The Eagles on Monday night will seek their fourth 3-0 start in the last five years when they face the Bears at Soldier Field, home of the Fog Bowl in 1988, a dramatic Eagles comeback win in the 2003 playoffs and the Double Doink Game in 2018.

Before Nick Sirianni became head coach in 2021, the Eagles had been 3-0 just nine times, just three times in the previous 28 years (2004, 2014, 2016), so he’s responsible for 25 percent of the 3-0 starts in Eagles history.

In today’s edition of Roob’s 10 Random Eagles Observations we get into Jalen Hurts’ thoughts on his working relationship with Sean Mannion, the Eagles’ remarkable success so far on third down and a hot start by a former Eagle now with the Raiders.

Enjoy stress-free football all day Sunday and definitely non-stress-free football Monday night!

HOW JALEN GOT COMFORTABLE SO QUICKLY: It was supposed to take a while for the Eagles’ passing game to click as Jalen Hurts began learning yet another offense, working with yet another play caller and getting used to yet another new group of wide receivers. Yet here we are. The Eagles are 2-0 and Hurts is the first Eagles quarterback since Donovan McNabb in 2004 with five TD passes, 450 passing yards and 64 percent accuracy after two games. Hurts made it clear Thursday that he and Sean Mannion are still early in the process of learning each other and it’s fair to expect some bumps in the road along the way, but it’s encouraging stuff and makes you wonder how good this thing will look when they get this thing mastered. “You know, it’s just about figuring out a way to win and then making sure we’re all on the same page. And so I think that’s a bit of my mentality throughout the course of a game and one thing that I’ve valued heavily about everything that we’ve had is just the progression throughout the week. The teaching progression and taking in all the information and then having more of a regimented schedule to be able to process and make mistakes throughout the week and polish them up so by game day I’m clear on what I want to do. I have clarity in what coach Sean is seeing. And then I think it’s important too to understand that continuity builds as you experience things together. And so I think it’s been really good for us to have won these last two games, these first two games of the year, given the nature of the game and then given the nature of where we are from a working relationship, working dynamic standpoint.” Hurts is off to one of the best starts of his career. His five TD passes are the most by an Eagles quarterback through Week 2 since McNabb had six in 2005. And his 100.7 passer rating is his 2nd-highest after two weeks, behind a 108.0 back in 2021 with Nick Sirianni calling the plays. His eight completions of at least 19 yards are 7th-most in the league. And that’s all with poor pass protection and an ineffective running game. And it should keep getting better. “We are excited about what we believe we’re capable of, but at the end of the day, the only thing you have is the work. You don’t have any promises. So we’re just working, we’re talking, we’re just eager to improve, chasing that alignment and chasing. I’m just trying to learn as much as I can. Always trying to be a sponge, always trying to take in as much information as I can and in the end, I’ll figure out a way.”

TYLER STEEN HASN’T BEEN VERY GOOD EITHER: We’ve talked a lot about the struggles of Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens and Drew Kendall’s inexperience, but Tyler Steen hasn’t played as well as last year either. Really, the entire interior of the offense line has been problematic so far. A year ago, Steen ranked 15th on Pro Football Focus among 67 guards who played at least 500 snaps with an overall grade of 73.3. He was 10th as a pass blocker at 75.4 and 11th as a run blocker at 73.0. So far this year, among 57 guards who’ve played 50 snaps, he’s 29th overall, 26th as a pass blocker and 21st as a run blocker. So he’s dropped from inside the top 20 percent as a run blocker and pass blocker last year to right in the middle of the pack this year. Steen has still been the Eagles’ most consistent interior lineman, but so far it’s a low bar. With everyone else struggling his drop-off from last year couldn’t have come at a worse time. I still think he’ll be fine. But so far he just hasn’t been himself.

HOW 3RD DOWN IS SAVING THE OFFENSE: The Eagles are making life very difficult for themselves by averaging just 2.8 yards per play on first down, 2nd-worst in the league above only the lowly Dolphins, who are at 2.6 yards per play. They’re better on second down at 4.7 yards per play, but that still ranks 19th. Because of all that, their average third down is 3rd-and-7.9 yards to go, which is the 8th-longest 3rd-down to-go average in the league. But they’re making up for a lot of their early-down issues by figuring things out on third down. Despite averaging nearly eight yards to go on third down, the Eagles are 4th-best in the league on third down, converting at 53.1 percent. They are averaging a ridiculous league-best 9.3 yards per play on third down compared to a league-worst 3.6 yards per play on all other downs. Their five-longest plays this year – every play of at least 25 yards – has come on third down and two-thirds of their plays of at least 10 yards (14 of 21) have come on third down. It’s not sustainable to convert 53 percent of your third downs when your average third down is 3rd-and-7.9. So far so good, but if the Eagles could figure out how to be more productive on first and second down this offense would be a lot more efficient.

JALEN HURTS STAT OF THE WEEK: With the Eagles’ two wins to open the season, Jalen Hurts improved his all-time record in September games to 15-4 for a .789 winning percentage. That’s 2nd-highest among all active quarterbacks (minimum 10 starts) behind only Patrick Mahomes, who is 23-6 for a .793 winning percentage. If the Eagles and Chiefs both win in Week 3, Hurts and Mahomes will be tied at .800. The only other active quarterbacks above .700 are Josh Allen (22-7, .759), Brock Purdy (8-3, .727) and Mitch Trubisky (10-4, .714). 

