Is ‘atrocious’ Jalen Hurts to blame? Is more Saquon Barkley the answer for Eagles? Here’s what they’re saying.

The Eagles continue to spiral, losing their third consecutive game on Monday night in overtime against the Los Angeles Chargers behind an uncharacteristically bad performance from quarterback Jalen Hurts.

While it was once again a bad showing from the offense, it appears that offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, the target of much criticism this season and even recent vandalism, is escaping the bulk of the blame — at least for one week — thanks to Hurts’ struggles in LA.

Here’s what the national media, including a few former Eagles, had to say about the team’s performance …

Monday’s game against the Chargers was the worst game of Hurts’ NFL career. Hurts threw four interceptions and had one lost fumble, which was on the same play as one of his interceptions, making him the first player since at least 1978 to commit two turnovers on one play.

“If you were going to tell me going into last night that somebody was going to throw four interceptions, I would have thought it’d probably be the guy with only one hand,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano said on Get Up, referencing Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s broken non-throwing hand.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts hits his low point, which begs the question: Should he be benched for Tanner McKee?

No one has defended Hurts more than former Eagle LeSean McCoy over the course of the season, but even he didn’t have much to say in Hurts’ defense after Monday night’s performance.

“Did he play bad?” McCoy said on Speakeasy. “Yes. Did he play horrible? Hell yeah, but he ain’t no four-pick-type quarterback. He had a bad game. A lot of quarterbacks have that.”

“You guys have been waiting for a moment like this,” McCoy said later in the show. “You talk about Jalen Hurts all the time and you try to bash him. The truth is, all he does is win. You can’t really bash him.”

His podcast co-host Emmanuel Acho wasn’t buying his defense of the Birds quarterback, especially after a third straight loss.

“Do your job,” Acho said. “... He’s been average all season, and he was atrocious today. He was the reason they lost today.”

» READ MORE: A.J. Brown ‘wasn’t great when it mattered’ as key drops doomed the Eagles in loss to Chargers

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith said the Eagles ultimately lost because Hurts and the offense once again failed to step up and deliver in a big moment. While not all of Hurts’ turnovers were his fault — one slipped right through A.J. Brown’s hands — his game-sealing pick was a bad mistake.

“You can’t make that throw,” Smith said. “You’re in field-goal range, in a position to tie. You know how much is on the line. Dallas has a tie on its record in your division and they’re tugging at your heels. …

“If you’re playing this game like Jalen Hurts has shown he’s capable of playing this game, that is a mistake at that particular moment in time that you simply cannot make. He made it, and once again we find ourselves sitting here talking about the Eagles offense, because the Eagles defense, outside of the 80-yard drive to open the game, put the Chargers pretty much on lock and key.”

So, is there hope that the Eagles can turn it around in time for the playoffs? Or is the offense doomed to repeat the collapse of 2023?

“I thought they would [turn it around] until last night,” Jeff Saturday said on Get Up. “When you look at the way that they’re moving, the only thing that feels different about this than a couple years ago, their defense can win games, and they’ve already beat the best teams.”

» READ MORE: Forget 2023. The Eagles are in bigger trouble now after their loss to the Chargers. | Mike Sielski

Despite the concerns, the First Take panel still believes the Eagles will ultimately win the NFC East and make the playoffs.

“The Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the NFC East, they are,” Chris Canty said. “When you look at the remaining schedule, they’re going to cruise to 11 wins.

“That’s not the conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles. The conversation we should be having about the Philadelphia Eagles is how can they position themselves to go back-to-back, because that’s all anybody was talking about after Super Bowl LIX. … We were ready to compare the Eagles to those modern-day dynasties. They are a far cry from that.”

Saturday said he thinks the Eagles listened too much to outside noise about the offense, and moved away from the more conservative style that won them games last year.

“I’m very concerned, because I don’t think they know who they are,” Saturday said on First Take. “... It was such a boring offense to watch, but they won that way. It was a very low-risk, high-reward profile that they were playing under. I understand their run game was struggling, their offensive line wasn’t the same, they’re not as dominant, I get all of that, but there is a style of play that translates to wins for the Philadelphia Eagles.”

» READ MORE: Eagles grades: Jalen Hurts turns it over five times in yet another poor offensive display

Could that mean more Saquon Barkley moving forward? If so, it’s something LeGarrette Blount would endorse.

The former Eagles running back said on Good Morning Football that the Birds need to find a way to get Barkley more touches in order to improve the offense. Barkley showed off a bit of the explosiveness from last season with his fourth-quarter, 52-yard touchdown, but a struggling and injured offensive line has prevented the running game from reaching its full potential.

“You’ve got to get him more and more touches,” Blount said.

In the first half, Barkley carried the ball 13 times against the Chargers, but he had just seven more carries in the second half and in overtime.

“That’s not enough to get it done,” Blount added.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts committed two turnovers on one play. That hadn’t happened in 48 NFL seasons.