Philadelphia Eagles Get Key Win Over Chicago Bears

NFL News - November 23rd, 2009 - Written by John

Jay Cutler almost went the entire way without one of those "i" words. But it turned out to be just a matter of time before the Philadelphia Eagles defense caught up. With just over a minute left, and one last gasp of air remaining, Cutler was intercepted by Sean Jones on a tipped pass to end the game, extending his interception streak to six games, and sending the Eagles to a 24-20 win on Sunday night. Philadelphia covered the two-point spread.

It was a win that the Eagles simply had to have after losing two in a row, and watching their division rivals New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys each win earlier in the day

"It wouldn't have mattered if we had won 3-2, this was a game we needed to come out and win by any means necessary," quarterback Donovan McNabb said.

LeSean McCoy was credited with the game-winner, scoring on a 10-yard stretch play with 5 1/2 minutes left in the game. He finished with 99 yards in his third start this year, replacing Brian Westbrook, who suffered two consecutive concussions.

The Chicago Bears' undrafted rookie Khalil Bell nearly matched him in one play. On his first-career carry, he took it 72 yards to set up a field goal, and finished with 81 yards on four carries.

McNabb completed 23-of-32 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yard bomb to DeSean Jackson in the third quarter.

For Chicago, it seems the postseason window is reducing to microscopic levels. After starting 2009 NFL Season 3-1, it has lost five of the last six games, and are well short of reaching a wild card berth.

We're running out of time," Cutler said. "The window is getting smaller and smaller. Anything can happen, you get strange things happening in November and December, but for us it's smaller and smaller."

Prior to Cutler's final drive, it appeared he was finally shedding his prior mistakes, using his check-downs instead of forcing passes over the middle. He seemed so afraid of making a mistakes that he overthrew wide open receivers down field four times. On one of those occasions he had Devin Hester wide open on a fly route more than five yards past his defender. But Cutler nearly threw the ball out of the back of the end zone, landing it just as Hester reached the goal line.

Still, this was the error free quarterbacking that head coach Lovie Smith wanted to see, keeping the Bears in the game instead of single-handedly removing them from it. But he finally made a bad decision with just over a minute left, when he forced a pass to Greg Olsen. Linebacker Tracy White simply put his forearm in front of the pass, sending it hurling backwards right into the arms of the diving Jones.

"The last couple years we haven't had a lot of luck in close ones," Philadelphia head coach Andy Reid told reporters. "The guys battled, and they didn't worry about that. They just kept banging."

The Eagles defense bended for most of the night, but came up big in the red zone five times. They forced Chicago into four field goals in the first half, then blocked a fifth in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 12-10 in the third quarter, McNabb finally got going on his team's third possession of the half. He threw a 16-yard completion to Jeremy Maclin, then dropped back and aired it out to Jackson, who caught the pass on stride as he crossed the goal line.

Jackson finished with 107 yards on eight receptions.

Cutler finally answered with his team's first touchdown, putting just enough touch on a 15-yard toss to Kellen Davis to make it 20-17.

But the Eagles fired back, driving the length of the field to set up McCoy's 10-yard scamper.

"We couldn't afford to lose," Jackson said. "The biggest thing was just putting ourselves in position in the fourth quarter. We knew it was going to be a tight game just because the way the game was going. We knew what we needed to do."

To discuss this and other NFL related stories be sure to check out our new forum at:
https://www.usaplayers.com/forums