The Eagles had another very frustrating loss when they went down to the Bears on Monday night, 30-24. The Eagles had built up such good will in the previous two and a half games that it was all the more painful to see the team revert to the ways of the 1-4 start.

This was a game with physical and mental mistakes. There was too much sloppy play. The worst part was blowing another fourth quarter lead. Why is that happening? There is no simple answer. The team seems to have some mental or emotional letdown after fighting to build up the lead. The team might get complacent. Whatever it is, it needs to stop. The team must learn to play with an edge for 60 minutes.

I wonder if playing on Monday night brought out the worst in the players. Guys know that players from the other 30 teams are at home watching. There were a couple of first half plays that really bugged me. The first was DeSean Jackson's punt return that he fumbled late in the half. Jackson caught the ball, backed up, got hit and fumbled. If you were teaching kids how to return punts, that's what you would show them on how not to do it.

Jackson should have thought about the situation as he lined up to catch the punt. The game is tied 10-10. There is enough time left for a drive. The Bears have the best special teams unit in the NFL. Jackson's mindset should have been to be aggressive, but smart. He got careless and gave the Bears the ball deep in Eagles territory. That led to a touchdown and the Bears had a 17-10 lead.

On the next drive, the Eagles didn't have a likely scenario for scoring. Still, you want the players to be smart. Brent Celek caught a short pass near the sideline. He easily could have gotten out of bounds, but for some reason turned upfield. Celek could have stopped the clock with 15 seconds left. Instead, he was hit by defenders and the officials let the clock run. That was the final play of the half. The offense probably doesn't score anyway, but you never know when you're going to come up with a 30-yard pass play and suddenly be in field goal range.

Both players wanted to make plays. They wanted to make something happen. You want players to have that mentality, most of the time. You do need players to understand there are situations where it is more important to play it safe and move on to the next snap. Lack of situational awareness is one of the biggest problems in the game of football, college and pro. Guys trust their instincts instead of their brains. Coaches must go nuts when they have to deal with this.

There were a lot of reasons the Eagles lost. The Bears controlled the line of scrimmage, on both sides of the ball. I sure didn't see that coming. The offensive line had played so well recently, but struggled at times on Monday night. There seemed to be confusion about who to block and that led to free rushers coming after Mike Vick or getting to Shady McCoy in the backfield.

Tommy Lawlor, goeagles99 on the Discussion Boards, is an amateur football scout and devoted Eagles fan. He was a finalist for Philadelphia's Most Influential Blogger Award and is the Editor of IgglesBlitz.com

The lack of hits on Jay Cutler was hugely frustrating. The Bears used a lot of seven-man protections. The Eagles countered by blitzing, but Cutler was able to get the ball off quickly or side-step rushers. You knew it was going to be a long night when Trent Cole came free up the middle and whiffed on Cutler.

This loss really was a team effort. Jeremy Maclin had a costly drop. Vick threw a bad interception, in the red zone no less. Vick threw too high on the final play, causing Maclin to have to make a tough catch. Maclin stumbled short of the first down line. Asante Samuel had poor coverage in the end zone and gave up an easy touchdown. Nnamdi Asomugha was called for pass interference that gave the Bears good field position. Everyone had a hand in this mess.

There were a few bright spots. Brian Rolle had a pretty good game. He was credited with six tackles. He made the biggest highlight play as well. In the first half, Rolle got out wide after a short pass to Matt Forte. Rolle knocked the ball out. He then scooped it up and ran it back for a touchdown. Rolle had some good tackles of Forte on run plays as well.

Kurt Coleman had a solid game. He had 12 solo stops, a lot of them tackles of Forte in the open field. Forte ran for 133 yards, but if not for Coleman he might have posted even bigger numbers. Coleman also raced back in coverage to help break up a deep pass to Roy Williams. Rookie safety Jaiquawn Jarrett got his first action of the year. He replaced Nate Allen, who left with a concussion. Jarrett was credited with three solo tackles and looked OK. He tackled pretty well.

Vick and Celek had another productive game. Early in the year, I wondered about the chemistry with those two guys. Something seemed off. Celek had seven catches for 60 yards and led the team in both categories Monday night. He and Vick are definitely on the same page at this point.

McCoy had a few great runs.  His 33-yard touchdown was a thing of beauty.  There were also a few great blocks for McCoy.  Jason Peters got out in front of him on one play and just unloaded on a defensive back.  Todd Herremans floored Brian Urlacher on a run to the right side.  The line struggled, but still had a few highlights. 

The coverage on special teams was great. Bobby April had his kickers putting the ball to very specific spots and the coverage units got to those spots in a hurry. The Bears had six returns for a total of 70 yards. That is kickoffs and punts combined. Wow. Really impressive job by April, the kickers and cover guys. Devin Hester was a non-factor.

Some people are back to the discussion about whether the season is over. The 3-5 mark at the halfway point of the season is a terrible record for a team with this much talent.  This has been a very disappointing first half of the 2011 season, but you don't give up at midseason.  The team can't worry about big picture scenarios.  They need to focus on the next game and doing what it takes to win.  A month from now maybe you're back in the playoff hunt.  Maybe not.  The way to get there is focusing on things you can control, and that means dealing with the current opponent.  Forget about the 3-5 start.  Forget about looking at the schedule for easy/tough games. 

On Sunday, the Eagles host the Cardinals.  For now, that is the most important game of the season.  The players and coaches need to have that mentality from here on out.  It is time to get emotionally locked in and play that way the rest of the season. 

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