Eager Eagles claw Bears to stay unbeaten

RYAN Matthews scored two touchdowns as the Philadelphia Eagles maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a 29-14 victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Monday.

Mat t hew s ba r rele d over from close range t wice while rook ie qua r terback Ca rson Went z connected wit h Trey Bur ton for a 2-ya rd touchdown pass as the eager Eagles made Chicago pay for t wo cost ly turnovers.

The victory leaves the Eagles level with the New York Giants at the top of the NFC East with both sides winning their opening two games.

A miserable night for Chicago, who fell to 0-2, was compounded by an injury to quarterback Jay Cutler, who left the game nursing his hand after throwing an interception to Nigel Bradham who returned 28 yards back to Chicago’s 2-yard line.

The ga me was ef fect ively settled after a disastrous start to the second half which saw Chicago concede tur novers on t hree of t hei r f i rst fou r possessions a f ter t he ha l ftime brea k.

Cutler made 12 of 17 passes for 157 yards but was sacked three times by a rampant Eagles defence.

The high point for Philadelphia came in their only longrange touchdown drive, when t he i nc r e a s i ng l y a s s u r e d Wentz led his team 68 yards up t he f ield.

Matthews appeared to have been halted in his tracks by Chicago’s cover but somehow bounced clea r of his tack ler and wriggled over t he line for 16-7.

Bradham’s interception followed on the first play after Philadelphia kicked off, leaving Wentz to gift Burton a simple touchdown.

A f u mble f rom Chicago’s Jeremy Langford soon afterwards led to a recover y from Ron Brook s to help set up Matthews for his second score to put t he v isitors out of sight at 29-7.

Eddie Royal scored a consol at ion touchdow n w it h a 65-yard punt return with five mi nutes lef t, but Ch ic ago never l ooked capable of a comeback.

The pre-match national anthem ritual meanwhile saw three Eagles players – Brooks, Malcolm Jenkins and Steven Means – raise clenched fists in solidarity with San Francisco 4 9 e r s q ua r t e r b a c k Col i n Kaepernick, who has attracted criticism for his protest this season during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”