The time for making excuses for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts may have come to an end.
Hurts and the Eagles lost their second consecutive game in Week 13 — this time falling 24-15 to the Chicago Bears — as he looked like one of the NFC’s worst quarterbacks, going 19-of-34 passing for 230 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.
While there might be easier villains to find on the Eagles — constantly complaining wide receiver A.J. Brown is an easy target — the true culprits in the crime that is Philadelphia’s offense this season are clearly Hurts and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
Even with our understanding the reigning Super Bowl MVP gets an unbelievable and sort of unfair amount of scrutiny every time he plays, it was hard to defend his play against the Bears.
There was one play in particular that seemed to stand out — when Hurts threw an incompletion way behind DeVonta Smith on an early third down and didn’t even see a wide open Dallas Goedert for what could have been a walk in touchdown.
“This is horrific,” The Ringer’s Diante Lee wrote on X. “I’m going to act like I didn’t see the poor placement on that AJ Brown TD. Just like I ignored that Devonta Smith catch last week.”
What Lee is saying is Eagles receivers are making catches in spite of Hurts and not because of him.
Hurts Has Always Been Talking Point in NFL
The year-in, year-out debate over whether Hurts is trash or not is one of the NFL’s hottest talking points every year. Try bringing him up with your friends when you rank the NFL’s best quarterbacks and see what happens.
That’s the kind of scrutiny that comes with being one of the NFL’s highest paid players — he signed a 5-year, $255 million contract extension in 2023 — playing the most high profile position on one of the highest profile teams.
Hurts Has Been Objectively Bad This Season
All that being said, Hurts has been really bad this season as the Eagles head into a Week 14 Monday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Chargers with their season seemingly at a turning point. Through 12 games, he’s thrown for under 200 yards 6 times.
It brings back memories of when the Eagles started the 2023 season 10-1 and finished the season 11-6 and got booted from the NFC playoffs in the Wild Card Round one year after playing in the Super Bowl.
“Man. Jalen Hurts is not seeing the field well at all. This is hard to watch,” Chat Sports’ Chase Senior wrote on his official X account.
While Hurts has been under the microscope, offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo has been equally pilloried as head coach Nick Sirianni continues to say he’s not taking play calling duties away from the first year OC.
“We’re not changing the play caller,” Sirianni said after the loss to the Bears.
” ‘We’re not competing for a championship’ is all I heard,” Lee wrote on X.
“The NFC being this open, is why you fire Kevin Patullo,” Eagles fan Gabe wrote on X. “Give yourselves a damn chance.”
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts Called Out for ‘Horrific’ Play in Loss to Bears