Maybe, no, yes.

That was the news coming out of the Novacare complex yesterday as Andy Reid updated the status of the Eagles injured offensive starters.

First, the good news is that Andy expects LJ Smith to practice this week and be ready to play this weekend. The struggles of our backup TEs against the Bears have been well discussed... so the return of LJ should certainly be a help.

Now, the kinda bad but might be okay news... Most of us assumed that since Westbrook was a gametime decision to play last week, he should be ready to go this week. Right? Not so fast. Andy Reid was still unsure about Westbrook's status

"I don't know that," Reid said when asked if Westbrook would practice tomorrow and play Sunday. "We'll have to see how he does the next two days. If he had to practice today, he couldn't."

That's bad news. I'll be keeping a close eye for any news relating to Westbrook's ankle as we go forward this week. Suffice to say, we need him this weekend.

The other bad news is that Shawn Andrews almost certainly will not play and his injury is not improving

"He isn't getting any better," Reid said. "We're going to have him see a specialist and get this thing better."

For now, the Eagles are not considering surgery.

If you happened to catch the Steelers/Ravens Monday Night game last night you probably say Steelers' kicker Jeff Reed hit a 46 yard FC in overtime to win the game. You may have also saw him open the scoring with a 49 yarder... If you're like me, after watching that you might have asked yourself "Could our kicker have won that game for us?"

The answer these days is no.

The answer couldn't be clearer coming off a weekend when David Akers missed 2 kicks of over 40+ yards in a game the Eagles lost by only 4. Problem is, this is nothing new. Since he sustained that hamstring injury in 2005, Akers hasn't looked like the same player to me. It could be mental, it could be physical... I don't know... but I do know it's not good enough.

Akers used to be a weapon. He was damn near automatic. Reuben Frank's  numbers back that up.

In 2000, he missed only four of 33 kicks. Just five of 31 in 2001, just four of 34 in 2002. In fact, from 2000 through 2004, the five-year span representing the Eagles' greatest success under head coach Andy Reid, Akers made 136 of 159 field goal attempts, an astounding 86 percent success rate.

Unfortunately Frank has more numbers that detail the cold hard facts of the three time pro bowl kicker's decline.

Since then, he's made just 47 percent of his 40-yarders, including only three of 13 over the last two years. From 45 yards and out, Akers has missed his last seven attempts dating back to a 47-yarder at Lambeau Field on opening day last year. Until then, he had made 64 percent of his career kicks from 45 or deeper.

Frank notes that from inside the 40 Akers has made 32 straight kicks... that's fine, but the fact is that almost any NFL kicker is near automatic from inside the 40. Andy Reid was asked if he knew what was up with Akers.

"I think the leg strength is there. You can see it on his kickoffs. He's kicking the ball off as well as he ever has. For whatever the problem was, it has to get solved, so he and I will work on that."

Andy makes a good point. Akers has kicked off well and his long kicks sailed wide, they didn't fall short. Akers seemed short on ideas himself as to his struggles.

"I go out and try the opportunities that are presented to me," he said. "It's not like you can make the kicks from 39 yards and from 41 you're not able to make them. I'm just off a little bit.

"In this game, at my position, you can't be off. It's a precision-based position. You have to be able to hit them. If you don't, you're out of a job."

The problem with Akers saying he's "just off a little bit" is that he's been that way for the past 3 years. Most kickers hit tough patches here and there and if Akers was simply having a little slump I could buy the "just off a little bit" excuse. But after three years of poor results from over 40 yards that just doesn't fly.

As for the specific reasons Sunday's kicks sailed wide, Akers said he misplayed the wind

"I actually just misplayed the wind, for the most part," he explained on Monday.

"I still feel I was right in my assessment," he said. "If there was a screw-up at all, I hit them too good.

"For the golfers out there, if you hit the ball kind of high in the air and let the wind take it, it affects the ball. Actually, I kind of drove it through the wind and it didn't have as much effect on it as I was anticipating."

You "hit them too good?" Maybe not the best choice of words...

The question now is... what to do? Since I'm no expert on kicking mechanics and clearly would have no suggestions about what Akers could do to improve himself... I have another idea.

Accept it.

Yes, accept that Akers is no longer reliable from distance. He may say he's just a little bit off, but the numbers don't lie. This guy has been a little bit off for a long time. At this point I don't think the team is best served by letting Akers kick from those distances and ceding 10 yards of field position. My proposal is to go Belicheck! If it's 4th down and managable distance and the Eagles are around that 30-35 yard line... why not just go for it?

Let's look at the cold hard facts. Akers has missed his last 7 attempts from over 45 yards. Does anyone think the offense wouldn't have a better percentage converting 4th downs than that? Since 2004 he's only made 47% of kicks over 40 yards. Last year the Eagles offense converted 60% of it's 4th down opportunites. I'd rather put my trust in Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook and risk giving the ball back at the 30 rather than trusting Akers and risking giving the ball back past the 40.

You guys tell me. Am I crazy?

First I have to echo Les Bowen's words...

Remind me of this game, someone out there, please, the next time I pick the Birds and Andy Reid to beat anybody on the road, without Brian Westbrook.

Yeah, I won't make that mistake again either Les.

