Sickening Loss 24-20

Teams win games like these by doing the things that the Eagles didn't do on Sunday night in Chicago. If you want to win a game you don't turn the ball over on special teams, and you score when you're inside the 10-yard line. The Eagles did not win on Sunday night, losing 24-20 to the Bears, and they are now 2-2 on the season with a rough game Sunday ahead. Sunday night's game almost made me physically sick. The eagles defense gave McNabb and the offence every opportunity to win the game but they just did not take advantage of them. With the NFC East as strong as it is that might be all the losses that the Eagles can afford if they want to win the division. It was a terrible loss in Chicago.

Here are some of the things I saw:

• Even though the Eagles moved the ball pretty well the whole game, they really missed Brian Westbrook in the red zone and, especially, inside the 10-yard line. The offense just could not punch the ball in when it had to, and Westbrook's explosion wasn't replaced.
• Matt Schobel missed his block on that fourth-down run from the 1-yard line and the line got no surge. Think the Eagles missed Shawn Andrews and L.J. Smith there?3. I loved the call to give DeSean Jackson an end around on the final play of the third quarter. The Eagles needed to establish something on the ground, and getting the ball to Jackson in space was perfect. (One of the few good calls of the game.)
• The defense pitched a perfect third quarter: three takeaways -- one interception and two fumble recoveries -- and held Chicago to four total yards in 13 plays.
• The defense, after a tough first half, is having a great third quarter. Trent Cole's sack and forced fumble, recovered by Omar Gaither (who is having a fantastic game) gave the offense another scoring opportunity in Chicago territory. But the Eagles couldn't put the ball in the end zone, and had to settle for a field goal. You have to convert touchdowns in those situations.
• David Akers was anything but "automatic" in this game, I remember when he was a sure thing, no mater where he was on the field.

The burden rookie DeSean Jackson carries in the Eagles' offense has become obvious enough. He had five more catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, and two carries for 35 yards, in the Eagles' 24-20 loss to the Chicago Bears last night, But he also had two crucial mistakes - a muffed punt that led to a Bears touchdown, as well as a route miscommunication with quarterback Donovan McNabb that led to an interception. I am willing to overlook the muffed punt because he is, and we should all remember this, only a rookie. "I'll watch the film and I'll learn," Jackson said. "Basically, for me, this year is learning. I'm expected to do a lot of things, faster than the average rookie coming in. I respect that and I understand that. I just need to get the job done." When Jackson caught that first-quarter touchdown pass in the back of the end zone - the ball just over the outstretched fingertips of Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, the pass thrown amid three defenders overall - it was the kind of play that spoke of calm and skill that should be beyond a rookie's ability. Excellence, then exasperation. It has become the pattern - especially in prime time. Two weeks ago, on Monday night in Dallas, we all remember when Jackson perpetrated his fit of premature elation, tossing aside the ball to begin a post-touchdown pose and not realizing he had let it go before crossing the goal line. He remains the offensive player who reminds you the most of a great baseball slugger (both the home runs and the strikeouts).

Correll Buckhalter, valiant warrior that he is, faced the questions head-on, the way he tried to crack the Chicago Bears' line on the final, most frustrating episode of an evening defined by the Eagles' offense short-circuiting and frittering away what should have been a victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. "I did the best I could, the linemen did the best they could," said Buckhalter, who gained 66 yards on 16 carries, but needed 1 more. "We just came up short . . . It hurts bad. They just executed better than we did." If Brian Westbrook had been able to play, or if David Akers was still the kicker he once was, Buckhalter wouldn't have been left to try to explain how the Eagles are 2-2, just like the Bears, who spent the entire second half trying to give them the game, But Westbrook and his injured ankle were watching from the sideline, and the Eagles didn't have the offensive weapons to win, despite an amazing series of opportunities provided by four Bears turnovers.

On first-and-goal from the 4, after driving from their 24 in seven plays, the Birds got a 3-yard run from Buckhalter. On second down, fullback Tony Hunt seemed to have a hole inside but didn't go there and lost nearly a yard. It wasn't clear what Hunt was doing. On third down, Buckhalter tried to leap the pile, the way Westbrook does so effortlessly, and he came up about a foot short. Fourth down, 3 minutes and 40 seconds left, instead of a sneak or a roll by Donovan McNabb, the Eagles sent Buckhalter into the middle again, and defensive end Alex Brown got penetration, grabbing Buckhalter by the neck as he leaned into the pile. Not quite there, by an inch or two. "We've got to score. We're on the 1-foot line. We've got to score," said Eagles coach Andy Reid, whose playcalling left much room for second-guessing. "It's my responsibility to get our guys into the end zone, when we have the opportunities." There and on an earlier failed short-yardage conversion, Reid did not call a quarterback sneak, even though McNabb has been pretty much automatic on those his entire career, and is, in fact, bigger than Buckhalter. Reid said he considered the idea but abandoned it because of McNabb's contused chest. The quarterback said he would have been "more than willing" to sneak, had the play been called. "There were opportunities" on the final series, McNabb said. "We just didn't capitalize."

Finally in Sunday night's game we learned three disappointing things about the 2-2 Birds.

1. Without Westbrook, Jackson is the game-breaking weapon. This became painfully apparent when the Birds could manage just six points off those four Bears turnovers.
2. Jackson really is just a rookie, as McNabb has persisted in trying to tell us since early in training camp.
3. These days, a decision to have Akers try a field goal from 45 yards or farther is only going to give great field position to the opposition.

However it's too early to give up on them at this point they certainly need some work but maybe this is what they need to inspire them to get better.