In Week 3 of the 2026 NFL season, both the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles came up short, but their losses looked very different.
Facing off at Mile High Stadium in Denver, the Rams flashed their elite upside in the first half against the Broncos, but after giving up 16 unanswered points in the third, they came up on the wrong side of a fourth-quarter street fight that ended in a 30-26 defeat. Sure, Sean McVay's squad didn't have two of their biggest stars, Puka Nacua and Myles Garrett, but their wounds were largely self-inflicted, with even one of the NFL's premier playmakers unable to overcome a brutal third-quarter momentum swing.
And as for the Eagles? Well, basically nothing went right for them on Monday Night Football against the Chicago Bears, landing on the wrong side of one of the more unfortunate losses fans will ever see.
With 38-year-old Case Keenum under center, who hadn't played in a game in over 1,000 days, the Bears pretty much got whatever they wanted against the Eagles' typically effective passing defense, with the ageless wonder finishing the game with 247 yards and two touchdowns with a completion percentage of over 70. On offense, the Eagles similarly struggled, with a Jalen Hurts concussion check resulting in an Andy Dalton end-zone interception and every second-half bit of offense seemingly stifled by a penalty or poor decision.
In one corner is a team that will likely have some reinforcements in the form of Nacua, in desperate need of evening their record up at 2-2 in a division that looks to be taking no prisoners.
And in the other? A team that has consistently had LA's goat over the past few seasons, who want nothing more than to avoid a 2-2 start as they look to prove both sides of the ball are trending in the right direction.
Who will win? That ultimately comes down to a few key matchups and which team is able to learn from their mistakes in order to come out on top.
The Eagles' secondary bounces back against Matthew Stafford
To say the Eagles' secondary was a disaster against the Bears might actually be an understatement.
Missed tackles. Blown coverages. And more than one player being picked on repeatedly by a Ben Johnson offense that knows how to inflict torture on a weak link. Pair that with a non-existent pass rush, and Keenum had all day to pick Fangio's defense apart, which is incredibly atypical for how that system is meant to operate.
When perfectly executed, Fangio's defense is as simple as it is effective. A two-safety shell sits atop the defensive backfield pretty much every single snap, but once the ball leaves the center's hands, players move into their assigned spot, more often than not a blanketing zone with just four down linemen rushing the quarterback. As a result, quarterbacks can't read where each defender is going to go before the ball is snapped and have to do their reading when the play is live, wasting valuable time as the rusher collapses the pocket.
In Super Bowl LIX, that strategy worked to perfection, giving the best quarterback in the game fits, but against Keenum and the Bears, players like Andrew Mukuba, Marcus Epps, and Jihaad Campbell found themselves out of position and were punished with big gains down the field as a result.
If Keenum was able to use his veteran know-how to pick apart the Eagles' secondary, one would assume Matthew Stafford would be able to turn in a near-perfect game, and if Fangio doesn't adjust, that assumption would likely be correct, but there haven't been many back-to-back bad games by Philly's defense since the Dunmar native took over that side of the ball. Expect the Eagles to make adjustments where it counts – like giving more runway to players like Michael Carter II, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., and maybe even recently signed Indianapolis Colts send-off Kenny Moore II – and for Stafford to stay below 300 passing yards for the second time this season.
Saquon Barkley rushes for less than 100 yards
During the 2024 NFL season, no player was more of a menace than Saquon Barkley when he was lined up against the Rams' defense.
Sitting pretty in the middle of arguably the best rushing season of all time, Barkley ran the ball 52 times for 460 yards and four rushing touchdowns split between a November showdown and a January playoff game. Play after play, the Rams knew where the ball was going, and yet, they simply had no answer for it, leading the way to the Eagles' second Super Bowl win in seven years.
In 2025, playing in a Kevin Patullo offense that struggled to do much of anything, Barkley's numbers dipped against the Rams, rushing for just 46 yards on 18 attempts, but in the end, the Eagles still pulled out the win thanks in no small part to Jordan Davis blocking a punt and taking it for a touchdown.
After turning in his best rushing game of the season in Week 3, it would be nice to see Barkley finally rip off his first 100-yard game of the season – and overall first since January 11 – but over the last two weeks, the Rams defense has been stingy against the run, allowing just 52 to Cam Skataboo and company on Monday Night Football and then following that up with just 78 to the Denver Broncos platoon of runners.
Will the Eagles be able to figure out a way to get their ground game going against the Rams, especially with Aaron Donald missing practice on Wednesday with a back injury? Potentially so, especially if the Eagles are able to attack the middle of the field more with their run and pass game to better spread out opposing defenses, but betting on Sean Mannion's ground game to figure it out hasn't produced strong returns so far in 2026 and is probably worth avoiding until Philly can consistently put it on tape.
The Eagles get a home-cooked win at Lincoln Financial Field
When was the last time the Rams beat the Eagles? In the Nick Sirianni era, the answer to that question is never, with the Birds holding a 4-0 record overall against McVay's squad, 3-0 in the regular season plus a fourth win in the playoffs.
Now granted, in the NFL, how a team looks one week doesn't necessarily dictate how they look the next, let alone from season to season, but there's something to be said about a typically good team struggling against one opponent in particular, as the Eagles were reminded of firsthand on Week 3's edition of Monday Night Football against the Bears.
After each securing a loss in Week 3, the Rams and Eagles are both hungry for a win in Week 4, but the Eagles have the home-field advantage, have the early start, and they don't have to travel for the game, which has been a boogeyman for McVay in 2026. Throw that all together, and this feels like a slight edge for the Birds.