What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 4 vs. the Rams

The Eagles are no strangers to getting walloped by the Ben Johnson-coached Chicago Bears. But Monday night’s beatdown seemed more ominous than the Week 13 loss last season.

The offense, hindered by penalties, turnovers, and negative plays, was largely inefficient throughout the game. Seven points scored by the Eagles marked their fewest in a contest since a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants in 2021, which was Nick Sirianni’s first season as head coach.

Monday night’s loss ended the Eagles’ streak of 75 straight regular season games of scoring at least 10 points, according to Next Gen Stats, which was the longest in franchise history.

The bigger surprise through three games, though, is that the Eagles defense has been a shell of itself compared to past iterations under Vic Fangio. Missed tackles, more penalties, and busted coverages marred their performance against the Bears, as Johnson got the better of Fangio once again.

Was Monday a preview of how the Eagles will fare against a slew of tough upcoming opponents, particularly the 1-2 Los Angeles Rams on Sunday? Here’s what we know (and what we don’t) about the Eagles heading into Week 4:

Since joining the Eagles as offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion has laid out aspects of his vision for the offense and the West Coast flavor it would adopt.

Part of that vision included the marriage of the run and the pass, as the wide-zone run game would help set up the under-center play-action passing game. The Eagles largely hadn’t majored in the run action, especially from under center, since Sirianni took over as head coach.

Three games into the season, and the Eagles still haven’t. The offense has attempted 15 play-action passes (12 from under center), according to Next Gen Stats, which is the lowest total in the league. They have a minus-.17 expected points added per play-action pass, which ranks in the bottom six.

Jalen Hurts had four play-action pass attempts on Monday — three from under center, one from the pistol. He completed just one of them, a 19-yarder to Makai Lemon on a crossing route halfway through the first quarter.

» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni has a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it, after Eagles’ weaknesses are exposed in Chicago

The Bears sniffed out the others. Their solution to the illusion of the run was to blitz a linebacker, who on two of the three plays would go mostly untouched and get in Hurts’ face to force an incomplete pass or, in one case, an intentional grounding. The Eagles quarterback still ended up under pressure on the third, as the protection didn’t hold up, so he scrambled away and threw an incomplete pass to DeVonta Smith.

It’s too early to say for sure, but the Eagles offense is threatening to follow a similar trajectory as it did in 2024, minus its dominant rushing attack that carried the entire unit to the Super Bowl. That season, the hiring of Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator offered promise of a revamped, dynamic offensive scheme. It quickly reverted to more of the same from past Eagles offenses under Sirianni.

Can the Eagles implement and execute the scheme that Mannion was hired to install? Or will the ideal of a wholesale change only amount to something half-baked?

The Eagles must rebound against a ticked-off, yet talented, Rams team if they want to avoid dropping to 2-2.

A questionable defensive pass interference call against the Rams late in the fourth quarter wiped off an interception and got in the way of a prospective victory on Sunday night against the Denver Broncos. Instead, the penalty prolonged the eventual game-winning scoring drive orchestrated by Broncos quarterback Bo Nix.

Now, the Rams are 1-2, an underwhelming start to the season for a team considered Super Bowl favorites before it began.

They still could be, especially considering their personnel on paper, from 2025 MVP Matthew Stafford to their vaunted defensive front headlined by the recently unretired Aaron Donald.

But no player is without their flaws, especially Stafford. The 38-year-old quarterback tossed his 33rd career pick-six in the loss to the Broncos, a new all-time league high (Brett Favre had 32 from 1991-2010). Stafford has thrown four total interceptions through three games, tied for second-most in the league.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts and the Eagles took a major hit against the Bears. They have to find a way to bounce back.

It’s worth noting that Stafford didn’t face much pressure on any of his four interceptions. If the Eagles are sound in coverage — even if the pass rush doesn’t get home, which has become a recurring theme again this season — perhaps they can force Stafford into making some ill-advised decisions.

But the Eagles are coming off a defensive performance that included some confusion in the secondary, leading to open receivers and explosive gains for the Bears passing attack. Whether or not that leads to personnel changes this week, especially at safety, the Eagles must iron out the kinks against a Rams passing offense that ranks second in the league in passing yards per game (284).

That Rams passing offense only stands to improve if Puka Nacua makes his return after missing the last two games of the season with a groin injury.

Head coach Sean McVay said on Monday that he is “hopeful” Nacua will make his season debut against the Eagles depending on his progress this week.

The 25-year-old receiver had an All-Pro 2025 season in which he led the league in receptions (129), receiving first downs (80), and receiving yards per game (107.2). His Week 3 outing against the Eagles was one of six in which he eclipsed 100 receiving yards, as he finished with 112 on 11 receptions.

» READ MORE: Eagles defense ‘not on the same page,’ as Ben Johnson and Case Keenum pick them apart

Davante Adams has stepped up in the passing game in Nacua’s absence. Adams, 33, was a clone of his younger self in the Rams’ 28-6 dismantling of the Giants in Week 2. He finished that contest with 194 yards and two touchdowns on eight receptions, and he followed it up in Week 3 with 137 yards on seven receptions.

Still, the Rams offense is more prolific when Nacua is on the field. Going into Week 3 and dating back to 2023 when Nacua was drafted, the Rams have averaged a full yard per play more with him on the field (6.1) than with him on the sideline (5.1), according to Next Gen Stats.

Their explosive play rate had decreased from 14.9% to 11.9% when Nacua had been out. The Rams even run the ball better with him on the field — they had gained 4.6 yards per carry and picked up first downs on 26.5% of plays with Nacua, while they had amassed 3.9 yards per carry and posted a 24.7% first-down rate without him.

The Rams leverage Nacua’s versatility by lining him up just about anywhere. The Eagles know this well, as he caught his 11 receptions last year against seven different defenders, per Pro Football Focus.

If he is healthy enough to play on Sunday, whether he is on a snap count or not, it will take the entire Eagles defense to keep him at bay.