown, but ultimately Hurts lacked consistency and failed to help his team move the chains. The Eagles had four three-and-outs. They also converted just four of 12 third down attempts. Hurts completed 19 of 34 passes for 230 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also carried the ball four times for 31 yards and a fumble.

Kevin Patullo - Patullo continues to struggle to get this offense going. It fails to get into any kind of rhythm and appears to lack any idea of a philosophy or identity offensively. The offense continues to make way too many penalties which create second and third down and long situations. This offense is broken and in my opinion something needs to change whether it is an outsider brought in to help 'tutor' Petullo or turning over play-calling to someone else. This offense needs a spark and a message to be sent that the status quo is unacceptable and the organization is not afraid to make changes.

Nick Sirianni - Sirianni is currently leading a team that lacks focus and discipline. When it is at its best this team does not turn the ball over and does not create its own problems with a flurry of penalties. Clearly they are not at their best and he is failing to fix the lack of focus and lack of discipline issues. To be fair, the players are not executing and making stupid pre-snap penalties that are easily avoidable. While on one hand I admire how strongly he vocally supports his players and coaches, I also feel he is doing them a disservice by not calling out the lack of focus and mental mistakes leading to stupid penalties as well as not holding Kevin Patullo accountable for a clear lack of success by his offense. This offense has way too many talented pieces and should be scoring far more points than they are right now.

Jake Elliott - Elliott shot the team momentum in the foot when he missed an extra point that would have tied the game. It affected the rest of the game. Had he made that, they would not have needed to go for a two-point conversion late in the game that failed and caused the Eagles to remain behind by two scores. With less than 20 seconds left in the game Sirianni elected to try a 52 yard field goal and set up an onside kick. Elliott missed that kick too leading to the end of the game. Elliott is typically very reliable and can be counted on to make big kicks. He failed at that task in this game. I have no doubt he will bounce back but that missed extra point clearly affected the game.

Offensive Line - The Offensive line continues to struggle with consistency. They also commit too many penalties. They did a good job of occasionally creating running lanes for Saquon Barkley, but it was not happening frequently enough to lead to some long runs and consistent drives. They also failed to get a great push on the tush push that led to Hurts getting stopped and fumbling the ball away. We know what this line can do and I have given them the excuse of lacking consistency with who starts and finished on the line due to injuries. But these issues need to be fixed and they need to win their battles on the line of scrimmage more often than not.