Eagles vs. Bears: Predictions, odds, injuries, and what everyone’s talking about ahead of the Black Friday game

Like any seasoned holiday shopper, the Eagles know exactly what they’re looking for on Black Friday — a win.

After squandering a 21-0 first-half lead to the Cowboys in Dallas last week, the Birds will host the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday.

Here’s everything you need to know about the team’s Week 13 matchup...

The Birds’ game against the Bears will stream live for free on Amazon Prime Video at 3 p.m., with Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit on the call and Kaylee Hartung on the sidelines. The game will be shown for free, meaning fans do not need an Amazon Prime subscription to access the broadcast. Fox 29 will also carry the Prime broadcast over the air to viewers in the Philadelphia area.

If you want to listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick on the call, the radio broadcast can be found on WIP-FM (94.1). And if you want to watch the game with fellow Birds fans, these are the spots to check out.

The Eagles are expecting to be without Lane Johnson for a second week after the veteran offensive lineman suffered a foot injury in the team’s Week 11 win over the Lions. Johnson did not move to the injured reserve list, indicating he may come back sooner than initially expected, but he did not participate in practice on Tuesday or Wednesday. The Birds will also be without Drew Mukuba, as the rookie safety suffered a right leg fracture in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against Dallas.

» READ MORE: The Eagles’ secondary is healing quickly. Adoree’ Jackson is set to return against the Bears.

DeVonta Smith’s status for Friday is also uncertain, as the receiver was a non-participant in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. Brandon Graham’s status is uncertain, after being a limited participant in practice on Wednesday after sitting out for Tuesday’s practice.

The final injury report will come out on Thursday, but here is what the two teams’ reports looked like as of Wednesday afternoon ...

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Eagles were 7-point favorites at DraftKings and 6.5-point favorites at FanDuel. Both sportsbooks have set the projected point total at 44.5.

The Eagles’ season-long offensive struggles were amplified in the second half of their loss to Dallas last Sunday. The Cowboys held the Birds scoreless in the second half and scored 24 unanswered to storm back from a 21-point second-quarter deficit.

The Birds’ second-half collapse has intensified the public scrutiny of Kevin Patullo’s play-calling in his first season as offensive coordinator. Patullo’s offense is averaging 23.2 points per game, which ranks 17th among all NFL teams. Nick Sirianni said the Eagles are “searching for answers” on offense but that he was not considering demoting Patullo from his play-calling responsibilities.

Defensively, the depth of the Eagles’ secondary will be tested against the Bears. Mukuba, a rookie who has made 10 starts alongside Reed Blankenship at safety, suffered a right leg fracture during the team’s loss to Dallas that required surgery and may sideline him for the rest of the season.

Blankenship also exited the Dallas game with a thigh injury and was a limited participant in Tuesday’s practice, but Vic Fangio expects the safety to play on Friday. Sydney Brown will start in place of the injured Mukuba.

» READ MORE: How Bears hope to turn Eagles fans ‘against their own team,’ why Vic Fangio is ‘the Godfather,’ and more from Chicago

Here are a few more storylines ...

9: The total number of games the Eagles have played on a Friday since the franchise was founded in 1933. The Eagles opened the 2024 season with a Friday night win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil, but prior to that, the Birds had not taken the field on a Friday since 1960.

» READ MORE: These numbers show Saquon Barkley’s drop-off from his historic 2024 season with the Eagles

Our writers aren’t in agreement when it comes to their predictions for Black Friday …

Jeff McLane: I think the Eagles match up well against the Bears. I like Vic Fangio vs. most young quarterbacks, but Ben Johnson will offer a challenge. As far as the offense goes, I think that as long as the Eagles don’t turn the ball over, they should put up points. Chicago’s defense lives off the turnover, but the Birds are still among the best at protecting the ball, despite last week’s two giveaways. For the first time in weeks, I feel relatively confident about my pick. But we know how that usually pans out. | Prediction: Eagles 30, Bears 20

» READ MORE: Jeff McLane’s keys to Eagles vs. Bears in Week 13: What you need to know and a prediction

Olivia Reiner: If the Eagles can’t run the ball on the Bears, it’s officially time to sound the alarm (if the red flags haven’t already been there). ... I had this game as a win for the Eagles before the season started. But given the state of the Eagles’ offense over the last few games, I’m picking a narrow upset. | Prediction: Bears 30, Eagles 27

Jeff Neiburg: Sure, the Bears are 8-3 after winning four consecutive games. But they’re doing the thing that teams do sometimes when they’re turning a corner after some down seasons: taking advantage of an easy schedule. Their win Sunday vs. the Steelers, 31-28, was their first against a team with a winning record. | Prediction: Eagles 27, Bears 17

Here’s how the national media is leaning for Friday …

» READ MORE: Eagles or Bears on Black Friday? Here’s a look at what the pundits are predicting.

Here’s what our columnists are saying about the Eagles this week, starting with Mike Sielski, who argues that last Sunday’s collapse might put the Birds’ coaching staff under team owner Jeffrey Lurie’s microscope:

Mike Sielski: “It is, of course, true that the offensive line’s decline is a huge factor in the Eagles’ overall regression, maybe the biggest factor, and that reality, one could argue, should absolve Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, Jalen Hurts, and anyone else for an 8-3 team that feels like it’s 3-8. But it’s naive to think, given the nature of Sunday’s loss and the arc of this season, that Lurie isn’t taking a long, hard look at the coaching staff, Sirianni included.” Read more.

