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I Have No Idea What to Make of Jalen Hurts Right Now
By Sean Barnard
Published:
The sky is officially falling in Philadelphia after a lifeless loss against the Chicago Bears, following up last week’s blown 21-0 lead against the Dallas Cowboys. There is plenty of blame to go around, and no individual on the roster or coaching staff is fully absolved, but, as is the case with quarterbacks, Jalen Hurts has to be front and center of the conversation.
Hurts finished the matchup completing 19 of his 35 pass attempts for 230 passing yards, two touchdowns, an interception, and a fumble while adding 31 rushing yards. He finished with a 19.5 QBR and an 84.2% passer rating. While these numbers do not paint his game in the most positive light anyway, the performance was worse than they showed and included garbage time yards and points against a soft Chicago defense. Likewise, Hurts was limited to just 57 passing yards at halftime, with the Eagles’ offense stalling for three points.
Kevin Patullo has caught quite a bit of heat, and deservingly so. It doesn’t take an advanced football eye to note the bland play call and predictable approach. You flip on RedZone for any extended stretch of Sunday football, and you are bound to see wide receivers running wide open due to deception or strategic play calling setting up bigger plays later in games. This has not been the case in Philadelphia at any point this season. It’s felt like a grind to generate points all season, which simply should not be the case on a roster with Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and more.
Having big picture questions about the offense 12 games into the season is a concern in itself. Hurts once again leaned on the buzzword of “identity” for what needs to be fixed within the team after the previous loss. It’s admirable that both Hurts and Nick Sirianni share the trait of taking on more responsibility and blame than they likely deserve, but it also clouds the judgment of where exactly things are going wrong.
Any way you slice it, there are some throws that simply have to be made that Hurts did not execute on Friday. There have been some low points already this year, but a late-game surge of essentially garbage-time statistics clouded what was one of the worst games of Hurts’ NFL career:
Hurts said after the game that he and DeVonta Smith weren’t on the same page on a play when Chicago sent the house.
More concerning than this, the biggest identity of Hurts as a quarterback has become his surgical care of the football. When you don’t turn the ball over, you aren’t going to lose a lot of games, and Hurts has exemplified this better than any other quarterback. You still cannot complain much about the two interceptions in 12 games, but he turned the ball over twice against the Bears and has three fumbles in the past four weeks.
Another key part of Hurts’ identity has been his ability and willingness with his legs. Tush push aside, the ability to turn a lost play into a gain of five and a slide has been impactful throughout his career. He rushed the ball just four times against the Bears and has only rushed for double-digit attempts in two games this season. So far in 2025, Hurts has 329 rushing yards and eight scores. For reference, his previous career-low over a season as the full-time starter is 605 rushing yards. His current average of 27.5 rushing yards per game is well below his previous career-low number of 35.6, and he has averaged as many as 52.6 per game over a season.
In the larger conversation, the concept that Jalen Hurts cannot elevate an offense can be fully rejected. He is not maximizing the roster around this year by leading a top offense, but he can and has in years past. The guy was the Super Bowl MVP 10 months ago. He has taken the Eagles to two Super Bowls and outplayed Patrick Mahomes in each, has a 54-24 career record as a starter, and is still captaining an 8-4 football team with all goals in front of them on the season.
But it’s fair for the Spidey senses to tingle and suggest that trouble may be in paradise for Hurts getting on the same page with his offensive coordinator. The laundry list of OCs he has played under in his career would be enough to send plenty of young quarterbacks out of the league. Hurts doesn’t get enough credit for overcoming this in general, but it also is fair to assess that the two-time Pro Bowler wasn’t exactly jumping for joy for Patullo to be the next name on this list, even at the time:
Hurts will always fall into a strange category of quarterback. He is a sure thing to step up when the stakes are highest and pressure is on. Ask him to lead a 4th quarter drive with the Super Bowl on the line, and the list of quarterbacks you would rather have is short. At the same time, it feels like any given Sunday 1 P.M. matchup, and he could be outplayed by a mediocre opposing quarterback. The former of these is a far more important trait, but this is still a unique issue to wrap our heads around.
The Eagles still have a comfortable path to the postseason, and it would take a full-scale collapse from here for this goal not to at least be reached. But this feels like a pivotal point in the season when Hurts can either step up into the elite tier of quarterback he has shown to be for stretches, or allow the circumstances to weigh him down en route to another 2023-like collapse.
Whether it is the quarterback directly, the play calling of Patullo, or anything in between, performances like Friday simply can never happen.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.