How One Night in Philadelphia in 2013 Influenced Recent Bears History

The Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles will meet for the fourth consecutive season on Sunday in Philadelphia. The Eagles have won the last five meetings dating back to 2013. The week 16 meeting in 2013 is a memorable one as the game had an unexpecting lasting impact on the Bears demise and rebuild for the next four seasons.

Leading up to their week 16 matchup that season, the Bears record stood at 8-6 and they were in a three-way battle for the NFC North Division with the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. At the start of the day, the Bears needed losses by both the Packers and Lions with a win against the Eagles to win the Division making the season finale against the Packers meaningless. Had they lost though, the finale would become a winner take all game with the Packers having Aaron Rodger return from a collar bone injury.

Both the Packers and Lions played late-afternoon games while the Bears were playing on Sunday Night. Detroit faced a five-win New York Giants team at home while the Packers hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers with backup quarterback Matt Flynn starting. If the Lions won, they would be in control of the division as they held the tie-breaker over the Bears.

Detroit was on their way to victory before quarterback Matthew Stafford threw a late interception that was returned for a touchdown by Giants cornerback Will Hill with less than five minutes left in the game. Tied at 20 in overtime, the Giants would kick a game-winning field goal that eliminated the Lions from playoff contention.

Tied at 20 in overtime, the Giants would kick a game-winning field goal that eliminated the Lions from playoff contention.

At the exact same time, The Packers and Steelers were in a back and forth battle with the Steeler holding a 38-31 lead late in the game. Flynn led the Packers on a last-second drive to tie the game, but a penalty and a mental-gaffe with time by Green Bay’s quarterback would lead to the Steelers winning.

Bears players were aware of both losses less than an hour before the kickoff to their game. With a win, Chicago would be division champs for the first time in 2010. The Eagles, on the other hand, had nothing to play for, as a win or a loss would not factor into their playoff aspirations. They were already locked into a winner take all game with the Dallas Cowboys the next week. All the Bears needed to do was to build an early lead and it was likely that Eagles head coach Chip Kelly would pull and rest his starters for Dallas.

For all that went right for the Bears before the game, they would throw all of it away as soon as the game started. The Eagles would score touchdowns on their first three offensive possessions as they led 24-3 at halftime. Philadelphia dominated start to finish as the Eagles won 54-11 handing the Bears their worst loss of the season when they needed a win the most.

Chicago would lose the following week to the Packers in one of the worst and most heartbreaking losses in Chicago sports history. Rodgers threw a Hail Mary pass to Randall Cobb for a 48-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with less than 38 seconds to go. The Packers won the game 33-28 and the division, they played the San Francisco 49ers the following week in the Wild Card round and lost 23-20.

Had Chicago won against the Eagles, the game against the Packers the following week would have been meaningless. Flynn would have started instead of Rodgers, and Bears head coach Marc Trestman would have rested his starters in preparation for the 49ers the following week.

If the Bears would have made it to the playoffs in 2013, there would have been a good chance of them making a deep run despite having the league’s worst run defense. Had they hosted the 49ers in the Wild Card round, the game would have been played in a significant snowstorm. A win against the 49ers would send the Bears to Charlotte to take on the Panthers in the Divisional Round. Chicago would have had a good chance to beat the Panthers, as although Carolina had the second-best defense in the league, their offense struggled to score points at the time. The Bears had the league’s second-best offense.

A division title and deep playoff run may have altered the disaster that took place for the Bears the following season. With Super Bowl aspirations, the 2014 team imploded winning just five games and having possibly the worst season in Bears history. Numerous blowout losses, constant in-fighting between players, and embarrassing situations by the coaching staff led to a complete house cleaning at the season’s end. With a division title and playoff run in 2013, there is a good chance that both Trestman and general manager Phil Emery would have kept their jobs for the 2015 season. Current general manager Ryan Pace may never have been hired and the rebuild that led to the 2018 division title make never have taken place.

It is weird how things can change from the lead up to the end of just one NFL game. That night in Philadelphia back in 2013, everything lined up perfectly for the Chicago Bears, but no one could have guessed the magnitude of the loss to the Eagles that night. The current Chicago Bears team would drastically different had all the stars aligned back in 2013 in Philadelphia.