This new Eagles offense will require time and patience – does anyone have that?

Growing pains were to be expected for the new Eagles offense, but how long can it continue to be erratic?

By Geoff Mosher
PhillyVoice Staff

Matt Marton/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect

Nick Sirianni's offense continues to underwhelm after scoring just seven points against the Bears.

It came at the absolute worst time, again.

The second half had just started. Saquon Barkley ripped off a nifty 7-yard run to the right, the kind that have been few and far between for him.

Momentum had already shifted toward the Eagles on Monday night in Chicago before the break. Jalen Hurts emerged from a quick but costly stint in the medical tent to lead the Eagles to their first touchdown, a crafty plunge into the end zone as the finals seconds of the half ticked off and as the confused Bears defense wasn't even sure if the Eagles would be able to run a play.

Now, with the ball right back to start the half, Barkley's gain had put the Eagles in 2nd-and-3 with an endless list of play calls that new coordinator Sean Mannion could tap into against a reeling Bears defense.

Then came the screen, the same kind the Eagles have executed miserably going back, well, a long time.

And would once again.

Rookie receiver Makai Lemon ran orbit motion behind Hurts into the right flat. Hurts took the snap and looped the ball over to him. A missed lead block by Zach Ertz let Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson have a free ride to Lemon, who got smothered behind the line of scrimmage.

And there went yet another blown screen that put the Birds into yet another third-and-long that would lead to yet another three-and-out.

Here’s every time the Eagles have miserably failed to run the Makai Lemon screen pass play this season. Will they make it 0/4 next week? pic.twitter.com/ONLQND2VGt

— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) September 29, 2026

Hurts almost made it worse when his third-down pass hit T.J. Edwards in the hands before the Bears linebacker dropped it. Later in the game, on an almost identical pressure package, the former Eagle wouldn't blow the opportunity. Edwards' fourth-quarter interception served as the nail in the coffin for an Eagles offense that scored its fewest points since Week 12 of 2021, the first season of the Nick Sirianni-Jalen Hurts era, in a 27-7 loss.

And so it goes for this new Eagles offense – one step forward, two steps back, still not nearly good enough.

"We all have to own that loss right there," said Nick Sirianni, who helped the malaise by punting on a very reasonable 4th-and-1 near midfield with his team down 13 in the third. "I don't think anybody coached well. I don't think anybody played well."

To be clear, the defense allowed 375 yards and three TDs to a Bears offense piloted by a 38-year-old journeyman backup quarterback. The struggling Birds offense wasn't the lone – or even biggest – culprit from Monday night's blowout.

But there is evidence the Eagles can shake off a disappointing showing on defense, and plenty of talent on that side to believe in a smoother recovery.

For the offense though, Monday night's second half was the recurring nightmare that the Eagles just can't seem to wake up from – five possessions, three consecutive three-and-outs, an interception, and turnover on downs.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

"We gotta do a better job of first-down runs, gotta do a better job staying ahead of the sticks," Barkley said in the locker room. "Gotta get out of second-and-eight, and penalties, and all the little things we've been preaching. We just gotta fix it. We know the problem, we gotta get better at it."

"When it comes to self sabotage," Lane Johnson added, "we did that a lot today."

And not just Monday. Not just Week 1. Not just Week 2. 

Despite all the offseason change – the jettisoning of A.J. Brown, the hiring of Mannion and a mostly new offensive staff, the introduction of new concepts and schemes –  the issues setting back the offense through this season are virtually the same ones that have held them back since the start of last season.

And they still can't execute a friggin' screen.

"All in all it's a theme of negative plays," Hurts said. "Just got to put it all together and eliminate the neagtive plays so we can stay ahead of schedule."

Jalen Hurts got beat up by the Bears' defense in the second half.

What's clear after three weeks should have already been from the start – that learning and adjusting to a new offense is not an overnight process. Mannion is still getting a handle on what his personnel can – and can't – do. The players are doing the same.

When it's looked good, it's because Hurts' play has been the rising tide lifting all ships, or because DeVonta Smith is simply brilliant at catching footballs.

When it hasn't, it's because Hurts and the Eagles can't overcome their perpetual habit of giving away first down and living in unmanageable down-and-distances.

You can beat Tennessee and Washington that way. Not so much against the Bears. And with two more 2025 playoff teams – the Rams and Jaguars – on deck in Weeks 4 and 5, they need to find answers quickly.

"Third down is very big down for us in these first two games," Hurts said, and it was big again – for the opposite season.

Even when the run game finally showed a pulse in the first half, penalties and turnovers – and some bad luck that sidelined Hurts during a critical sequence – swooped into to pull the rug from underneath.

