Although it’s obvious the officials gave the bears the Eagles game by giving them the “TD” at the end of the half, which ESPN showed on their highlight show as an example of a bad call (keeping the bears in the playoff race instead of really hurting their chances), let me point out a few other things that happened during the game:
On the Eagles’ first drive, down 7-0, they passed on first down and got a first down, then ran on first down and punted. They needed to come right back with a score, but made no attempt to score since they ran on first down.
The Eagles had blown a 24-17 lead, and the bears had just taken the lead at 27-24 in the 4th quarter. The Eagles needed to score to regain momentum. This was the Eagles’ drive: Throw on first down for a first down. Throw on first down for a first down. Throw on first down for a first down. Run on first down (from bear 46) and punt (the fake punt).
Down 30-24, the Eagles had the ball with a chance to score the winning TD in the last few minutes. They moved downfield to the bear 39 by passing, then ran on first down for no gain and turned the ball over on downs.