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 The Bears (8-7) could have clinched the NFC North with a victory,
but their chance slipped away quickly in Philadelphia where the
Eagles scored the game's first 24 points and kept piling on.
Philadelphia (9-6) were already heading to a season-ending matchup
with Dallas (8-7) that will determine the NFC East title and a
postseason spot, and could have chosen to rest their players.
Instead, they played fast and furious from the opening kickoff to
earn their most lopsided triumph of the season.
"It says a lot about the character of this team that we would go out
and play as hard as we did tonight," Eagles guard Evan Mathis told
reporters. "It would have been easy for us to take the night off,
but that's not what this team is all about."
Chicago will have their own division and the playoffs at stake when
they host a winner-take-all against Green Bay (7-7-1) next week.
The Bears will need to recover from their latest setback, which saw
the Eagles run all over them for 289 rushing yards.
LeSean McCoy led the charge with 133 yards and two scores on the
ground, while Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles tossed for 230
yards and two scores.
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Jay Cutler, returning to start in his second straight game
for Chicago since he missed four straight with injury, completed
just 20 of 35 passes with a touchdown and an interception.
He was sacked five times and did not get the Bears into the end
zone until the final seconds of the third quarter where their
deficit was 33-11.
"We didn't play Bears football, and that's probably the most
frustrating thing, especially with what was at stake," said
Bears linebacker Jon Bostic.
"We know we're better than what we showed tonight."
Philadelphia added 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to
punctuate the rout.
Brandon Boykin returned an interception 54 yards for a touchdown
and Bryce Brown added a 65-yard run to set off the crowd at
Lincoln Financial Field.
Brown finished with 115 yards rushing.
His Eagles team mate McCoy is on the verge of winning the NFL's
rushing title as his 1,476 yards leads Kansas City's Jamaal
Charles by 189.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; editing by Sudipto
Ganguly/Peter Rutherford)
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reserved.]
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