Eagles & the Vet Beat Bears

The artificial turf at Veterans Stadium struck again.

Donovan McNabb threw for 207 yards and one touchdown Sunday as the Philadelphia Eagles held on to beat the Chicago Bears 13-9 after Cade McNown separated his throwing shoulder.

Kicker David Akers converted two key field goals of 51 and 29 yards for the Eagles.

Jim Miller`s desperation pass fell incomplete as time expired, and Chicago fell to 1-7, its worst start since 1997.

McNown injured his left shoulder when he was driven hard into the turf by Mike Caldwell on a 1-yard scramble early in the second quarter and did not return. McNown was 6-of-9 for 49 yards, and was sacked twice.

"There`s not a lot of give out there," said McNown, who`ll be re-evaluated Monday. "The only thing that gave was my shoulder."

The infamous Vet turf has been particularly tough on Chicago. In Oct. 1993, Bears wide receiver Wendell Davis blew out both knees on the same play while running a pass route on this turf.

"The whole league knows about the Vet turf," said McNabb, who finished 22-of-35 and had 25 yards rushing. "There`s two things you can get hit by: our defenders or our stadium. They`re both hard hits."

Philadelphia (5-3) matched last year`s win total in half the season. The Eagles won just eight games over the last two years, and hadn`t been two games over .500 since 1996.

"It`s a good feeling to be 5-3," defensive tackle Hollis Thomas said. "Our aspirations are high. You should never short-change yourself." Miller replaced McNown and was 14-of-34 for 128 yards. He led Chicago to three field goals in the fourth quarter, but couldn`t get in the end zone.

"It`s a tough situation to come into. I haven`t had any reps since training camp, but that`s what I`m paid to do," Miller said. "Obviously, I had to get the rust off and I missed some throws in the red zone."

After Paul Edinger`s 33-yard FG cut it to 13-6 with 4:41 left, the Bears got the ball at the Eagles 22 on Tony Parrish`s interception. But Miller threw three straight incompletions, and Edinger kicked a 40-yarder to make it 13-9.

"Good defenses show up in those situations," Eagles cornerback Troy Vincent said.

McNabb gave the Eagles a 10-0 lead on a 3-yard TD pass to Jeff Thomason with 46 seconds left in the first half.

Philadelphia kept the drive going by converting a fourth-and-7 on Chicago`s 35 when McNabb hit Darnell Autry for 7 yards. A 25-yard pass to Charles Johnson set up the TD pass to Thomason, which capped a nine-play, 77-yard drive.

Philadelphia took a 3-0 lead on a 51-yard field goal by David Akers with three seconds left in the first quarter as Eagles coach Andy Reid pulled more trickery from his playbook.

Two plays before the field goal, McNabb lined up at wide receiver and Koy Detmer came in to play quarterback. McNabb went in motion, came around for a fake reverse and Detmer scrambled 8 yards on the play.

"They were a little confused when I lined up wide," McNabb said. "They went to a base defense, and took away the deep pass. Koy was able to make positive yardage."

Reid used the shotgun five times in the first half. The Eagles had abandoned the shotgun formation since switching to the West Coast offense in 1995.

Last week, Philadelphia ran a fake field goal and a halfback-option pass to McNabb on consecutive plays.

"It`s fun to get involved in the game, and feel a lot more part of it," said Detmer, who made a no-look, over-the-shoulder flip as the holder on last week`s fake field goal.

Akers made it 13-0 on a 29-yard FG in the third period. It was his 13th consecutive field goal, a team record.

Edinger`s 25-yarder made it 13-3 early in the fourth.

James Allen ran for 87 yards in 21 carries to lead Chicago. The Bears had just 274 yards of total offense.

Autry ran 14 times for 37 yards, and fumbled once. He caught five passes for 70 yards. The Eagles had 298 total yards.

Game notes: Philadelphia hasn`t allowed more than 17 points in six straight games. The last time the Eagles did that was in 1981. ... Eagles DE Hugh Douglas had 1 1-2 sacks to give him 11 for the season. His career high is 12. ...

Edinger was 3-for-7 on field goals from 30 to 49 yards before going 2-for-2 from that range Sunday.

Copyright 2000 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Author: AP