‘It just can't happen:' Eagles' defense reeling after getting shredded by Bears

The Bears’ offense played at a tempo the Eagles couldn’t keep up with.

By Reuben Frank • Published September 29, 2026

The defense was supposed to carry the team until the offense was ready. Guess what. Turns out the defense isn’t ready either.

"We’ve just gotta be better in all of the aspects,” Jonathan Greenard said. "In the run game, pass game, everything.”

The Bears put a hurting on the Vic Fangio defense Monday night, and they did it with an emergency 38-year-old 3rd-string quarterback who hadn’t played a snap since 2023. Case Keenum threw more touchdown passes vs. the Eagles than he had since 2021, and the Bears humiliated the Eagles 27-7 at Soldier Field.

That’s the most points the Eagles have allowed in their last 15 games – since the 34-17 loss to the Giants last October – and the 5th-most points they’ve allowed in 42 games under Fangio.

"They had a hell of a game plan, came out the gate swinging,” Greenard said after his first game as an Eagle. "We just need to be on our P's and Q's. Obviously, the worst time to not be on your P's and Q's on Monday night, prior time, but here it is.

"We just got a lot of things to clean up. We got to get clean up in the rush game. Clean up as a whole, not just on defense, offense, like the whole team. We just got to clean it up. They were fired up, and we just got to be better, man”

Unlike last year, when the Bears ran up and down the field on the Eagles for nearly 300 yards, this time they shredded the Eagles with the passing game, despite starting 38-year Case Keenum, who had won four of 12 starts since 2019.

Keenum got rid of the ball quickly, threw accurately, spread the ball around and found the open man on nearly every snap. In his first appearance since 2023, he was 24-for-34 for 247 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

His 110.8 passer rating is his highest in seven years, since a 117.6 rating against the Eagles at the Linc in 2019 in a game the Eagles won 32-27.

The Eagles had no answers.

Bears coach and play caller Ben Johnson called a masterpiece against Fangio, mixing up the run and pass, changing up formations and personnel and keeping the Eagles’ defense off-balance with all kinds of motions and movement.

It seemed like the Bears’ offense was just moving at a faster speed than the Eagles’ defense. They played at a tempo the Eagles couldn’t keep up with.

"Get the ball out quick, stick to their run game, and try to mix up a lot,” Greenard said. "They had tons of toss, crack, reverses, stretch, you know, wham. They threw the whole book at us, but it was just a well executed game plan. We didn't get enough negative plays to get them off track, so they were on rhythm pretty much the entire night.

"And it just can't happen. We know that. We know what the standard is, we know we got to be better. And we will be better, so I'm not worried. We can go look at his tape and clean up and all. The tape and clean up in all aspects. So everybody understands it, and we're just ready to take on that challenge next week.”

The same things the Eagles got away with the first two weeks – escaping with wins despite no takeaways, minimal pass pressure, leaky run defense and poor tackling – showed up again. This time the Eagles didn’t get away with any of it.

For the first time in franchise history, the Eagles haven’t forced a turnover in their first three games of a season. Their vaunted defensive line has two sacks in three games, none on Monday night.

For only the second time since 1973, they’ve allowed four touchdowns both rushing and receiving through three games.

They haven’t done anything well.

"We gotta do a better job of forcing more takeaways,” Jihaad Campbell said. "We work at it in practice every day, and we're gonna continue to work at it and then at some point, it's gonna go our way. So we just gotta stay patient, it's gonna happen.”

The tackling is as big of an issue facing the Eagles’ defense right now as anything. It’s something Nick Sirianni harps on constantly, but they’ve just been a terrible tackling team so far this year. And Monday night was embarrassing.

"Fundamentals,” Greenard said. "Wrapping up and driving the legs. They had a lot of leaky yardage. We made contact in that game (and they’d get) an extra three or four yards. It changes the game. You go from potentially 2nd-and-8 to 2nd-and-6, those two yards matter. We know that. We just got to be better overall.”

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/defense-reeling-after-shredded-by-bears-offense-monday-night-football/754641/

To be honest I don’t want to hear from the defense. Shut up and go and correct things. And then on Sunday go and shut down a high power offense. Because if they don’t then 1) it’s going to be another ugly loss and 2) if they perform how they have been then honestly just shut the season down. If they can’t respond to that ish show last night with some fire in their bellies then there’s really no hope. I want to see them go and hit guys and be the defense we all thought they were going to be.

