The Eagles have made winning ugly a staple, and they took it to the extreme on Monday night in Green Bay, sneaking past a banged-up Green Bay team by a 10-7 margin to stay atop the NFC entering Week 11.
Calling the win ugly, however, depends on perspective because, from a defensive standpoint, it was the most aesthetic performance of the season with recent trade pickup Jaelan Phillips fitting like a glove in his reunion with Vic Fangio’s defensive system.
The former Dolphins’ edge rusher made an immediate impact with six tackles, two quarterback hits, and a fumble recovery, while also blasting through the line to team, with Reed Blankenship on a key fourth-down stop of Josh Jacobs with 1:26 left in the game.
The Philadelphia offense took a step back after two impressive performances, but made two key plays late that proved to be the difference early in the fourth quarter.
First, Jalen Hurts swung an outlet pass to Saquon Barkley before the All-Pro used a spin move to create an explosive 41-yard gain down to the Packers’ 36-yard line.
Then came the latest edition of the DeVonta Smith dagger when the star receiver raised up over Evan Williams to haul in a 36-yard touchdown, which was just enough to keep the Eagles (7-2) on track to record their third consecutive win.
“Sometimes it’s going to look really pretty, sometimes it’s not going to look pretty in this league,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “We’ll be very critical. We’ve got to enjoy these wins. It’s hard to come into this place against this team, well-coached, good players. and win a game. So we have to enjoy this. But make no mistake about it: Every one of us is determined to get better and continuing to rise.
“… Offensively. We scored 10 points, obviously. That’s not enough points. Tonight, it was!”
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THE BULLS:
NFC NORTH DOMINATION: In the Sirianni era, the Eagles are now (10-0, including the playoffs) against the NFC North. That is the most wins without a loss by a team against any division since the Eagles coach took over in 2021.
Philadelphia is now 4-0 against the Packers over that stretch.
The Eagles will have another opportunity to extend that dominance over the NFC North in Week 11 against Detroit at Lincoln Financial Field.
THE CURT “MR. PERFECT” HENNING AWARD – The Sirianni Eagles are not only perfect against the NFC North. They also remained unbeaten coming off the bye week under their head coach, moving to 5-0.
With extra time to prepare Philadelphia has become a problem others can’t solve.
ROAD WARRIORS – Historic Lambeau Field was no problem from the Eagles, who own the highest winning percentage in the NFL on the road since 2021 improving to 28-11 (718). The Eagles have also won nine of their last 11 on the road with their win over the Packers.
THE BEARS
OFFENSIVE CHALLENGED – In their three prior prime time games this season, the Packers had been averaging 34 points per game, They didn’t score on Monday night until 5:49 was left in the game and finished with seven points.
Jalen Hurts had been killing it on the road with two consecutive games with 275-or-more passing yards and a 70-plus completion percentage. Those numbers dipped to 183 yards and a 57.7% completion clip on Monday night, a sharo decline fueled by the consecutive big plays to Barkley and Smith early in the fourth quarter.
MORBID MONDAY NIGHT – This was the first MNF in 16 years to be scoreless at the half. The last was a Ravens-Brows slugfest in 2009.