It was late in the third quarter, and the Philadelphia Eagles were deep in Chicago territory, trailing 10-9. So on third-and-1 at the 12-yard line, they went to their bread-and-butter play: The tush push.
This time, however, not only did the tush push not work, but it backfired spectacularly. As the forward momentum of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was slowed, Nahshon Wright came off the edge, yanked the ball loose from Hurts’ grasp and recovered it. The Chicago Bears went on to score 14 straight points en route to a 24-15 victory.
After months of back-and-forth over the controversial play the Eagles made famous — Should it be banned? Is it too dangerous? Is it too hard to officiate? — Friday night’s play brings up a new question. Did Wright provide a blueprint for stopping the dang thing?
After the game, Hurts acknowledged that teams are getting better at defending the tush push.
“It’s becoming tougher and tougher,” he said. “But ultimately, me holding onto the ball, that’s something I can control.”
That’s true, but if teams increasingly focus on ripping the ball out while Hurts is surrounded — and held up — by the mass of teammates around him, possession might become more difficult to control. Indeed, in Week 8 against the New York Giants, Hurts had the ball ripped out by Kayvon Thibodeaux, who also recovered it. That time, the referees ruled his forward progress had been stopped and blew the play dead before the fumble. On Friday, that split-second judgment call didn’t come in time.
“I was hoping that (the forward progress) was stopped, but it wasn’t,” Hurts said. “It was kind of similar to the New York game except that they just didn’t blow the whistle as soon. That’s not to point the finger at anyone else. I mean, I have to hold onto the ball. It definitely presents itself as an issue, and it always has. It’s just never gotten us, and so today it got us, and it’s something that we and I need to tighten up.”
.@nahwrig said “I’ll take that”
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— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 28, 2025
Hurts said ball security on the tush push play isn’t growing as a threat, saying, “It’s been like that for a very long time.”
He also wouldn’t point the blame at the officials or at the play callers, placing the blame squarely on his own shoulders. “I can’t fumble the ball.”
But you have to wonder if other teams follow the playbook Wright used to such great effect Friday, and that Thibodeaux nearly did in Week 8, if it might impact the execution of the play itself. Will Hurts keep on driving for that extra yard as he feels hands grasping for that ball, or will he just go down?