Eagles vs. Chargers: Three must-know storylines for Monday's Week 14 prime-time game

Week 14's slate of games concludes with a battle between two eight-win teams.

For the NFC East-leading Eagles, it's an opportunity to get right after two straight losses have made a path to the conference's No. 1 seed much more difficult and losing the division to the Cowboys at least a possibility.

For the AFC fifth-seeded Chargers, it's a chance to stack another victory on the other side of their Week 12 bye, a must in a crowded wild-card race that includes plenty of heavyweights looming behind them.

One of these teams will falter, leaving questions to be answered in the final month of the season, while the other will head into the final stretch run with a much-needed confidence boost.

Three must-know storylines

1) Eagles offense is still reeling

Philly fans would gladly go back to the pre-bye times, when there was discontent over an offense that sometimes sputtered, but was not near breaking down as the Eagles seem to be doing now. From Weeks 1-8, Philadelphia averaged 26.0 points per game. Since their Week 9 bye, the Eagles have scored 15.5 points per game, and over the past six quarters scored managed 15 points total. It's not just in one area, either. Jalen Hurts hasn't been quite as consistent. He's delivered a sub-58 completion percentage in three of his past four outings after not dipping below 60% once before the bye. A.J. Brown is finally rolling, with 18 catches for 242 yards and three touchdowns over the team's two consecutive losses, but the Eagles are otherwise struggling to score. Their 55.6 red-zone TD percentage since Week 10 has dropped nearly 30 percent, down from 85.0 over their first eight games. Saquon Barkley has too often been a non-factor. He has 740 rushing yards with 3.7 yards per carry, compared to 1,499 yards and 6.1 YPC at this point last season. Even considering the historic nature of his 2024 campaign, his diminished output is concerning, and the task of turning it around won't get any easier with offensive tackle Lane Johnson (foot) still out. The Eagles offense is brimming with the talent necessary to flip the switch despite all of that. If it happens this week, it'll have to come against the league's third overall defense, though.

2) Can Chargers repeat Bears' blueprint for victory?

Head coach Jim Harbaugh expressed all week that quarterback Justin Herbert will be healthy enough to play after undergoing surgery on his left non-throwing hand on Dec. 1, but he officially earned a questionable designation over the weekend. Herbert has been given the green light to throw early and often this season, and Los Angeles certainly has the arsenal to make life uncomfortable for Philly's secondary with Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston, Keenan Allen and Oronde Gadsden II. However, a throwback Greg Roman special could be in order -- regardless of if it's Herbert or backup Trey Lance calling the shots at any point in the game. The offensive coordinator has always loved pounding the rock, and there's plenty of reason to do it against the Eagles. Not only did they just allow 281 rushing yards to Chicago (125-plus each to D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai!), but run stuffer Jalen Carter is now week to week after undergoing a procedure on his shoulders. Running back Kimani Vidal has been stellar lately and is coming off a career-high 126-yard rushing performance, while electric rookie Omarion Hampton (questionable; ankle) is expected to be activated off injured reserve ahead of the game, per NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. While those two are a worthy duo to follow up on Swift and Monangai's decimation of Philadelphia, the difference at offensive line could be an issue. Chicago's has been one of the best units this season, much to the inverse of the Chargers, who are down their top two tackles for the rest of the season. Still, if L.A. can find even a bit of traction in the run game against the Eagles, it'll go a long way in minimizing the weight on the QB's shoulders.

3) Monday's game sets the tone for both teams' final month

It's not a must-win for either club, but a loss by the Eagles or Chargers could cause a pinch of panic to creep in. The Cowboys' Thursday night defeat means the Eagles can still go 3-2 over their last five games and take the NFC East should Dallas win out, but Philly losing to the Chargers would cause collars to tighten, especially with two divisional matchups against the Commanders that can always get a little wonky and a showdown versus the Bills still remaining on the docket. Beyond that, the Eagles are still in the mix for a first-round bye, and they want to build back momentum for a title defense ahead of the playoffs. A third straight loss would put quite a dent in those efforts. As for the Chargers, they need some help to catch the Broncos in the AFC West and need to remain persistent to fend off teams that'd replace them in the wild-card spots. Although a loss against a non-conference opponent such as the Eagles wouldn't matter much in tiebreaking scenarios, it would still drop L.A.'s playoff probability to a coin flip at 50%. That's due to the difficult schedule the Chargers finish the regular season with: at Chiefs, at Cowboys, versus Texans and at Broncos. There are no gimmes remaining and little room for error down the stretch.

Eagles' Week 14 injury report

Chargers' Week 14 injury report