David Murphy: “In order for Sirianni to make a change, he would need to be reasonably confident that things would get better. If not, things would get appreciably worse. Sirianni and the Eagles would be operating from a position of weakness for the duration of the season. The worst thing they can do right now is panic. We’ve seen how that sort of thing ends.” Read more.

With the Packers and Lions close behind, the 8-3 Bears are looking to stay on top of a hotly contested NFC North with a win over the NFC East-leading Eagles. Bears safety Kevin Byard, a Philly native and former Eagle, called Friday’s game a “heavyweight matchup.”

“This is a team that was just in the Super Bowl,” Byard said. “They have a winning culture, they have a winning mentality. We preach 60 minutes. We know they’re going to be a 60-minute team as well. … This is a heavyweight matchup for sure and obviously, we’re going into a hostile environment in a stadium that I played in, played against.”

Here’s what else the Bears had to say …

Byard on the Eagles’ success despite offensive struggles: “Stats for the entire offense have been down, but they’re finding ways to win. I mean, look at us, our stats haven’t been great on defense but we’re finding ways to win. … Stats is something we can all look at and judge. But at the end of the day, they’re finding ways to win. I think that’s just a testament of their culture and our culture. So, it’s definitely going to be a challenge for us. Just culture against culture, whose culture is better?”

Quarterback Caleb Williams on Jalen Hurts: “[We talked about how] there’s not many like us in our position — who we are, skin tone, and all these different things — there’s not many like us. So, just being able to understand the opportunity that we have and I have to maximize that and put myself in the best opportunity possible. It was kind of that type of talk. Jalen, you’ve heard all his bits. He’s pretty motivational when he speaks up here.”

Head coach Ben Johnson on Vic Fangio: “He’s like the Godfather in a lot of ways. He’s kind of taken the lead over in terms of that scheme. ... He’s influenced the game significantly. I never worked with Vic but a lot of respect from afar, obviously. The people that have worked with him speak so highly of how he calls a game. He’s usually a step ahead of the opposing play-callers. So, it’ll be a challenge here just to make sure that we’re trying to keep him as off-balance as we possibly can.”

» READ MORE: How Bears hope to turn Eagles fans ‘against their own team,’ why Vic Fangio is ‘the Godfather,’ and more from Chicago

Former Eagles quarterback and Super Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles raised concerns about the Birds’ offense before their loss to Dallas on his podcast. Foles criticized the Eagles’ “simplistic” route designs and disjointed play-calling, which he thinks have contributed to the team’s offensive decline this season.

“So the creativity is key as a play-caller, and calling the plays at the right time,” Foles said to The SZN co-host Evan Moore. “There’s just an art. And I don’t see that this year. I don’t think anyone sees it. Fans that are passionate Eagles fans — because I’ve been to Philly several times — and you hear, every time I run across Philly fans, ’Man, what do you think is going to happen with the offense? What’s going on? Is this Jalen [Hurts]?’ I’m like, ‘Listen, it’s a team thing. Kevin Patullo is probably a great dude, a great coach, but there’s an art to play-calling that not everyone has and it’s not showing up this year.”

» READ MORE: Nick Foles, former QBs on Kevin Patullo, Eagles offense: ‘There’s an art to play-calling that not everyone has’

Here’s what else the national media is saying about the Birds ...

Dan Orlovsky on the offense: “They’re one-dimensional. They’re pass-only success when it comes to the offense’s ability. Their offensive line loses one-on-ones, they’re predictable in the run game, Saquon [Barkley] has not made people miss in space nearly as much as he was last year, and their routes — you can be predictable on offense if you’re creative with your route concepts. They’re not.”

Cam Newton on their struggles: “A team of that caliber, we don’t expect those things to happen to them. The thing that’s alarming is, the first three drives you score, you come out with a bang, we impose our will. The last eight drives, nothing. The frustration stems from, when are the Philadelphia Eagles are going to put it together, all together? You’re starting to say, is it the offensive coordinator? Is it the quarterback? The players? That’s where my frustration comes in. When you have that much talent, and to not have one game — here we are in [Game] 11 — to not be able to say, they figured it out.”

Jason Kelce on the offensive line: “[Lane Johnson] has meant so much to the Philadelphia Eagles ... but it’s not just him this year, the whole offensive line has been banged up. They’ve been a top 10 rushing unit, as an offense, the Eagles have, every year since Jalen Hurts has been the starter. This year is the first year they have really struggled to run the football. A lot of it comes down to being banged up and not being the cohesive unit they have been, and healthy, in the past, but it is crippling this offense right now.”

🏈 Bucko Kilroy was once called the NFL’s dirtiest player. He became much more than that in a six-decade career. On Friday, he goes into the Eagles Hall of Fame.

🔢 These numbers show Saquon Barkley’s drop-off from his historic 2024 season with the Eagles.

😱 Fear factors: David Murphy ranks the Eagles’ road to the Super Bowl, from the real Rams to the fraud Bears

👀 Jason Kelce and “New Heights” will host a free Black Friday tailgate for Eagles fans, featuring a “belly bucking” competition.