Eagles put together monster drive against Bears with game on the line

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The game had gotten close. Too close. 

At one point the Eagles had a 19-point lead, but they allowed the Bears to come back and were clinging to a five-point lead in the fourth quarter. When the Eagles got the ball at their own 11 yard line with 8:39 left in Sunday’s 22-14 win, it just felt like they needed a huge drive. 

They got it. 

The Birds went 69 yards on 16 plays over 8:14 before picking up a 38-yard field goal from Jake Elliott and clinching a big win. Even if the Bears didn’t muff the ensuing kickoff, they would have had just 23 seconds to drive the length of the field. 

“Offensively, we kind of sputtered there in the second half a little bit,” head coach Doug Pederson said. “We had some opportunity, and we just didn't capitalize.

“But for them to kind of take it upon their shoulders; the defense was fighting and battling and doing their part. The offense needed to go, and it was time for them to go.” 

In all, the Eagles held the ball for 40:18, which is the top time-of-possession game in the NFL this year and the second-highest mark of the Pederson Era. 

And the drive at the end of the game was a huge part of that. 

This monster drive comes just one week after another one in Buffalo, when the Eagles went 83 yards on 14 plays over 8:17 late in the second half. 

On Sunday against the Bears, the Eagles faced four third downs on the long drive and converted all of them, including on 3rd-and-12 and 3rd-and-9. 

During the long drive, Carson Wentz was 4 for 4 on third downs for 48 yards. 

“It kind of just breaks you a little bit,” Bears head coach Matt Nagy said. 

On the 3rd-and-12, Miles Sanders explained he stayed in to pass protect, but when his man didn’t blitz, he leaked out and Wentz hit him on the run. 

This was the Eagles’ second-longest third-down conversion of the season. And it was pretty simple. As soon as Wentz saw Sanders leak out, he hit him in stride and Sanders did the rest with his speed. Sanders said he was actually a little surprised about how wide-open he was. 

A little later in the drive, the Eagles faced a 3rd-and-9 and they dialed up the best play call of the day. 

This is just a perfectly executed screen pass and exactly the right moment. 

“It was a great call,” Wentz said. “Obviously it worked out great and Dallas did a tremendous job of creating separation. I was kind of back there just trying to find a lane to get him the ball. That first down was huge for us and came up big in that situation.”

The Eagles’ offense is not without its warts. Far too often this season, that unit has been stagnant and has failed to create big plays or even find any consistency. But when they absolutely needed a soul-crushing drive on Sunday they got it. 

And that matters too. 

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