The Chicago Bears sit at 8-3 and everything seems to be pointed in the right direction. The Philadelphia Eagles sit at 8-3 and everything seems to be heading in the wrong direction. Two teams with very different vibes, but also two teams with very different goals at the start of the 2025 season.

This is, without question, the Bears toughest test of the year. How will they handle the Eagles? To get the Philly perspective, we sat down with Brandon Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation to get the latest. Here’s that Q&A.

1. It’s wild to say that the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles are tied in the NFC at 8-3, but here we are. What’s interesting is that for two teams tied, it feels like their vibes are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Why do the defending Super Bowl champions just seem to be off in the locker room? How is the confidence in Nick Sirianni?

Expectation is the thief of joy!

The Eagles’ season isn’t really a success if they don’t repeat. I noticed a recent article on WCG talking about how it feels like the Bears are playing with house money at this point.

The vibes in Philly definitely don’t seem to be great. Especially on offense, where the most expensive unit in the league is well underperforming that kind of elevated status. Fans share a similar frustration that a very talented offense is just so often inept. Like, look at this stat:

I’m pretty harsh on Sirianni. Some would say too harsh since he’s been to two Super Bowls, won one of them, and owns the fourth-highest winning percentage of any head coach in NFL history. But I would contend that Sirianni is not one of the main drivers of that success. Howie Roseman is an elite general manager. Vic Fangio is an elite defensive coordinator. It’s hard to pin down exactly what value Sirianni provides. His biggest defenders will point to some of the more nebulous aspects, such as culture, which doesn’t even seem to be great right now with the questionable vibes going on. And it’s not like he brings offensive prowess to the table; the offense is always worse when he’s more involved in it. Game management? He regularly refuses to even try to get points in end-of-half scenarios. His inconsistent fourth-down strategy often seems to be based on select anecdotes instead of hard data.

So, I don’t think I have a lot of confidence in Sirianni right now. But that much might be moot if the talent is good enough, which it often has been since he’s been head coach of the Eagles.

2. I don’t think I need a preamble here: what is wrong with Saquon Barkley?

The Eagles’ offensive line is not good at run blocking this season. It seems like they are, more than him, wearing the brunt of last year’s massive rushing workload.

Barkley’s average yards before contact are the worst of his career. It’s down to 1.4, which, yes, is somehow even worse than those years he played for the New York Giants. The number was at 2.64 yards last season. In the Eagles’ loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the number was down to -1 (hat tip Zach Berman).

There have been runs this season where he’ll look really good … but it’s turning a two-yard loss into a two-yard gain. As opposed to breaking into the open field for house calls as he did so often in 2024.

This isn’t to suggest that Barkley is zero percent of the problem. But the offensive line seems to be the main culprit. There are other factors, such as the Eagles’ unwillingness to use Jalen Hurts in the run game or the Eagles’ lack of success in the passing game. The failure is a team effort.

3. I think if Vic Fangio ran for mayor in the city of Chicago, he would win. He is still wildly popular here thanks to the 2018 season. The Eagles’ defense looks pretty amazing yet again. How have Fangio and the defense been performing?

Not hard to believe! Same here. If coaches could win Super Bowl MVP, he would’ve had a very strong case.

The defense was a bit uneven before the Eagles’ Week 9 bye, but they’ve mostly looked strong since then. They only allowed two touchdowns combined while going up against the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions before Week 12. There were some struggles against the Cowboys, but 1) Dallas obviously has a strong offense, 2) the Eagles’ defense started to get banged up, and 3) the Eagles’ offense literally couldn’t do anything and put so much weight on the defense to carry the entire game after the Birds jumped out to a 21-0 lead. The defense prevented the Cowboys from scoring points immediately after both of Philly’s turnovers.

One valid criticism of the Eagles’ defense from last weekend is that the pass rush didn’t play well enough against the Cowboys. That unit had been looking really good the two weeks prior, with the Birds adding Jaelan Phillips ahead of the NFL trade deadline. Phillips was oddly quiet against Terence Steele, who is usually pretty gettable. We’ll see if the pass rush can bounce back this weekend. I believe they can be more disruptive than they were in Dallas.

The Eagles’ secondary configuration is a big story in Philly this weekend. Rookie safety Andrew Mukuba got hurt late in Week 12, so it’ll seemingly be Sydney Brown (who unintentionally injured Mukuba) starting on the back end. Brown is physical and can really lay the boom … but he seems pretty susceptible in coverage. It feels like Ben Johnson is going to be trying to go after him over and over. If Brown struggles, the Eagles might opt to move Cooper DeJean to the back end of the defense and then play backup nickel Michael Carter II in the slot.

4. Speaking of the defense, what is the biggest weakness that Ben Johnson could try to exploit?

Ah, sorry, I preempted the question! But, yeah, it’s Sydney Brown. He seems primed to be overzealous and blow some coverage. He also plays out of control to the point where he’ll accidentally hit his own teammates. Also, fellow starting safety Reed Blankenship will be playing through a thigh injury. Seems like he’s gutting it out in part because the Eagles just don’t have any other safety depth with Mukuba getting hurt. If I’m the Bears, I’m looking to throw deep and challenge the Eagles’ safeties. Adoree’ Jackson is also quite obviously the much more vulnerable cornerback between him and Quinyon Mitchell. I just wouldn’t throw to whoever Mitchell is covering. Bad idea. Gotta go elsewhere.

5. If the Bears somehow manage to win this one on Friday, what do you think is the biggest issue that went wrong for the Eagles that would cause them to lose this one at home?

1. An Eagles offense that just way underperforms on a weekly basis. The Bears’ defense seems to be vulnerable, especially at off-ball linebacker. So, maybe they can actually get going. But even if they jump to, say, a 21-0 lead … there’s no reason to believe the offense suddenly won’t dry up for the rest of the game.
2. Ben Johnson takes advantage of the Eagles’ weaknesses on the back end of their defense.