McMullen: Too Many Defenses Already Have The Answers To The Eagles' 'New Offense'

The Eagles did not lose to the Bears on Monday night so much as they arrived late to a party that had already lost its steam.

Sep 28, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) passes against the Chicago Bears during the first half at Soldier Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Eagles did not lose to the Bears on Monday night so much as they arrived late to a party that had already lost its steam.

Sean Mannion’s offense is an offshoot of the well-regarded Shanahan/McVay scheme, or at least the version of it that can be installed in nine months by an apprentice and first-time play-caller.

Wide zone. Motion to create the illusion of complexity. Under-center looks meant to freeze linebackers with play-action. It’s been a good NFL offense over the years for many organizations.

In 2018 it was a great offense. In 2026, it is the house style of over half the league, and the defenses that see it every week are hardly overwhelmed.

That is the real problem in Philadelphia. The Eagles are two years behind being two years behind the curve. Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay can still make the system look new because they keep rewriting it.

The Followers

Eagles OC Sean Mannion speaks with reporters on Aug. 24, 2026. | John McMullen/Eagles On SI

Everyone else is running the scheme’s greatest hits. Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings are 3-0 and last in the NFL in total yards. Their passing game is the least productive in football. O’Connell, one of the brightest minds the McVay tree ever produced, is now talking about “ascending” after three weeks of being in the offensive mud while Brian Flores' defense puts the Shanhan/McVay copycats in a blender.

Mike McDaniel, who once made Miami look like the future, watched defenses catch up, lost his head-coaching job, and is now trying to make the same language work in Los Angeles while the Chargers’ offense looks overcomplicated and underpowered despite the talent of Justin Herbert. 

The wannabes are not catching the originals. They are exposing that they are followers, not innovators.

The Eagles hired Mannion after the 2025 offense went stale under Kevin Patullo. Head coach Nick Sirianni interviewed 17 candidates and landed on a 33-year-old former quarterback entering Year 3 of his coaching career. 

Mannion played for McVay. He coached under Matt LaFleur. The pitch was modernization with the run game better marrying up with the pass.

What the Eagles have instead is an offense that ranks near the bottom in play-action rate, lives in 11 personnel because the tight ends are either hurt or not good enough, and the check engine light always appears at some point over 60 minutes.

Against Chicago in the ugly 27-7 loss, Mannion’s version of the offense produced the worst EPA per drive of the Sirianni era and disappeared after intermission. 

Saquon Barkley looked like himself for a half. Then Dennis Allen adjusted and the script fell flat sputtering out and into familiar tropes that T.J. Edwards had seen so much, dropping into zone coverage seemed like second nature.

Mannion keeps saying the Eagles are “close" while he is learning on the job in public, now highlighted by a nationally televised flattening by a Bears team starting Case Keenum. 

Jalen Hurts is being asked to become a different quarterback—more middle-of-the-field, more under center, more patient—while the protection in front of him is no longer a strength and the complementary pieces that made things hum in the past are either absent or still leaning the system.

Meanwhile, the league’s defenses have already seen this movie dozens of times. Defensive coordinators spent the last four offseasons studying outside zone, jet motion, and the naked boot. They know which formational strength means the weak-side zone is coming. They know when the play-action is fake. 

#Eagles could not run play-action from under center with the Bears throwing a LB blitz at them. All 3 attempts were thwarted by them and 2 of them would have gone for big plays, especially this second clip. DeVonta Smith has a step on his crossing route. https://t.co/gU9bjvtxZV pic.twitter.com/DncvgyJeDf

— Devin Jackson (@RealD_Jackson) September 29, 2026

The teams that still thrive in this family tree are the ones that keep adding new wrinkles. The Eagles are still learning the original template.

None of this means the season is lost at 2-1. Talent can overwhelm schematic lag. Hurts can still win games with his legs and deep ball acumen. 

But the idea that Philadelphia was going to leapfrog the rest of the copycats by hiring a bright young McVay disciple was always pie in the sky. 

So many around the league have already made their own Mannion hire and are starting to think about the next chapter. The defenses already have the answers to the test as the man in the booth for Philadelphia is still translating the playbook in real time.

Two years behind being two years behind is a poor place to start. Monday night in Chicago was simply the first time everyone else noticed.

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