WHERE WILL DEVONTA END UP? DeVonta Smith is already ninth in Eagles history with 5,189 regular-season receiving yards, but he could move high up by the end of the season. Smith needs 165 yards to pass Bobby Walston, 311 to pass Hall of Famer Tommy McDonald and 431 to pass Hall of Famer Pete Pihos. Next on the list is Zach Ertz, who is currently 1,078 yards ahead of Smith in fifth place in Eagles history but back with the team and should add to his total. After that you have Mike Quick, who is 1,275 yards ahead of Smith, and DeSean Jackson, who is 1,323 yards ahead of Smith – both within plausible reach this year. That would leave only Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael and Pete Retzlaff, who are both significantly ahead of Smith. He needs 2,224 yards to pass Retzlaff and 3,790 to pass Carmichael. If DeVonta stays healthy and plays his whole career here, he’s going to be No. 1 at some point. Smith has averaged 63.3 yards per game in his career, so he’s 60 games behind Harold, which puts him on pace to pass him midway through 2029, when he would have just turned 31. But without the guy in Foxborough around that 63.3 figure should go up a bit. Now, Smith is only signed through 2028, but it’s hard to imagine Howie letting him walk. Either way, it’s not that far-fetched for Smith to own every Eagles receiving record by the time he’s finished here. 

RIDICULOUS STATS THAT ONLY I MAY CARE ABOUT: Of 14 quarterbacks who’ve thrown for 5,000 yards in an Eagles uniform, only Jalen Hurts (18,358) has never thrown a pass for another team. Some 37 quarterbacks have thrown for 1,000 yards as Eagles and the only other one who never played for another team is Davey O’Brien, who threw for 2,614 yards for the Eagles in 1939 and 1940. Some 22 players have rushed for 2,000 yards in an Eagles uniform, but only four of them played their entire career with the Eagles: Steve Van Buren (5,860 yards), Hurts (3,616), Anthony Toney (2,294) and Heath Sherman (2,130). Of the 42 players with 2,000 receiving yards, only 12 played their entire career here: Pete Retzlaff (7,412), Mike Quick (6,464), Pete Pihos (5,619), Bobby Walston (5,363), DeVonta Smith (5,189), Brent Celek (4,998), Dallas Goedert (4,757), Charlie Smith (3,349), Jack Ferrante (2,884), Todd Pinkston (2,816), Reggie Brown (2,574), Riley Cooper (2,418). 

THE DONTAYVION WICKS EFFECT: DeVonta Smith (170 yards) and Dontayvion Wicks (147 yards) are the first pair of Eagles wide receivers with at least 145 yards through Week 2 since 1994, with Fred Barnett (163) and Calvin Williams (161). The only other NFL teams with two WRs at 145 yards so far this year are the Panthers with Jalen Coker (204) and Tetairoa McMillan (176) and the Packers with Christian Watson (188) and Matthew Golden (153). Wicks didn’t have 147 yards last year until Week 11. If Wicks can keep this up, and I don’t see any reason he can’t, what a signing by Howie Roseman. Wicks is the 39th-highest paid WR in the league at $12.5 million for one year. He’s currently 15th in the NFL in receiving yards. And Wicks is only 25 and doesn’t turn 26 until next summer.

STAR-STUDDED SECONDARY: With Kenny Moore now here, the Eagles have four former Pro Bowl defensive backs in the locker room – Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell both made it last year, Riq Woolen made one with the Seahawks in 2022 and Moore with the Colts in 2021. This is the first time the Eagles have had four former Pro Bowlers in the secondary since 2002, with Brian Dawkins, Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, who all made Pro Bowls with the Eagles, and Blaine Bishop, who had made four Pro Bowls with the Oilers/Texans franchise before his brief and ill-fated stay in Philly. That secondary also had three future Pro Bowlers in Lito Sheppard, Al Harris and Michael Lewis. 

CRAZY START FOR NAKOBE: In his first two games with the Raiders, Nakobe Dean has 1 ½ sacks, two forced fumbles, two tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and 15 tackles. Dean, still only 25, is a big reason the Raiders are a surprising 2-0 with the No. 8 defense in the NFL. Dean and Gregory Rousseau are the only NFL players with at least 1 ½ sacks, two forced fumbles and two tackles for loss after two weeks. Dean is a Pro Bowl talent, and while there was no way Howie Roseman could match the Raiders’ three-year, $36 million contract and drafting Jihaad Campbell in the first round and signing Zack Baun to a three-year, $51 million deal made it impossible it to keep him anyway, it was not easy seeing him leave. And he’s showing the NFL why this year.

PRIORITY #1: Priority No. 1 Monday night is avoiding a repeat of last year, when the Bears stomped them to the tune of 281 rushing yards, 10th-most ever against the Eagles and 5th-most ever in Philly. The Bears physically beat up the Eagles, who missed 13 tackles along the way in a 24-15 loss at the Linc. “It’s a painful week because you have to watch that film over again,” Jordan Davis said. “But it’s very enlightening, especially playing a scheme that’s kind of similarish with our offense, just providing those cutback lanes and stuff like that. So it’s one thing about just going out there and being disciplined. It’s another thing about just playing style and being a defense that we know we are.” The Bears have picked up this year where they left off last year. They’re not only No. 1 in the NFL in rushing attempts, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and yards per carry, they are the first NFL team with at least 425 yards, a 6.1 average and six rushing touchdowns after two games in 46 years, since Billy Sims the 1980 Lions. Meanwhile, two games in, the Eagles are 24thin run defense at 127 yards per game, 19th in yards per carry at 4.2 and tied for 23rd allowing three rushing touchdowns. So far, nobody has stopped the Bears and the Eagles haven’t stopped anybody. Scary matchup. It’s a scary matchup. No matter who the Bears’ quarterback is.