The Eagles just aren't clicking yet offensively, and it could take some time and patience before they do.

Does anyone have that? 

They're already down one starting offensive lineman, with another playing of position. They're missing their best tight end for a few more weeks. Their small, slim wideouts – save for Tay Wicks – are a questionable fit for a wide zone run scheme that needs receivers to block, and their best running backs are terrible in pass protection.

Oh, have we mentioned that they still can't execute a simple friggin' screen?

It's one thing to need more time for cohesion and chemistry. It's another if the personnel you have isn't the right fit for the plays you're trying to call.

Then you add penalties and turnovers to that toxic brew, and it makes the ultimate goal feel so ... distant.

"I thought we were running it well in the first half," Sirianni said. "Obviously, we had a hold on one of those drives that put us back after a big run. Again, kind of being off schedule there, being in third-and-long, second-and-long. We have to fix that, the negative plays. You can't go backwards."

You can't, but the Eagles keep doing it anyway.

They need more time. They need more development. They need a better understanding of how to accentuate their strengths and scheme around their weaknesses. They need exactly what Ben Johnson has brought to the Bears.

But this is the life they chose – a first-time play caller learning on the fly, presiding over an aging offense that can't get out of its own way, with some square personnel pegs being wedged into round holes.

If this were a rebuild, OK. But the objective to win now is as urgent as it has ever been, as it's always been for this team. 

Patience might be required. Does anyone have it anymore with this offense?

https://www.phillyvoice.com/new-eagles-offense-time-patience-jalen-hurts-sean-mannion-bears-blowout/

It will require not one but two new OGs and a blocking TE who can also be a receiving threat and another WR for starters

and a RT next year if Bell doesn't work out

13 minutes ago, weko said:

It will require not one but two new OGs and a blocking TE who can also be a receiving threat and another WR for starters

and a RT next year if Bell doesn't work out

I agree with everything you said except the WR's....I think they have the talent at that position but it means absolutely nothing if the QB isn't finding them when they are open....which was alot of times yesterday.....

I think through 3 weeks there’s been enough to have some hope with this scheme. There’s been some nice wrinkles and Jalen does seem to be buying in. The challenge is this team thinks they can compete (I don’t think they can but they do) and so the worry is they revert back to the old offense to try and do that? Because the defense was meant to be helping us through the growing pains and they aren’t, at all.

I think the largest problem with the team on both sides of the ball is subpar personnel due to injury history, lack of talent, and/or lack of development. There are players who won't thrive in any system being counted on to be long term starters. Lemon looks like a practice squad-UDFA player out there. He's small and slow. What a combo of talents...and he was the 1st round pick and they traded up to get him ahead of Pittsburgh? That dude should've come in and made the Eagles pro bowl CB's wide eyed with surprise and being impressed. Instead, we can see with our own eyes that Darius Cooper is markedly better than him and he was the UDFA talent scratching and scraping to make the team. The O-line is need of upgrades at several starting positions.

I don't want to even think about the other side of the ball until I take some blood pressure meds.

1 hour ago, PoconoDon said:

I think the largest problem with the team on both sides of the ball is subpar personnel due to injury history, lack of talent, and/or lack of development. There are players who won't thrive in any system being counted on to be long term starters. Lemon looks like a practice squad-UDFA player out there. He's small and slow. What a combo of talents...and he was the 1st round pick and they traded up to get him ahead of Pittsburgh? That dude should've come in and made the Eagles pro bowl CB's wide eyed with surprise and being impressed. Instead, we can see with our own eyes that Darius Cooper is markedly better than him and he was the UDFA talent scratching and scraping to make the team. The O-line is need of upgrades at several starting positions.

I don't want to even think about the other side of the ball until I take some blood pressure meds.

Yeah but....the WAY they are using Lemon is doing him no favors at all because that is not his game, its not the way he should be utilized....

I don't think we'll see much consistency with this offense until the offensive line starts to play much better. But Johnson may be feeling his age, Steen and Mailata seem to have hit a plateau or even regressed a bit.......Jurgens & Dickerson aren't the same players that they were......Kendall is inexperienced but making good progress.

But without a productive run game, and Hurts being hurried so much, the offense looks like it just can't get into a consistent rhythm......and Mannion's play calling has been hot and cold.

It always takes 5-6 games to implement a new offense and make it jell......but there doesn't seem to be a solution for the line. And with the rams coming in, it could be a long day for Hurts.

When an offensive line is struggling, I have no problem with playing young guys to see if they are gamers......but not against the rams.