The Eagles were one yard away from a potential 4-0 start and had two plays to get it. But inside the redzone, the plays simply weren't there again.
That summed up a horrible day for the Eagles offense, who didn't manage a single point as the Eagles fell for the first time this season, losing to the San Francisco 49ers, 26-21, on Sunday at Levi's Stadium.
The Eagles got on the board first using special teams. Trey Burton blocked a punt and it was recovered in the endzone by Brad Smith for the game's first score.
The 49ers would cut into the lead with a 29-yard field goal.
In the second, they would take the lead as a defensive breakdown by the Eagles allowed Frank Gore to get wide open and charge in for a 55-yard touchdown on a cross-field pass from Colin Kaepernick.
The Eagles would answer as Malcolm Jenkins would intercept a pass from Kaepernick and return it 53 yards for a touchdown. Just over three minutes later, Darren Sproles returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown to extend the Eagles lead to 11.
A late field goal by Phil Dawson from 51 yards made it a 21-13 game at halftime.
The 49ers came out and cut the lead to one on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Kaepernick to Stevie Johnson midway through the third. They took the lead on a 46-yard field goal by Dawson with 3:33 remaining in the quarter.
Dawson helped pad the lead by making a 31-yard field goal with 6:35 to play.
The Eagles needed to drive 91 yards over the final 6:35 for a touchdown that would give them the lead.
The Eagles offense had just five first downs for the entire game before the drive, which ended up inside the 49ers redzone following big plays by Jeremy Maclin, Zach Ertz and Jordan Matthews.
Down to the 49ers one yard line, the Eagles had two chances to get the ball into the endzone. Nick Foles made two bad passes that turned the ball over on downs, giving the ball back to the 49ers.
The Eagles got the ball again with 1:21 to play but couldn't move forward, finally losing the game on an interception by Foles on 4th-and-24. It was Foles second interception of the day.
The 49ers had the ball for 42:17 of the game. They handed the Eagles one of their worst performances offensively under Chip Kelly. The Eagles managed just 213 total yards of offense, including 22 rushing yards, compared to 407 by the 49ers.
Foles was 21-for-43 for 195 yards and two interceptions. LeSean McCoy had just 17 yards on 10 carries, an average of 1.7 yards per carry. Maclin led all receivers with 68 yards on five catches, including a 22-yard one-handed catch on a crucial 3rd-and-14 play on what appeared to be a scoring drive.
Kaepernick was 17-for-30 for 218 yards while throwing two touchdowns and one interception. Gore controlled the running game, gaining 119 yards on 24 carries. Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree combined for the team lead with five catches. Boldin led with 62 receiving yards.
The Eagles dropped to 3-1 while the 49ers improved to 2-2. The Eagles return home in Week 5 to host the St. Louis Rams. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
