One of the head-scratching plays in the Eagles’ loss to the Bears on Monday night was a failed fake punt on which Philadelphia’s Chas Henry threw a terrible pass. That play was ugly, but Eagles coach Andy Reid defended the decision to try it.
Reid noted that Colt Anderson was wide open on the play, and that it could have given the Eagles a huge gain.
“He was uncovered,” Reid said. “We tried to throw him the ball, but obviously it didn’t work. We’ll always try to stay aggressive.”
In hindsight Reid obviously wishes Henry had just punted the ball, but he’s right to defend the aggressive decision: It could have been a big play for Philadelphia.
At the time of the fake punt, the Eagles trailed 27-24 with nine and a half minutes to play and were at the Bears’ 42-yard line. If Henry’s pass had been completed, the Eagles easily would have moved into field goal range and likely tied the score, if not taken the lead.
As it turned out, the Bears took over at the 42 and went on an 11-play drive that took five and a half minutes off the clock, forced the Eagles to burn two timeouts, and ended with a field goal that gave the Bears their winning margin of 30-24. That fake punt may have been the difference in the game.
Too bad Henry can’t throw.