PHILADELPHIA — The “We want Dallas!” chant broke out in the stands midway through the third quarter here Sunday night.
The Eagles could be forgiven for joining in, considering the Bears did nothing in the course of their 54-11 evisceration at Lincoln Financial Field to take Philadelphia’s mind off a trip to Dallas next Sunday that is now all-or-nothing for both teams.
Bouncing back in impressive fashion from their inexplicable rout at the hands of the Vikings, the Birds jumped on Chicago with 21 first-quarter points and never let up.
Considering the Bears could have won the NFC North and eliminated their bitter rival, the Packers, with a victory, it was an incredibly impressive statement by an Eagles team that looked like it was in disarray just a week before.
It also was a clear message to the Cowboys that they can expect to have their hands full Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in a game that will give the NFC East to the winner and leave the loser to focus on the offseason.
Dallas’ comeback victory earlier in the day over the Redskins rendered this game mostly meaningless to the Eagles, but Chip Kelly’s 9-6 team certainly didn’t approach it that way.
“We saw the end of the Dallas game but didn’t worry about it affecting anyone,” Kelly said. “We’re from Philadelphia and we fight.”
The Eagles pounced right off the bat, never letting up on either side of the ball after getting embarrassed by the lowly Vikings the week before.
By the time Nick Foles threw his second touchdown pass of the first quarter with 1:27 left to make it 21-0, all anyone here could think about was Tony Romo and avenging an ugly home loss to the Cowboys in October.
“[The Cowboys] didn’t see the best of us the first time,” Eagles running back LeSean McCoy said. “But they will next Sunday night.”
The Eagles’ domination on offense (they rolled up 514 total yards, including 133 on the ground from McCoy) was no surprise against one of the NFL’s worst defenses, but the job Philadelphia did against Jay Cutler and the Bears’ high-powered attack was nothing short of stunning.
Chicago came in with the league’s second-ranked offense, trailing only the unstoppable Broncos, but the Eagles swamped the Bears’ offensive line and battered Cutler all night.
As a result, Chicago (8-7) will limp into next Sunday’s home finale with the Packers that will decide the North’s lone playoff representative.
“We were ready to play this game, but we ended up playing a terrible football game,” Bears coach Marc Trestman said. “We’re going to throw this tape in the trash can and move on.”
Cutler was sacked five times and intercepted once before giving way to Josh McCown in the fourth quarter, and both of those totals seemed low compared with what was playing out on the field.
The big early lead also forced the Bears to abandon their running game, all but negating one of Chicago’s biggest strengths in Matt Forte. After rushing for more than 100 yards in each of his previous three games, Forte managed just 29 yards on nine carries Sunday night.
Forte only could watch with envy as his Eagles counterparts ran early, often and pretty much wherever they wanted. Not only did McCoy score twice while averaging a whopping 7.4 yards on his 18 carries, but backup Bryce Brown also got into the act with 115 yards and a score on just nine carries.
With the ground game so ridiculously dominant, the Eagles didn’t need much from quarterback Nick Foles. But Foles was nearly perfect, too, completing 21 of his 25 passes for 230 yards and two TDs before giving way to Michael Vick in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles couldn’t have propelled themselves into Dallas Week on a better note. The only concern after this obliteration is that Eagles won’t have anything left for the game that really matters.