As a Jalen Hurts’ defender, these last few weeks have been rough for me.

I just can’t defend him right now. 

Hurts committed a career-high five turnovers, including four interceptions, as the Eagles lost 22-19 to the Los Angeles Chargers Monday night at SoFi Stadium.

Despite his first four turnovers, missed throws, inaccurate passes and arguably his worst NFL game, Hurts had the chance to shine at the end. 

He had the opportunity to make up for everything. 

Instead, Hurts’ pass was deflected and intercepted at the 1-yard line. 

I didn’t agree with the play call there. The Eagles had timeouts and there was time to maybe run with Saquon Barkley or make shorter passes to get closer. However, that’s not an excuse. 

Hurts is usually much better with ball protection, but not these past few weeks.

He knew the ending was his to either win and redeem himself for an atrocious four quarters or mess up again and lose. Unfortunately, it was the latter. 

“As frustrating as the night was, we had an opportunity to win the game,” Hurts said. after the game “In the end, I had the ball in my hands driving down the field, having everything on our terms to a sense, and I didn’t bring it home.”

The Eagles have failed to score more than 21 points in five straight games, their longest stretch since 2005. And there’s not too many others to blame but Hurts for this one.

“We’ve got to go out there and put it together,” Hurts said. “The we, I look at it as it’s ‘I’ and it starts with me. It starts with me and how I play, how I lead. That’s my ability to go out there and figure it out.”

With that being said, the loss wasn’t entirely on Hurts. 

AJ Brown made some costly drops, including one in the end zone, which was a great pass from Hurts. Earlier, Hurts threw a high pass that should have been caught, but Brown failed to hang on and it was intercepted. 

Obviously, Kevin Patullo is still an issue. It’s the same six calls every game, or so it feels. He’s a serious problem. His scheme is holding the entire offense back, especially Hurts. Get him back under center. Get the RPOs going again. 

Pentalies brought back successful plays and nice gains. Jake Elliott missed a field goal before halftime. Basically, the entire offense looked lost and disjointed, just like the last month. 

“You can’t just point a finger (at Hurts),” Brown said after the game, “All of us has a hand in that pot. Obviously, he’s a quarterback, he’s going to get a lot of stuff for it. But we in this together.”

But what’s next here?

The Eagles (8-5) need to find answers, and very, very fast. But is there even time? We are entering Week 15. If they don’t have it figured out by now, will they ever?

I know one thing— Nick Sirianni is not benching Hurts. 

All these Tanner McKee calls can stop. He has one NFL start. He is unproven. Yes, when he has played, he has looked great. I like McKee. He has the tools to be a starter. But the Eagles are in so much disarray, why would you want to throw McKee into the fire? Not only would that be a detriment to Hurts’ confidence and mindset, having a quarterback controversy now would be the end of the season. 

And guess what?

It’s not over. 

It may feel like it, but the Eagles are lucky the rest of the NFC East is just as messed up as they are. The Eagles control their own destiny in the division. Simple as that!

The Eagles have the Raiders on Sunday and the Commanders twice. 

If the Eagles can’t beat the Raiders and Commanders, then they truly do not deserve to be in the playoffs. 

Something just has to change if the Eagles want to avoid a complete collapse like two seasons ago. Sadly, that almost feels inevitable right now, but maybe they will wake up. 

One thing the team needs, especially Hurts, is confidence. 

And even a win against the lowly Raiders could be what they need.

It starts with getting back to better ball protection.

The Eagles have nine turnovers during their three-game losing streak. They had just four in their first 10 games. No team can win with this many turnovers.

Hurts has to get out of his head. He just doesn’t seem like himself, and you can see it on his face. He usually plays with a cool, calm and collected demeanor. 

Patullo is an issue that can’t be fixed, honestly. It’s the same story every week with him. If the Eagles aren’t doing anything about him, the Hurts and the offense needs to find a way to overcome his play calls. 

I mean, why did Barkley get just five carries in the second half after putting up 69 yards on 13 carries in the opening half? He had that long touchdown run. He has so much talent. Yes, he’s not having the best season, but I can argue his lack of carries plays into that. Patullo and Sirianni need to feed him more. 

The defense has kept in most games, especially Monday. 

Yes, they gave up a touchdown on the first drive. But after that, the defense was the main reason the Eagles were even in the game against the Chargers. 

They forced two crucial turnovers and made seven sacks! The secondary was amazing. Cooper DeJean shut down Ladd McConkey, and Quinyon Mitchell was stellar, per usual.

Remember, the defense was the reason the Eagles beat the Lions and Packers.

As long as Vic Fangio and his unit keeps playing the way they have, the defense should instill confidence. The only issue is, because of the offense, they are on the field way too long, so they get tired near the end. 

That’s the only part I am worried about going forward, well defensively. 

There is way too much to panic about with the offense, but maybe they can figure it out.

It’s hard to have faith in the offense right now, but all we can do is hope something gets figured out, and figured out fast.