Bears beat Eagles in Philly, boos rain down on Lincoln Financial

PHILADELPHIA — The only team that entered Week 13 with a better record in one-score games than the Chicago Bears (6-1)? Chicago’s Black Friday opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles (7-2), who were tied with the Broncos for the most one-score wins in the NFL.

So naturally, this pivotal NFC showdown ended in relatively close fashion with the Bears beating the Eagles 24-15 to record their fifth-straight win.

The Ben Johnson era is only 12 games old, but this win in Philadelphia goes down as the most impactful under his leadership in Year 1 and the biggest for the franchise in years. Chicago remains firmly in first place in the NFC North and one step closer towards the playoffs becoming a serious reality.

Friday’s win went a long way in changing the conversation around the 2025 Bears. They beat the defending Super Bowl champions on the road and legitimized their place in the NFC hierarchy.

Chicago Bears (9-3)

Turning point: Four plays after Caleb Williams’ third quarter interception, the Bears defense came through by turning the Eagles over on Philadelphia’s famed tush push. Cornerback Nahshon Wright ripped the ball from quarterback Jalen Hurts’ grasp, something that’s only happened one other time since the Eagles began regularly running the play in 2022. After failing to capitalize off Kevin Byard’s interception two drives before, the Bears offense ran a 12-play, 92-yard touchdown drive.

D’Andre Swift (who notched his third 100-yard rushing game this season) and Kyle Monangai were especially effective between the tackles where they had 114 of their 142 first-half rushing yards. By halftime, that was the most rushing yards allowed by the Eagles defense between the tackles since Week 17 last season. Friday marked the first time the Bears have had multiple 100-yard rushers in the same game since Nov. 10, 1985 when Walter Payton (107 yards) and Matt Suhey (102) carried the Bears to a 24-3 win over the Lions.

What to make of the QB performance: Chicago ran for 282 yards (2nd most this season) and were so dominant on the ground early on, so when they got away from that formula with a wonky two-minute drive to end the first half via a series of incompletions from Williams, it felt like that sparked the offense’s sputter in the «middle eight» of the game. Williams had eight off-target passes in the first half (tied for his most in either half of his career) and finished the day completing 17 of 36 passes for 154 yards, one touchdown and one interception. It was a tough night for Caleb in the efficiency department. His current completion percentage (17-36, 47%), would be the 2nd-lowest in a game in his career. — Courtney Cronin

Next game: at Green Bay Packers (4:25 p.m. EST, Fox)

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Philadelphia Eagles (8-4)

It feels like the Eagles have reached the most important moment in their season. A collapse against the Dallas Cowboys was followed by a discouraging home loss to the Bears in which the offense was familiarly listless for most of the game and their defense looked suddenly vulnerable.

The boos that consistently rained down at Lincoln Financial Field spoke to the frustrations felt both inside the building and out towards a team that is not playing up to its talents.

They have some time to reflect and correct before next Monday’s game at the Los Angeles Chargers. At 8-4, they’re still the favorites to win the NFC East, and they have a rather friendly closing schedule with two games against the Washington Commanders and a matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders still remaining.

But things have felt a little shaky around this team for much of the season. Now is the time for the defending champs to show the ’25 squad has what it takes to make another run.

What to make of the QB performance: Hurts threw just his second interception of the season and lost a fumble on a third-quarter QB sneak. It marks his first multi-turnover game since Week 10 of 2024. It was just Hurts’ second fumble on the tush push since the Eagles started using the play regularly in 2022. The other was in 2023 Week 8 against Washington.

Biggest hole in the game plan: The Eagles defense had a very difficult time against misdirection runs. Monangai and Swift routinely found cutback lanes that led to chunk gains.

Trend to watch: The Eagles have been poor at bouncing back from losses. This performance had similarities to their 38-20 Week 8 loss to the New York Giants, where they looked flat on a short week following a defeat at the hands of the Denver Broncos. This organization has become accustomed to winning, but still needs to be able to rebound when they’re on the other side of the ledger. — Tim McManus

Next game: at Los Angeles Chargers (Monday, 8:15 p.m. EST, ABC/ESPN)