Chicago’s third-string quarterback, a veteran making his first start in almost three years, threw for two touchdowns and ran in a third. The Eagles scored seven points. Bears 27, Philadelphia 7.
What happened
Caleb Williams was out with a right hamstring injury. Case Keenum, third on the depth chart, started.
- Keenum: 24 of 34, 247 yards, two passing touchdowns, plus a one-yard rushing score.
- Kalif Raymond: six catches, 90 yards, a touchdown.
- Chicago: 24 first downs, 128 rushing yards.
- Jalen Hurts: 16 of 25, 153 yards, one rushing touchdown, one interception to rookie Dillon Thieneman.
- Saquon Barkley: 82 yards on 15 carries.
Hurts scored on a sneak as the first half expired, which made it 10-7. Philadelphia then gained 62 yards in the entire second half out of 248 for the game.
The Eagles turned it over three times. Their defense has now gone three straight games without forcing a single turnover.
Both teams are 2-1. Bears left tackle Braxton Jones left in the third quarter with a knee injury.
What the Bears coach said
Ben Johnson on why a third-stringer looked composed.
He knows where everyone is supposed to be on every single play and so he is really quick to recognize coverage.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson
The BeezLoop Take
Sixty-two yards in a half is not a bad night. It is a system failing to produce anything, against a defense that had not forced a turnover in three weeks and suddenly took the ball away three times.
The uncomfortable read for Philadelphia is that this was not about Chicago solving something clever. A third-string quarterback on short notice does not get an exotic game plan. Keenum ran the offense, made the reads, did not lose the ball, and that was enough by twenty points. When the opponent’s emergency option beats you comfortably, the problem is not the matchup.
Hurts at 153 yards on 25 attempts is the number to sit with. That is roughly six yards a throw with Barkley averaging under six a carry behind him, which means neither thing the offense is built on worked. Philadelphia has spent two years being told its ceiling is a championship. Three weeks in, it is 2-1 and has been held to a touchdown by a backup.
And the Bears deserve more credit than the Keenum novelty allows. The turnover drought getting broken three times in one night against a quarterback who protects the ball is a defense arriving, not a fluke. Chicago is 2-1 with its starting quarterback hurt and its left tackle now hurt too, which is a better position than most of the league expected them to be in.
The caution on all of it is the same one we applied to Seattle losing: it is Week 3. A backup outplaying an MVP candidate for one night predicts almost nothing about January. It just makes for a strange Tuesday in Philadelphia.
The question
If the Eagles offense can be held to 62 second-half yards by a defense starting from zero takeaways, what happens against one that is actually good? And how long is Caleb Williams out?
More from the week: the defending champion Seahawks lost and Jameis Winston won a game 12-7 without a turnover, and why Green Bay keeps calling the worst play it has.
Sources: ESPN recap · Philadelphia Eagles official recap · NBC Sports · NFL.com
