Today in 2002 - Philadelphia Eagles vs Chicago Bears

Today in 2002, the Philadelphia went to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears in a Week 8 contest.

The first quarter went scoreless.  In the second quarter, Paul Edinger kicked a 30 yard field goal to put Chicago on the board.  The Eagles answered with a 5 yard touchdown run by Donovan McNabb.  The Bears responded in kind with a 6 yard touchdown run by Anthony Thomas.  Edinger kicked a 53 yard field goal and Chicago led at halftime 13-7.

The second half belonged to David Akers.  In the third quarter, he kicked field goals from 23 and 36 yards to tie the game.  He repeated the same performance in the fourth quarter, kicking field goals from 27 and 22 yards.  The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Bears 19-13.

For the Bears, Jim Miller passed 19-35 for 205 yards.  Anthony Thomas had 16 rushes for 52 yards and a touchdown.  He also had 4 receptions for 52 yards.  Phillip Daniels had 2 sacks and Brian Urlacher had 1.  Mike Brown had an interception.

For the Eagles, Donavan McNabb passed 18-33 for 209 yards and an interception.  He also had 9 rushes for 46 yards and a touchdown.  Hugh Douglas had 2 sacks and Blaine Bishop had 1.

The Bears went to 2-6 with the loss.  They finished the season at 4-12.  The Eagles went to 6-2.  They finished the season at 12-4 and lost the NFC Championship game to Tampa Bay 27-10.

Trivia

• This was Dick Jauron’s fourth season coaching the Bears.  He coached the team from 1999-2003.
• This was also Andy Reid’s fourth season coaching the Eagles.  He coached the team from 1999 and is still head coach today.
• The Bears’ wide receivers coach is now the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Todd Haley.
• There were five future or current head coaches on Andy Reid’s staff: Offensive coordinator Brad Childress (Vikings 2006-10),defensive backs coach Leslie Frazier (Vikings 2010-2011), linebackers Ron Rivera (Panthers 2011), quarterbacks coach Pat Shurmur (Browns 2011), and defensive backs coach Steve Spagnuolo (Rams 2009-11).
• Rivera and Frazier were teammates with the Chicago Bears from 1984-85.
• Jauron played for the Detroit Lions from 1973-77 and the Cincinnati Bengals from 1978-80.

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week, on November 3,

1968 – New York Jets 25 – Buffalo 21

1968 – Houston Oilers 27 – Cincinnati 17

1974 – Oakland 28 – Denver 17

2002 – St. Louis 27 – Arizona 14

Game stats can be found on Pro-Football-Reference.com at Philadelphia Eagles vs Chicago Bears - November 3, 2002