Eagles QB Jalen Hurts struggles as Philadelphia loses to Case Keenum-led Bears

Case Keenum completely outplayed Jalen Hurts on Monday night. Let that sink in. It will in Philadelphia overnight.

Keenum, the Bears ' third-string quarterback who was pressed into duty, was a fun story on Monday night. He won't be the story in Philadelphia on Tuesday morning.

Being dominated 27-7 to a shorthanded Chicago Bears team will make for an interesting day on Philly sports talk radio, especially with how Hurts and the Eagles' offense failed repeatedly to move the ball. The Eagles had a shaky 2-0 start, and the loss to the Bears wasn't their finest moment. The offense that struggled belonged to the Eagles, not the team with a 38-year-old quarterback who hadn't taken an NFL snap since 2023.

Keenum did play well. He was 24 of 34 for 247 yards, a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions. He made a case to keep the starting job until injured starter Caleb Williams returns. Normal backup Tyson Bagent didn't play Monday night after being in concussion protocol most of last week.

"This Texas boy loves Chicago," the Texas-born Keenum told ESPN after the game. "This is a cool spot. We're going to celebrate this one tonight."

While Keenum was good, Hurts was not. He was 15 of 22 for just 140 yards by the time the Bears took a 20-point lead about midway through the fourth quarter. He padded his stats a bit after that but not much. Definitely not enough to match Keenum, who was appearing with his eighth NFL team on Monday night. Hurts finished 16 of 25 for 153 yards and a 64.2 passer rating. Keenum's rating was 110.8.

There will be plenty to talk about in Philly this week.

Eagles on wrong end of controversial sequence

The Eagles offense needed all the help it could get on Monday, and it missed out on a possible seven points due to Hurts being sent off to be evaluated for a concussion .

Hurts was hit late as he was going out of bounds by Bears linebacker D'Marco Jackson, which was flagged. He was then forced to leave the game to go to the blue medical tent to be checked for a concussion. While Hurts was being evaluated, Saquon Barkley had a run down to the 1-yard line. That's when the Eagles usually run the tush push, which is just about automatic. But with Hurts in the tent, Andy Dalton wasn't an option to run it.

Right before Hurts walked out of the tent, Dalton threw a terrible interception to rookie safety Dillon Thieneman in the end zone. When Hurts saw it he screamed in frustration, as the Eagles were denied a touchdown due to a concussion evaluation when Hurts didn't have one — after a hit that was clearly illegal by Chicago.

"Obviously frustrating," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni told ESPN at halftime. "The doctors have to do their job. They've got to protect these guys."

The Eagles offense, which could have used that touchdown, didn't score until a frenetic final play of the first half. The Eagles had to scramble when DeVonta Smith got stopped at the 1-yard line, barely getting the snap off with one second left and Hurts scoring on a quarterback sneak as time ran out in the half.

The Eagles trailed 10-7 at the half and had to feel like they should have led at halftime. It might not have mattered, because the Eagles offense never showed up in the second half. Had the snap at the end of the first half came about a half-second later, Philadelphia would have been shut out.

The Eagles got that clutch play right before halftime but couldn't build off it. The Bears came out as the better team in the third quarter.

Keenum found Kalif Raymond wide open in the middle of the Eagles' secondary and he ran for a 41-yard touchdown. That gave Chicago a 20-7 lead. While the Eagles offense was not good on Monday, the defense wasn't stellar, either.

The Eagles' first three possessions of the second half were all three-and-outs. On the fourth drive they went for it on a fourth down and Hurts threw a bad interception in which he seemed to not see linebacker T.J. Edwards underneath. That meant Hurts had as many interceptions in the third quarter as the Eagles had first downs.

Hurts — in a new scheme this season and with A.J. Brown off to New England — didn't play with much confidence. He didn't throw it accurately and rarely made anything happen downfield, with just one completion of 20 yards or more. He didn't look much like the quarterback who won Super Bowl MVP two seasons ago.

After the interception, Keenum snuck in for a touchdown, his first rushing touchdown this decade. That put the Bears, who lost 9-3 last week at home to the Vikings, ahead by 20 points.

The loss to the Bears reframes the Eagles' 2-0 start. They barely beat the Commanders at home, needing to stop a two-point conversion at the end. They barely beat a now 0-3 Titans team, needing a touchdown with nine seconds left to pull off a comeback win. Philadelphia isn't too far from being 0-3 to start the season.

There is always some angst in Philadelphia, even when the Eagles are winning. After Monday night, Eagles fans have something legitimate to complain about.