Even once invincible tush push isn’t working for Nick Sirianni and Eagles’ faltering offense

PHILADELPHIA — Inside the silent Eagles’ locker room the search for answers was on.

Again.

In one corner, quarterback Jalen Hurts stood engaged with offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, undoubtedly discussing why the game plan during the Eagles’ lackluster 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears had gone awry.

Again.

In the middle of the locker room, the receiving duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith sat talking for an extended period while still partially in uniform. Later, Brown discussed how stupid mistakes (like his own false start on the opening series) proved costly. The Eagles were penalized seven times for 44 yards.

After Saquon Barkley showered and dressed, he stood just inside his locker and discussed why the running game didn’t work. He finished with 56 yards on 13 carries and the Eagles didn’t even give Tank Bigsby a carry. For the record, Bigsby has carried the ball just eight times (and gained 49 yards) since putting up 104 yards on nine carries in Week 8 against the Giants.

“We keep talking about (fixing the offense) and we keep focusing on it,” Barkley said. “We just haven’t figured it out and we have to figure it out soon. That’s just the truth.”

That’s also the primary job of the head coach and the quarterback, neither of whom was armed with great answers on the field or off following the Eagles’ second straight loss.

We did immediately learn that coach Nick Sirianni doesn’t plan to pin the blame for another woeful offensive performance solely on coordinator Kevin Patullo by replacing him as the play caller.

“No, we’re not changing the play caller, but we will evaluate everything,” Sirianni said after his team fell to 8-4 and No. 3 in the NFC playoff seeding race. “This weekend, we’ll have another little mini-bye. Another short week that leads to a long weekend where we’ll evaluate everything.”

The Eagles have averaged 15.5 points in their last four games, which is right around what the worst three offensive teams in the NFL are averaging. They have also averaged 305.5 yards per game, which is basically where they’ve been at all season and that’s not good. The Eagles have the NFL’s 24th ranked offense and the last time they ranked that low was in 2020, the season that led to Doug Pederson being fired.

The Eagles also lead the league in three-and-out possessions after four more of them against the Bears. They also had a two-and-out when Hurts threw a third-quarter interception.

So why exactly is Sirianni so confident that Patullo is the right guy to keep calling plays?

“I have confidence in the entire group,” Sirianni said. “I know it will keep coming back to Kevin, but again, if I thought it was one thing, then you make those changes. Obviously, it’s a lot of different things, but I don’t think it is Kevin. Now, we all have a part in it. Kevin has a part of it. I have a part of it. All the coaches have a part of it. All the players have a part of it. Again, you win and lose as a team. It’s never on one thing.”

The loss to the Bears surely wasn’t all Patullo’s fault. In fact, he might not even have been the coordinator most to blame in this one.

Hurts pointed a finger at himself for committing two turnovers (the interception in the third quarter and a lost fumble on a third-down tush push that flipped the momentum back to the Bears late in the third quarter).

“Ultimately, you look inward first and I see it as how the flow of things has gone for us this year and being practical about that,” Hurts said. “I can’t turn the ball over. The ultimate goal is to go out there and find a way to win. That’s been a direct correlation with success for us being able to protect the ball and so that really, really killed us.”

The Eagles were down 10-9 and at the Chicago 12-yard line when Hurts was stripped of the football on the tush push, which seems to be a play that has lost its magical touch.

“It’s becoming tougher and tougher (to be successful with it),” Hurts conceded.

The Eagles, by the way, have four turnovers in their last four games after committing just four in their first 10 games and it’s not a coincidence that they lost both games.

The quarterback also had a missed connection with DeVonta Smith that likely would have led to a touchdown instead of a field goal early in the second quarter. After that miscue the offense was a mess through its next four series, managing just 10 yards on 11 plays.

“It was two guys on two different pages and that’s a bit of the issues that we’ve kind of been having,” Hurts said of the missed connection with Smith. “We weren’t detailed enough in that, I wasn’t detailed enough in instructing him on what to do as we prepared and making myself clear on that, and so I’m trying to find as many particulars as I can when it comes to the level of execution we have, and that’s a group effort that has to be there.”

Oddly, A.J. Brown had his second straight productive game (10 catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns) after weeks of frustrating individual performances. Brown said it was “a crazy question” to ask about making changes to the offense and added that “no” they are not needed.

“We do have the men in this locker room to get it fixed and we are a confident bunch anyway,” the star wide receiver said. “We believe in what we do and we just have to get on the same page and just execute.”

Sirianni said the Eagles’ coaching staff will be back at work trying to find answers on Saturday. Hurts promised much the same when asked how he’ll be spending the nine days until the Eagles play again against the Chargers in Los Angeles.

“I’ll be working,” he said.

No promise was made about finding answers.

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