Rich Hofmann: Eagles can't afford to fall short against Bears

SUNDAY NIGHT, Soldier Field, Chicago.

Also known as the scene of the crime.

Late last September, this is really where it started for the Eagles. It was the fourth game of the season. To that point, they had thumped the hapless Rams in the opener, lost a memorable shootout in Dallas and beaten Pittsburgh in an impressive, low-scoring game. Then it happened.

Trailing by 24-20.

Less than 6 minutes to play.

First-and-goal at the 4.

It was hard to know what to think about the Eagles before that moment. They had looked pretty solid overall. They were never going to be a great running team, partly because of their personnel and partly because of their coach's particular predilections, but things looked entirely serviceable. Then came the train wreck.

First-and-goal at the 4: Correll Buckhalter runs for 3 yards.

The reason that Buck was carrying the load at this point was because Brian Westbrook was out with an ankle injury. And Buckhalter was doing fine. It had been a brutal game to this point, one in which the quarterbacks were getting knocked around a lot, but the Eagles were in a position to salvage things. It was nearing midnight in the East, but the Eagles appeared as if they were going to pull it off.

Second-and-goal at the 1: Tony Hunt, no gain.

This is where the comedy of errors began. Hunt would be gone very soon from this roster, and this had to be one of the reasons. Because the line did get this one blocked. There was a hole on the right side. Hunt, though, either couldn't recognize it or just blundered terribly, cutting the play farther outside and running into traffic. He ended up getting nothing. And on the television, NBC analyst John Madden was calling for some kind of pass on third down.

Third-and-goal at the 1: Buckhalter, no gain.

This is the one where they really missed Westbrook. Because there really was no hole on the right side, where Buckhalter carried. He tried to leap over the pile, but he is no Westbrook that way. Time after time through the years, Westbrook showed an ability to jump over the train wreck, to turn nothing into a touchdown by overflying the mass of bodies below him. But Buckhalter couldn't quite get airborne enough.

Fourth-and-goal at the 1: Buckhalter, no gain.