Jalen Hurts’ MVP hopes die after Eagles coaches put him at risk too often

Jalen Hurts was on pace to set the NFL record for quarterback rushing attempts in a season. He was, until his coaches went to the well too often. Now, he’s injured, two sources tell The Inquirer. Out for two games. Maybe more.

Say goodbye to the MVP award; he was the favorite until he got injured. Maybe say goodbye to the No. 1 overall seed. The Eagles, 13-1, could clinch it if they win one of their last three games. It was a cinch.

Nothing is certain now.

This need not have happened. The Eagles had been running the ball well with their backs. Then, they didn’t.

Dumb.

It was cold in Chicago on Sunday. It was windy. It was simple.

The Bears’ run defense ranked 27th out of 32 teams. Their pass defense ranked 11th.

If you have the answers to the test, don’t copy off the idiot sitting next to you. Miles Sanders was the answer.

Sanders had just set a career high with 144 rushing yards in Game 13. After scoring nine rushing touchdowns in his first three seasons, Sanders scored his 10th and 11th touchdowns of 2022 in Game 13. After fumbling seven times in his first 37 career games, including playoffs, Sanders hadn’t fumbled in 19 straight games through Game 13.

» READ MORE: NFL MVP odds: Patrick Mahomes now the clear favorite after Jalen Hurts’ injury

After Game 13, the Eagles’ game plan — obviously — for Game 14: Give the ball to Sanders. Let Sanders run behind the best offensive line in the NFL. Protect your overused quarterback, who is the MVP favorite. Control the clock. Fly home with a 13th win, listening to Anita Baker and snacking on sweets.

The Eagles went 1-for-5.

They won, 25-20. They won despite themselves. And now, they’ve lost their quarterback.

Hurts sprained his right shoulder. He did it on a designed running play. Hurts faked a handoff to Sanders, kept it himself, and ran into trouble. Trevis Gipson, a 263-pound defensive lineman, crashed down onto Hurts’ left shoulder, which drove his right shoulder into the frozen turf at Soldier Field.

Hurts lay on his back, stunned and hurting, for 10 full seconds. The Fox Sports announcers immediately knew something was wrong.

“Worst nightmare for the Eagles, right there,” said play-by-play man Joe Davis.

“This is the one you can’t afford, right?” said analyst Daryl Johnston.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Gardner Minshew is a capable backup. He was brilliant as Hurts’ understudy last season against the Jets. But no one on Earth believes the Eagles are as good with Minshew as with Hurts.

Make no mistake: This was coaching malpractice, both long term and in the moment.

The first two plays from scrimmage were designed runs for Hurts. Before Sunday, he led NFL quarterbacks with 139 rushing attempts. On a day when he could have been protected from harm, he ran 17 times. He now has 156 runs, most among NFL quarterbacks and third all-time behind Lamar Jackson’s 176 in 2019 and Jackson’s 159 in 2020.

He averaged 3.59 yards per carry Sunday. By design.

“That was part of our game plan against this defense,” coach Nick Sirianni admitted after the game.

The Cowboys rank 25th against the run and second against the pass. The Birds play there Christmas Eve. We’ll see how much Eagles coaches learned Sunday, with the NFC East title and the No. 1 seed at stake.

It seemed like they’d learned this lesson long ago.

» READ MORE: What we learned from Eagles' 25-20 win over Bears

The NFL long ago changed its rules to protect quarterbacks and receivers, eradicate the running back position, and make its product a soft, pass-first, Madden-like video game. This is fine if you’re in a dome, or if it’s warm, or if your quarterback doesn’t need mittens.

In a departure from the norm, the Eagles’ offensive brain trust out-thunk itself. Eagles running backs had 14 runs Sunday, the fewest since Game 11, when they had 17 carries and nearly lost at Indianapolis — a team that like the Bears, stinks.

On the coldest day in Chicago since the leaves began to change, Sanders, the Eagles’ first 1,000-yard rusher since 2014, didn’t get a second carry until 27 minutes had elapsed.

By then, Hurts had thrown two interceptions. It should have come as no surprise.

Hurts is a Texan who played collegiately in Alabama and Oklahoma. It was 18 degrees at kickoff, which, with the 16-mph wind howling in off Lake Michigan, felt like 3 degrees.

Hurts was so cold his hands were numb.

“I really couldn’t feel my hands. It was very cold,” he admitted. “I never played in anything that cold.”

He threw the ball 37 times, his second-highest passing total of the season. Playing in the toughest conditions of his life. Exposed, again and again and again.

» READ MORE: Haason Reddick dominated the Bears and helped save the Eagles from a humiliating loss

It made no sense.

The Eagles saved the 2021 season and created a template for 2022 when they scrapped Sirianni’s pass-heavy scheme in Game 8 last year. Shane Steichen, the offensive coordinator, replaced Sirianni as the play caller. Hurts was, and is, a work in progress as a passer, so the offense became more run-oriented.

The result: The Eagles went 18-4 in meaningful games. Hurts entered Chicago as the NFL’s highest-rated passer. Sanders was having a career year.

Hurts will always run. His ability to escape the pocket is part of what makes him special. But all of the designed runs — they were just too much.

The problem here is, Sirianni sounds like he doesn’t think he did anything wrong. He pointed to misleading numbers to justify the unjustifiable.

Hurts finished with 315 passing yards, his third-highest total of the season. So what? He finished with a 64.6 passer rating, his worst showing since the playoff loss at Tampa Bay in January. He rallied to reach 64.6; he was at 40.4 at halftime.

In his limited looks, Sanders wasn’t the best version of himself Sunday. He gained just 42 yards on 11 carries. He fumbled after a reception — not a horrible fumble, since he’d barely taken receipt of the pass, but a turnover nonetheless. Sirianni hollered at him for missing a hole. So it goes.

The Birds believed their receivers outclassed the Bears’ corners, and A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith finished with more than 100 yards apiece. Ultimately, the Eagles got what they wanted.

Then again, if you pound a square peg long enough, it’ll eventually fit into a round hole.

“You go in there, you see some matchups that you like,” Sirianni said. “At the end of the day, A.J. had 181 yards and DeVonta had 126.”

In other words, “We were right!”

No, you weren’t. The Bears were bad. Your defense was great.

And now, your quarterback is out.