CHICAGO — Donovan McNabb and the Eagles found a way to pull out a close win. They also hurt the Bears in the process.
McNabb threw for 244 yards against his hometown team, LeSean McCoy scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 10-yard run following Antonio Dixon’s block of a field goal attempt, and Philadelphia came away with a 24-20 win over struggling Chicago on Sunday night after back-to-back close losses.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if we had won 3-2. This was a game we needed to come out and win by any means necessary,” McNabb said.
The Bears were leading 20-17 when Dixon blocked a 48-yard field goal by Robbie Gould with 11 minutes left. McNabb then led the Eagles (6-4) on a 62-yard touchdown drive that McCoy capped with a neat 10-yard run, sending Chicago to its fifth loss in six games and delivering another big hit to its playoff hopes.
Barring a big run, the Bears (4-6) will miss the postseason for the third straight season — certainly not what they expected when they made that big offseason trade with the Broncos for quarterback Jay Cutler.
The Bears had high hopes after that deal, but after a 3-1 start, all the optimism is gone.
“We’re running out of time,” Cutler said. “The window is getting smaller and smaller. Anything can happen, you get strange things happening in November and December, but for us it’s smaller and smaller.”
Or, as Bears coach Lovie Smith put it: “This wasn’t part of the master plan.”
Cutler, who came into the game with a league-leading 17 interceptions, did not get picked off until the final minute. Tracy White tipped a pass and Sean Jones came away with the ball near midfield, sealing the Eagles’ win.
Cutler, who had 12 interceptions in the previous five games, completed 24-of-43 passes for 171 yards.
