BOX SCORE

PHILADELPHIA — The Bears were riding high at 8-3 entering this week, but that strong overall record came with some caveats. Questions were raised about the quality of competition in the early going, with just a few wins over teams with winning records.

That’s not the Bears’ fault. They don’t control the schedule, and they did a good job taking care of business against the teams they did play.

Their status as real NFC contenders could be cemented by their performance Friday against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

This was a tough game played on a short week, against a super-talented team in a period of sustained success. The Eagles are standard bearers in the conference, even though they aren’t as efficient or explosive as in years past.

The Bears proved they could compete with the Eagles. They also showed they could finish them off, winning 24-15.

Yep, you read that right. The Bears lead the NFC North at 9-3, with wins in five consecutive games and nine of their last 10. Right now, they’re the No. 2 playoff seed in the NFC after leapfrogging the Eagles (8-4), and the top spot and a first-round playoff bye isn’t out of the question.

Let’s examine three things we learned from the NFL Week 13 game at Lincoln Financial Field:

Owning the fourth quarter

Cornerback Nahshon Wright shifted momentum Chicago’s way while defending a third-quarter Tush Push, when he stripped Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts of the football and recovered the fumble.

The Bears’ offense capitalized on that turnover and created their largest lead of the game early in the fourth quarter, when the run game asserted itself yet again (more on that below) on a 12-play, 87-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock.

Rookie Kyle Monangai capped it with a 3-yard touchdown run that, combined with the extra point, gave Chicago a 17-9 lead.

The Bears expended on their next drive, with another run-first enterprise mixed with some high-percentage passes. Then Caleb Williams floated his best pass of the day, to veteran tight end Cole Kmet, for a 28-yard TD and a 24-9 lead.

But, as is tradition, the Bears couldn’t run away with this game. The Eagles scored on an A.J. Brown TD catch with 3:10 remaining, but the two-point conversion pass failed, so Chicago maintained a two-score lead.

The Bears were able to grind out a first down that left the Eagles without timeouts. After that, it was a matter of running the ball while taking care of it and running out the clock. They weren’t able to finish the game on offense, however, giving Philadelphia late life but little pulse.

Jake Elliott’s 52-yard field-goal attempt with 13 seconds left secured victory for the Bears.

Firm control remains hard to find

Head coach Ben Johnson’s team moved the ball efficiently. Their defense got off the field on third down. They did things required of teams to take firm control of a football game.

A few big misses kept the Eagles in the game, though.

The Bears went for it on fourth down on their opening possession deep in Eagles territory, only to have the conversion overturned on replay.

The Bears settled for a 30-yard Cairo Santos field goal in the second quarter after Williams missed a wide-open Rome Odunze in the end zone.

In the third quarter, safety Kevin Byard III made an incredible interception of a Jalen Hurts pass …

… but the Bears’ offense went three-and-out and punted.

The Eagles then cut their deficit to 10-9 with Hurts’ 33-yard TD pass to Brown, but Elliott missed the extra-point kick attempt.

That left yet another game that shouldn’t have been close hanging in the balance entering the fourth quarter.

Ground-game domination

The Bears’ run game couldn’t be stopped, especially early in the game. They generated explosive runs with D’Andre Swift — he averaged 8.8 yards per carry in the first half — and some tough interior power from Monangai.

Chicago sustained long drives, though scoring efficiency wasn’t high, but it was assertive on the ground, with 281 yards on 47 carries (6-yard average), and built a huge time-of-possession advantage (39:18 to 20:42). The offensive front was dominant, especially on the interior, with Johnson dialing up creative run plays with motion and misdirection that the Eagles had a tough time defending as the Bears racked up 28 first downs.

The Bears’ run game was at its best on an 11-play, 78-yard drive that ended with Swift’s 3-yard TD run. They gained 62 yards on the ground — often in big chunks — on that march.

Swift gained 125 yards on 18 carries, and Monangai added a team-high 130 yards on 22 runs, giving the Bears two 100-yard rushers in the same game for the first time since the 1985 Super Bowl championship season.

Swift and Monangai also helped the Bears join the 2005 Denver Broncos as the only teams with two 100-yard rushers in one game against the Eagles in the Super Bowl era.

The Bears’ passing game wasn’t on that level, with wind playing a major factor in its lack of success and forcing conservative decisions by both teams. Williams finished 17-of-36 passing for just 154 yards and one TD with one interception. Hurts completed 19 of 34 passes for 230 yards and two TDs with one INT.

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