It sure looks like the culture is deteriorating and Sirriani's message has grown stale. This season feels a lot like 23 with the collapse incoming. The effort definitely looked questionable while the bears had their way with the birds.

7 minutes ago, MR-CYN said:

It sure looks like the culture is deteriorating and Sirriani's message has grown stale. This season feels a lot like 23 with the collapse incoming. The effort definitely looked questionable while the bears had their way with the birds.

The bad part about this is I was thinking this exact thing after the Titans game, despite us winning that one.....I was thinking no way in hell we get away with all of that against an actual good team and look what happened....if this continues, I may not watch the thanksgiving game because as much as I hate that franchise, I can say their offense is miles ahead of this one....

1 hour ago, GeorgeM37 said:

The bad part about this is I was thinking this exact thing after the Titans game, despite us winning that one.....I was thinking no way in hell we get away with all of that against an actual good team and look what happened....if this continues, I may not watch the thanksgiving game because as much as I hate that franchise, I can say their offense is miles ahead of this one....

It's kind of crazy to have all this talent on offense being led by a HC that really is not a very brilliant offense mind and an OC who is not only new to coordinating an offense but new to coaching in general.

36 minutes ago, time2rock said:

It's kind of crazy to have all this talent on offense being led by a HC that really is not a very brilliant offense mind and an OC who is not only new to coordinating an offense but new to coaching in general.

I would strongly argue that we don't have all this talent on offense at all.

53 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I would strongly argue that we don't have all this talent on offense at all.

Agree. Where is the "strong” talent on O?

TE room stinks. The WR room is only 2 deep. The RB room is good, give them that. The OLine is either old, injured, or inexperienced. The team has 1 good QB.

time2, one of your very few bad points. Please regroup. 🦅

3 hours ago, GeorgeM37 said:

The bad part about this is I was thinking this exact thing after the Titans game, despite us winning that one.....I was thinking no way in hell we get away with all of that against an actual good team and look what happened....if this continues, I may not watch the thanksgiving game because as much as I hate that franchise, I can say their offense is miles ahead of this one....

So far this season feels a lot like just an extension of last season. The 3 and outs. The defense getting winded and dog walked in the second half. The special teams being nothing special. The penalties. There's nothing to point to and say, yeah well they improved 'there'. Maybe Eliot not being garbage so far.

It's mind boggling that Dickerson and Jurgens were able to play at such a higher level injured in 24 than they have in all of 25 or so far in 26. This is the 3rd season now we're still waiting for them to get healthy and play better. It's utter insanity. Andy would have never let it get this far. Just cut the cord already.

Smoke and mirrors only gets you 2023 all over again.

10 minutes ago, MR-CYN said:

So far this season feels a lot like just an extension of last season. The 3 and outs. The defense getting winded and dog walked in the second half. The special teams being nothing special. There's nothing to point to and say, yeah well they improved 'there'. Maybe Eliot not being garbage so far.

It's mind boggling that Dickerson and Jurgens were able to play at such a higher level injured in 24 than they have in all of 25 or so far in 26. This is the 3rd season now we're still waiting for them to get healthy and play better. It's utter insanity. Andy would have never let it get this far. Just cut the cord already.

Smoke and mirrors only gets you 2023 all over again.

AGREED! And THAT season I cut the games off mid-game alot because I cringed looking at how inept the whole team seemed to be....it looks exactly like you just said....an extension of that season.....

14 minutes ago, MR-CYN said:

So far this season feels a lot like just an extension of last season. The 3 and outs. The defense getting winded and dog walked in the second half. The special teams being nothing special. There's nothing to point to and say, yeah well they improved 'there'. Maybe Eliot not being garbage so far.

It's mind boggling that Dickerson and Jurgens were able to play at such a higher level injured in 24 than they have in all of 25 or so far in 26. This is the 3rd season now we're still waiting for them to get healthy and play better. It's utter insanity. Andy would have never let it get this far. Just cut the cord already.

Smoke and mirrors only gets you 2023 all over again.

Another thing I have been saying: This season Jalen gets to really show us he can survive without AJ and that it really was him being a diva...that he could move this offense with other receivers and that it is his chance to show us that he can put this team on his back and take us back to the playoffs without his big, steady, super-powered receiver and he can spread it around to the other talent with no problem.....that he is Jalen Hurts who took us to two superbowls and can be just as reliable without one of the best receivers in the league....that AJ complaining about him had no merit whatsoever.....

I said people thinking addition by way of subtraction were going to be in for a rude awakening.....

So far....meh.....