PHILADELPHIA – The Bears offense rushed for 281 yards and two touchdowns and the defense generated two takeaways and permitted just two TDs in an inspiring 24-15 victory over the Eagles in a battle of first-place teams Friday at Lincoln Financial Field.

Kyle Monangai (130 yards on 22 carries) and D'Andre Swift (125 yards on 18 attempts) became the first Bears duo to each rush for at least 100 yards in a game since Walter Payton and Matt Suhey Nov. 10, 1985, against the Lions.

The defense produced two takeaways against an Eagles team that had entered the game having committed an NFL-low six turnovers all season.

With their fifth straight win and ninth in their last 10 games, the Bears improved to 9-3, maintaining their lead atop the NFC North over the Packers (8-3-1) and Lions (7-5).

"Just really proud of everybody involved," said coach Ben Johnson. "Short week, we really haven't had one of those yet as a team. I thought the coaching staff did a great job putting a sound plan together. We knew it was going to be a race trying to get everything in and kind of harping on the guys that the details were going to be the difference here this week and the team that made the least number of mistakes was probably going to win this game. Fortunately for us, we felt like that fell in our favor."

The game's turning point came midway through the third quarter with the Bears protecting a 10-9 lead. After a Caleb Williams interception gave the Eagles the ball at the Chicago 36, they attempted a tush push play on third-and-1 from the 12. Cornerback Nahshon Wright ripped the ball out of quarterback Jalen Hurts' hands and recovered the fumble at the 13.

"They were in scoring range, it's a high percentage play for them and yet [Wright] was able to get the ball away from [Hurts]," Johnson said.

"I just went in there and tried to make a play," Wright told ChicagoBears.com. "I pulled the ball out. The only reason why I dropped it is I was getting ready to spin and go score. But it came out and I was able to get back down on it."

The offense followed Wright's takeaway by scoring touchdowns on its next two drives to extend the Bears' lead to 24-9 midway through the fourth period. First, the unit marched 87 yards on 13 plays capped by Monangai's 4-yard TD run. The rookie running back gained 72 yards on eight carries on the possession.

"We knew that was going to be the difference; come out here and take the ball away and let our offense do what they do," Wright said. "That's a formula for winning right there."

"Another story of the team playing together, complementing each other, believing in ourselves," added defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.

After Monangai's TD, the Bears defense forced a three-and-out and the offense made it 24-9 on Williams' 28-yard TD pass to Cole Kmet with 6:19 remaining in the game.

Despite unpredictable winds that affected both teams' passing games all day, Williams put perfect touch on the ball while scrambling to his left and hit Kmet in stride.

"That's the fun part about playing QB," Williams said. "It's dealing with the conditions and then finding ways to calculate where you need to put the ball and how much air [to put under it], especially when you have such weird gusts that we had today. It would be no wind and then random points it would be super heavy gusts. Cole ran a great route. They ended up dropping him. I just kind of saw him flash. It was something that we trusted. I saw a defender trying to catch up to him. I just wanted to lay it in there, let the wind push it back to him and Cole made a great catch."

"That throw to Cole was enormous," Johnson said. "He's rolling out to his left; to be able to throw a dime like that at that point of the game, that was really big for us."

In the first half, the Bears held huge advantages in first downs (16-2), total yards (222-83), plays (47-17) and time of possession (21:00-9:00) but led only 10-3. On their first three drives of the game, they rushed for 131 yards on 19 carries and converted 7 of 9 third-down plays.

The Bears took a 7-0 lead on their second possession on Swift's 3-yard TD run. Monangai (5-38) and Swift (2-26) combined to rush for 64 yards on seven carries on the 11-play, 78-yard drive.

On third-and-2 from the Eagles' 14, Monangai was initially stopped short of the line to gain, but the entire offensive line and tight end Durham Smythe pushed the pile forward three yards to the 11, resulting in a first down.

Jake Elliott's 44-yard field goal closed the gap to 7-3, but Cairo Santos' 30-yard field goal extended the Bears' lead to 10-3 with 6:44 left in the first half.

After opening the second half by forcing a third straight three-and-out, the Bears defense generated the game's first takeaway. On second-and-10 from the Eagles' 26, Hurts scrambled to his right and tried to lead a receiver down the sideline. But safety Kevin Byard III sprinted from the middle of the field and made a diving interception at the Chicago 49, taking over the NFL lead with six picks this season.

The offense went three-and-out, however, and the Eagles followed with a 5-play, 92-yard drive that was capped by Hurts' 33-yard TD pass to A.J. Brown midway through the third quarter. But Elliott missed the extra point attempt wide left, preserving the Bears' 10-9 lead.

On the Bears' next drive, Williams' short pass intended for Monangai was intercepted by leaping outside linebacker Jalyx Hunt, who returned it 13 yards to the Chicago 36. But that's when Wright swung the momentum by forcing and recovering the Hurts fumble on the Eagles' signature tush push play.

"We certainly wanted to be sound in how we were defending that play and the complements off that play," Johnson said, "and we were hopeful to have opportunities to get the ball out of there."

The Eagles eventually cut the deficit to 24-15 on Hurts' 4-yard TD pass to Brown with 3:10 to play. But an incomplete pass on the subsequent two-minute conversion attempt preserved the Bears' two-score lead and Rome Odunze recovered the ensuing onside kick.

After the game, the Bears coach was asked what message his team had delivered with such a complete victory over the defending Super Bowl champions.

"It's the same message we've been sending every week—that we're just going to compete our tails off for 60 minutes," he said. "That's what I know about our group. They've got a lot of belief in what we're doing. They've got a lot of belief in themselves. They've got a lot of belief, I think, in this coaching staff. And so that confidence just starts to develop and continue to bubble over. We've got a really confident group right now and we're excited for these next five games.

"These guys should feel pretty good about what they just did. It's hard to go on the road and beat a good team like that."

Welcome back

The Bears' secondary was bolstered Friday by the return of cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, both of whom were activated off injured reserve Thursday.

The two defensive backs had combined to play in just three games prior to Friday. Two different groin injuries had limited Johnson to only a Week 2 contest in Detroit, while Gordon had faced just the Commanders and Saints in Weeks 6-7.

The Bears played the Eagles without four of their top linebackers due to injuries: Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, Noah Sewell and Ruben Hyppolite II.

Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and defensive end Dominique Robinson also sat out Friday's game with injuries. Other inactives were third quarterback Case Keenum and receiver Jahdae Walker.