The last two years the Eagles have experienced last second painful losses to the Bears. Last year it was the inability to run it in from a yard out and the year before it was the defense.
In 2007 they played here at Lincoln Financial Field and last year they played on Sunday night in Chicago.
A year ago on Sunday Night Football In America, I know most of you remember the Eagles putting the ball in Donovan McNabb’s hands and the Chicago native completing a number of third down throws to move them 75 yards, eat up nearly 7 minutes of the clock, and have the ball down to the Bears one yard line.
With it second and one on the one the Birds handed the ball to Tony Hunt. Remember him. Well he got stopped in his tracks for no gain.
On the third down play they gave the ball to Correll Buckhalter who was tackled in the air while trying to jump over the pile. Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye made the stop.
The Eagles tight ends showed that they’re terrible blockers.
The Birds handed the ball to Buckhalter again on fourth down and Buck was tackled by the defensive end on the other side Alex Brown, and that was for all intents and purposes the ball game.
There were two minutes on the clock but the Eagles defense couldn’t stop the Birds from getting a first down, as Matt Forte ran for the first and the clock ran out.
I know everything has been about McNabb not being able to get it done late in games but can you pin this one on him.
In 2007 the Eagles special teams had the Bears pinned on the Chicago three yard line in the fourth quarter with about 5 minutes remaining and the Bears out of timeouts. Mr Mediocre, Brian Griese was the Bears quarterback.
McNabb had marched the Eagles down field for a score. He had connected with tight end Matt Schobel on a 13 yard pass for a score to put the Eagles ahead 16-13 with 4.57 on the clock.
The Bears and Eagles traded possessions before the Birds had Chicago backed on their three yard line without any timeouts and only about 2 minutes to go in the game.
The Philadelphia crowd sat and watched in amazement as Griese marched the Bears downfield with the clock ticking away.
Eventually he hit Muhsin Muhammad for a touchdown, as the receiver went up and took the ball from Eagles safety Sean Considine in the end zone.
There’s no other way to say it other than the defense choked.
After going back through these losses, it makes me wonder whether all these losses are because of McNabb like many would have you believe.
