Jalen Hurts' five-turnover outing dooms Eagles in loss at Chargers: 'It starts with me and how I play'

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts can play better and he knows it as the reigning Super Bowl MVP. His team's season-long offensive struggles continued in Monday night's sloppy 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, much of the faulty execution falling on the veteran signal caller.

Hurts lost a fumble and threw four interceptions to highlight a career-worst outing in a game the Eagles needed to win coming off consecutive losses. Hurts became the first player since 1978 -- per the Elias Sports Bureau -- to give it away twice on the same play after throwing an interception in the second quarter to Da'Shawn Hand before recovering a fumble then giving it back when he was being tackled.

"I didn't play well enough," Hurts said. "Too many turnovers. Lots of opportunities, especially when we get on the other side of the 50 [yard line] and I wasn't able to get us in the box."

Hurts only had two interceptions total during Philadelphia's first 12 games this season before Monday night's mistake-filled mess through the air. He finished 21-of-40 for 240 yards with a quarterback rating of 31.2, the fifth time in his career he's finished with a QBR under 40.

"It starts with me and how I play, how I lead, and it's my ability to go out there and figure it out," Hurts said. "There's no excuses. I know being all subjective in terms of how you look at it. Obviously, we always feel like we got a chance but we just got to come together and find ways to win and I have to find the way to win."

After the Chargers' first possession in overtime ended with a field goal, the Eagles marched into potential game-tying kick range before Hurts' deep shot to Jahan Dotson was intercepted by Tony Jefferson to end the game. Philadelphia's lone touchdown drive wasn't much of a drive at all, a 3-play spurt to open the fourth quarter capped by Saquon Barkley's 52-yard burst for a score.

The Eagles, who finished 4-of-13 on third down, still lead the NFC East, but a third straight loss has at least opened the door for the Dallas Cowboys.

"Obviously, this game is the ultimate team game, so it's never just on one person," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of Hurts "Now ultimately, he always has the ball in his hands, and I know he'll wear a lot of that and own that and I got to do a better job of helping him in those scenarios. Again, it's never just on execution, right? It's always that we look at ourselves as coaches first. 

"Did we help him be in position to succeed and then execute, right? So obviously, (you) never want to turn the ball over. We've been pretty good at that, and tonight was a little uncharacteristic of ourselves."