Nick Foles admits new information about the legendary ‘Philly Special’ that connects to the Bears in more ways than one
One of the greatest plays in NFL history was actually a carbon copy of a play ran by the Chicago Bears.
With another Super Bowl in the books, few moments have truly been as legendary as the “Philly Special” made famous by underdog quarterback Nick Foles when the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
The play involved some trickery with Foles actually catching the touchdown pass from tight end Trey Burton, who got the ball on a sweep after running back Corey Clement took the direct snap. It was a gutsy call by the Eagles in such a big stage and turned into one of the greatest plays in NFL history.
Eventually, the Eagles constructed a statue outside the stadium in honor of that Super Bowl win and ESPN recently released a 30-for-30 series on the play. However, Foles recently learned that the Eagles actually stole the play from the Chicago Bears.
Eagles ‘Philly Special’ play was used one year earlier by the Bears in the same stadium
“I am sitting with Matt Barkley at dinner. We were just talking ball and the Philly Special came up. The Eagles found the play from a Week 17 game the year prior that Matt ran with the Bears,” Foles shared on X. “The crazy thing is, they ran the play in Minnesota, in what appears to be the same end zone that the Philly Special was ran in SB LII. Did anyone realize the Philly Special was run in the same stadium the season before? I guess that is a new Philly Special fun fact.”
The play the Bears ran in that game was a carbon copy of the Eagles “Philly Special” and it’s crazy to learn that it occurred in the same endzone in the same stadium. Goes to show that good coaches are always on the lookout for great trick plays and you never know when they’ll be used again.
Like the Bears using a similar style play this past season against the Cincinnati Bengals when quarterback Caleb Williams caught a touchdown pass from wide receiver DJ Moore after a double reverse. It wasn’t exactly the same, but close enough.
To add another fun wrinkle to this connection, Bears new offensive coordinator Press Taylor was on the Eagles coaching staff during that season as the team’s offensive quality control coach and assistant quarterbacks coach. Adam Hoge of CHGO noted that Taylor was actually the one credited with finding that play for the Eagles to use in the Super Bowl.
Now, Taylor gets the opportunity to be the right-hand man to Bears head coach Ben Johnson going into the 2026 season, and you can bet we’ll see more trick plays on the way.
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