It was a tough night for the Eagles in the Black Friday game against the Chicago Bears. With a chance to extend their lead in the NFC East with the stretch run ahead, the Eagles instead were on the short end of a 24-15 score to a very good Bears team that played well on both sides of the ball, performed well in the red zone, and had the advantage in the turnover battle.

Added up, the Eagles lost their second consecutive game and fell to 8-4 for the season.

How did it all go down on Friday afternoon? Here are some observations …

1. Chicago’s running game was off-the-charts good

The Eagles didn’t take anything for granted here. They knew Chicago entered the game averaging 142 yards on the ground, best in the NFC and second best in the NFL. The Bears run a terrific scheme, and running backs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai give them a bit of Lightning and Thunder feeling. Both backs went for more than 100 yards – Swift with 125 and Monangai with 130 – as the Bears rolled up 281 rushing yards. As a result, the defense had trouble getting off the field.

“Great scheme and they executed,” defensive tackle Jordan Davis said. “We need to have better fits on defense, everyone playing together. That is what it is about. We aren’t playing the kind of defense you need to play to win in this league. We’re going to come back from this, but it’s going to take all of us.”

2. The Bears won the line of scrimmage

Give the Bears credit: They have a veteran group on both sides of the line of scrimmage and they played with confidence and they played with great chemistry. They won it on both sides of the football. The Eagles had trouble getting into a rhythm offensively, leading to just 87 rushing yards on 17 attempts. A big momentum swing in the game came after Chicago forced a fumble on the Eagles lone Tush Push attempt, a key play that is worth exploring later.

The interior of the defensive line had the biggest burden against Chicago’s outstanding running game – the players explained that the Bears play such a smart scheme where they get the defensive linemen sideways and do just enough to get the running backs downhill against the defense. It worked. And on the offensive side, the Bears didn’t give the Eagles much room in the running game and, of course, rose up on third down and kept the Eagles’ offense from staying on the field.