PHILADELPHIA – It wasn’t a bad throw, after all. It was a matter of miscommunication when Jalen Hurts appeared to throw a pass behind a crossing DeVonta Smith that would have likely led to a touchdown during the Eagles’ 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears on Black Friday.
Credit HBO’s Hard Knocks the NFC East edition for capturing some raw emotion from the Eagles quarterback in their debut episode on Tuesday night. Hurts doesn’t show emotion very much when he does his postgame press conference, but what the HBO cameras captured was a QB in the heat of battle.
The play to Smith showed Hurts make a hand signal toward the receiver, who didn’t see it. Hurts wanted him to run a stop-route, but Smith continued his route toward the center of the field deep in Bears territory. The HBO cameras showed Hurts taking accountability on the sideline.
“I thought you… When I pointed like this – that’s my fault,” he said to Smith on the bench. “I thought you were going to settle down.”
JUST IN: Hard Knocks captured the raw exchange between #Eagles stars Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith after Jalen missed a big throw against the #Bears.
Hurts takes full responsibility for his mistake on the sideline.
This is fascinating to watch.
pic.twitter.com/OipU2UVyZE
— MLFootball (@MLFootball) December 3, 2025
Hurts sat on the bench for a few seconds then went over to his receivers and said, “That’s a play I got to make, keep doing what ya’ll doing. Here we go. We’ll finish the next one, that’s a play I’ll make.”
Hurts’ in-game accountability to his teammates was probably the biggest takeaway from episode one. He did it again when he fumbled away a gold opportunity for the Eagles to take their first lead of the game with less than five minutes to play in the third quarter.
Jalyx Hunt had given the Eagles good field position with his second interception of the season. Three Saquon Barkley runs totaling 24 yards brought the Eagles to a third-and-one at the Chicago 12.
On the tush push from there, Jalen Hurts had the ball ripped way from Nahshon Wright. The lost fumble was pivotal in the loss.
“That’s me,” Hurts said to his teammates near him on the bench.
He went over to his offensive linemen and said, “That (bleeping) dumb (bleep) I did. … I was trying to secure the ball, and he came in there and gutted it out. …That’s on me, I gotta protect the (bleeping) ball at the end of the day.”
The Eagles are sitting at 8-4 and will play the 8-4 Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football.
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