Correll Buckhalter on the final goal line stand

"I did the best I could, the linemen did the best they could," said Buckhalter, who gained 66 yards on 16 carries, but needed 1 more. "We just came up short . . . It hurts bad. They just executed better than we did."

Speaking about that same goal line series, Andy Reid states the obvious

"We've got to score. We're on the 1-foot line. We've got to score," said Eagles coach Andy Reid,  "It's my responsibility to get our guys into the end zone, when we have the opportunities."

Desean Jackson on the wrong route he ran that led to an INT

"I'll watch the film and I'll learn," Jackson said. "Basically, for me, this year is learning. I'm expected to do a lot of things, faster than the average rookie coming in. I respect that and I understand that. I just need to get the job done."

And Desean on the muffed punt

"I'm not going to make excuses," he said. "I made a fumble, made a mistake. I have to live with it."

Learn from your mistakes... there's not much more you can ask from a rookie.

David Akers on his two missed field goals

"I feel so horrible right right now, I feel like I let the team down," Akers said. "We get those six points and we win by two. That's the way I look at it."

Even worse David, had you made one of those kicks... you would have to only hit a chip shot for the win rather than watching us go for it on 4th goal...

A miserable night for the Eagles offense as they fall to 2-2 and into the basement of the NFC East.

Red zone offense goes missing

There's no doubt that the Bears defense played fantastic. They are incredibly tough at the point of attack controlled the line of scrimmage when we got inside the 20...How many times did the Eagles have first and goal inside the 5 and were unable to convert it to 7 points?

The Eagles had first and goal from the 2 yard line. A stuffed run, a McNabb trip, and an incomplete pass turned that into only 3 points. Then there was the one at the end with 4 straight runs that were stuffed(including a whiffed block by Schoebel). That was the game right there. Could the defense have played better in the first half? Sure... but the fact is that if the Eagles offense scores 7 points on either of those plays they likely win this game. Is there anyone, Bears fan and Eagles fan alike, that thinks the Bears would have come back if the Eagles had edged ahead at any point in that 4th quarter? Credit to the Bears defense for never letting it get that far.

Injuries were a factor

Taking nothing away from the Bears' D... you cannot tell me injuries didn't play a part. Sorry, but on the last goal line stand there's no way Westbrook doesn't score. We've see Westbrook score on that leap into the end zone many times. How may times have we seen Shawn Andrews maul someone at the line of scrimmage and open a hole at that spot? We've overcome the losses of one starter after the other one offense so far this year. Both starting WRs, all pro guard, starting TE... but tonight, the loss of Westbrook really was too much. Fact is that Westbrook lands in the end zone when he dives, unlike Buck. Fact is that you need perfect form and tackling technique to bring down Westbrook shy of a first down, unlike Lorenzo Booker who you seemingly just have to get a finger on to bring down.

It's not an excuse, it's just a fact of life. There's only a finite amount of guys a team can lose before it just can't keep up anymore. The Bears are too good a defense for the Eagles to walk into their house and expect to beat being down so many key guys.

Special teams NOT so special tonight

Desean Jackson muffed punt = 7 points

Two missed Akers FGs = 6 points

There's 3 more chances to have won this thing. Desean Jackson holds on there, our chances are prety good. If Akers makes even one of those 40+ yard kicks, we win this game. That would have allowed us to kick a FG to take the lead on that second to last drive rather than go for it on 4th down.

Fact is that Akers is a problem. Most kickers in this league are pretty much automatic from inside the 40. It's those 40+ yard kicks that seperate the average from the good. It's why Akers used to be a good kicker and why now he's just average.

At least the defense came to play

The defense, particularly the second did struggle in the first half of this game... but this defense absolutely played well enough to win. We saw yet another potent running attack absolutely shut down. Matt Forte had just 48 yards rushing and as a team the Bears managed just 78 yards on the ground.

Kyle Orton was sacked 4 times and the Eagles defense racked up 4 takeaways. That's good enough to win. More than good enough.

In the 3rd quarter the Eagles defense did the following the Bears' O

3 and out
2 (INT)
3 and out
1 (FUMBLE)
3 and out
1 (FUMBLE)

Eagles offense gets 3 points out of that.

Up and down night for Desean Jackson

Certainly the lasting memory of this game as it relates to Jackson will be the muffed punt that led to a Bears' TD. But there was also the play early in the third where he ran one way and McNabb's pass went the other way leading to an easy Bears' pick. Clearly the play was a result of someone getting that play wrong... It was either the 10 year vet or the rookie. Juding by McNabb's reaction, it think it was pretty obvious who got that one wrong.

That said, the kid did some good stuff as well. He caught 5 passes for 71 yards including his first NFL TD. He had a couple of nice end arounds that went for a total of 35 yards. This is the problem with having to rely on a rookie as your primary playmaker on offense. Without Westbrook, Curtis, & LJ that clearly leaves Desean as the best playmaking option. We see Desean grow as a playmaker every week, but we have to live with the growing pains as well.

Looking ahead

So we lick our wounds and try to heal up by next Sunday. If Westbrook isn't back by then, I'm not so sure we can expect a different result. The Skins are playing really well right now and we'll need all hands on deck to beat them next week.

At the start of the 4th quarter it's Bears 21, Eagles 20

At the start of the second half it's Bears 21, Eagles 14