PHILADELPHIA − The bewildered expressions were everywhere on Sunday, incredulous as to how a season that started out at 10-1 has devolved into this.

Forget about building momentum for the playoffs. Not when the Eagles couldn't stop the 3-12 Cardinals, who never went 3-and-out all day, and held the ball for 39 minutes, 39 seconds.

So when James Conner scored on a 2-yard TD run with 32 seconds left, the Eagles were saddled with a 35-31 loss on Sunday.

And that left cornerback Sydney Brown, who returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter as the Eagles built a 15-point lead, to say this: "One bad game can’t be the single story of what our defense has done. We’re getting better. All it is, it's how you respond to these things.

"It is what it is. Like, (expletive), we just lost to the worst team in the NFL. What can you do? You just gotta move on. It’s not ideal, but there are lessons to be learned, and that’s all you can really take from it."

CARDINAL COLLAPSE Defense collapses as Eagles lose to Jonathan Gannon, Cardinals

SYDNEY BROWN'S INT: Eagles' Sydney Brown returned an INT 99 yards. What's the NFL record?

Those lessons, of course, have been evident for the past five games, when the Eagles lost four of them. The Cardinals gashed the Eagles for 221 yards on the ground and 228 yards through the air. They never punted the ball. And every single one of their eight drives reached Eagles' territory.

The Eagles had one last chance. But Jalen Hurts' Hail-Mary into the end zone with 7 seconds left was intercepted.

It was a fitting metaphor to the Eagles' once-promising chances of going back to the Super Bowl. But through five weeks, including a change in defensive play-callers, the Eagles (11-5) not only lost control of the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC, but their most likely path to the Super Bowl is winning three games on the road as a wildcard team.

That's because the Eagles fell into a first-place tie with the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East. The Cowboys hold the tiebreaker if both teams win next week.

But that playoff run will be short-lived if they can't figure out the defense. For now, the players seem stumped.

"Man, I have no words right now," edge rusher Haason Reddick said. "I’m being honest with you. I have no words."

Jake Elliott's 43-yard field goal with 2:33 left gave the Eagles a 31-28 lead. But even that was a disaster for the Eagles.

The Cardinals had scored to tie the game with 5:26 left. They brazenly tried an onsides kick that the Eagles recovered, giving them a first down at the Cardinals' 39.

But the seemed to get conservative after an 18-yard pass to A.J. Brown down to Arizona's 20. Jordan Mailata was called for a hold. Then the Eagles tried two straight runs with Hurts that left them with a 3rd-and-19.

Hurts then completed a short pass to Kenny Gainwell that picked up 4 yards and left the crowd booing when Elliott had to kick a field goal.

"I don’t think that’s conservative there if they are blitzing a bunch of gaps there," Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. "You’re running a gap scheme that has a chance to hit for big yards that we needed to get back into it. We could have thrown it there, too. We chose to go there. Hey, it didn’t hit."

It seemed inevitable what would happen next.

Murray and the Cardinals moved methodically down the field. They were at the Eagles' 42 with 41 second left when Murray threw short to Greg Dortch, who broke a tackle and continued down the field to the 5.

Two plays later, Conner scored. He finished with 128 yards on 26 carries. Michael Carter added 61 yards on 7 carries.

It was like that all game, even though the Eagles took a big lead at halftime for the second straight week.

And once again, that lead disappeared after a poor third quarter as Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, the Eagles' defensive coordinator the past two seasons, knew just how to attack.

The only time Arizona didn't score was when Brown intercepted Murray at the Eagles' 1 and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown.

That gave the Eagles a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter. It was 21-6 when Hurts hit Julio Jones for a 22-yard TD pass with 16 seconds left in the third half. It was Jones' 2nd TD catch of the game. And it came one play after the Eagles faked a "tush push" and gained 17 yards.

Hurts went 18-for-23 for 167 yards and 3 TDs with the final INT. But he was no match for Murray, who was 25-for-31 for 232 yards and 3 TDs with an interception.

"They kind of kept the ball out of our hands," Hurts said about the Cardinals. "So it’s very important for us to take advantage of all of our opportunities. And you know, we just didn’t do that."

The Eagles' struggles on defense were evident early. The Cardinals drove down the field on their first possession, reaching the Eagles' 3 yard line. But a Milton Williams sack led to a field goal.

After the Eagles responded with Hurts' 12-yard TD pass to Jones, the Cardinals put together another long drive. This time, Brown's interception and 99-yard return for a touchdown gave the Eagles a 14-3 lead with 11:44 left in the second quarter.

The Cardinals then kept the ball for 9:54, but only got a field goal out of it.

When the Eagles scored on Hurts' 22-yard touchdown pass to Jones, one play after a fake "tush push" turned into a 17-yard Kenny Gainwell to DeVonta Smith pass, they had a 21-6 lead.

It was hardly safe.

The Cardinals opened the second half with their fourth straight long drive, capping it with Murray's 6-yard TD pass to Carter. Then the Eagles went 3-and-out, and once again, the Cardinals marched down the field for another TD.

After the 2-point conversion, the Eagles lead was gone.

And so was the fans' good will. But Hurts put the Eagles back up by a touchdown with his 9-yard TD pass to Dallas Goedert, only to see the Cardinals respond again.

It was up to the defense to hold the Cardinals just once.

They couldn't.

"Everyone’s got to stick together," Sirianni said. "I think there’s going to be a lot of people trying to point the finger at different things, and everybody’s got to stick together."

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on X @Mfranknfl.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Philadelphia Eagles collapse in second half; NFC East hopes take hit