Devin Hester, the 11th Bear on the field, was back to return the punt.

The defining play of the 2011 Eagles may end up being a failed fake punt from the iconic pass-catching combination of Chas Henry and Colt Anderson.

Trailing by three points with 9:28 remaining in the fourth quarter, Eagles rookie punter Chas Henry saw an opening in the Bears punt coverage that left Colt Anderson wide open for what would have been an easy first down and possibly a touchdown.

Instead of an Eagles conversion, Henry’s pass fell well short of the mark and Philadelphia dropped to 3-5 in a 30-24 loss to the 5-3 Bears.

The overhead shot of the play pre-Henry duck shows that Chicago had 10 players at the line of scrimmage with Devin Hester back for the return.

This alignment left the Bears vulnerable to a gunner lined up outside. The Eagles had everything laid out perfectly; and failed miserably in the play’s execution.

The picture below illustrates just how badly Chicago was beaten on the play with a competent throw:

If Anderson caught that pass, he would probably still be running inside of Lincoln Financial Field. However, Henry is in Philadelphia for his foot, not his arm.

Per Philly.com, the Eagles saw something in Chicago’s special teams coverage that they felt was exploitable:

Special teams coordinator Bobby April “saw something on tape that he liked and we knew that we had an opportunity to make a play,” Anderson said.

If the team saw a specific look, they were going for it.

“You guys saw it. (Anderson) was uncovered,” said coach Andy Reid. “We tried to throw him the ball, but obviously it didn’t work. We’ll always try to stay aggressive.”

“We just thought that we could make that play and it didn’t work out,” Anderson said.

After suffering their fifth loss, Philadelphia’s latest gaffe puts them in an extremely difficult situation in the NFC.

The 3-5 Eagles stand three games back of the NFC East-leading Giants and are quickly losing ground in the conference’s wild card race.

With eight games remaining, Philadelphia’s best chance to reach the playoffs is to win out. Yet, upcoming meetings with the Giants, Patriots, Jets and Cowboys will make that an extremely difficult task.