At the tip of an unsightly efficiency on a dark New Jersey afternoon, the Chicago Bears discovered themselves pulling collectively for one final eyes-closed, fingers-crossed, full-prayers miracle.
Only 8 seconds remained Sunday and the Bears have been 67 yards from MetLife Stadium’s north finish zone, the landmark for a possible last-gasp landing that might have possibly, presumably, by probability arrange a game-tying 2-point conversion try. An entire ton of wildness needed to occur to increase the sport. But the Bears gave it a shot anyway on their ultimate snap towards the New York Giants.
“You’ve just got to hope for the best,” quarterback Justin Fields mentioned, “and keep the ball alive.”
From their 33-yard line, away we went …
- Fields threw a 3-yard move to Trestan Ebner, who instantly lateraled to Equanimeous St. Brown.
- St. Brown ran to the Bears 45 and, an immediate earlier than being hit by Adoree’ Jackson, threw a fastball throughout the sphere that bounced as soon as, caromed off linebacker Micah McFadden’s thigh and one way or the other skittered again to Fields on the 40.
- Fields ran ahead for 9 yards, then bombed a backward move to St. Brown, who once more burst forward earlier than throwing a wild pitch again to Ebner, who …
You know what? Let’s simply summarize issues right here. During a madcap 43-second sequence, 5 Bears gamers touched the soccer, together with offensive linemen Lucas Patrick and Teven Jenkins; Fields and Ebner every had it 3 times; and the chaos in the end ended 5 yards behind the road of scrimmage when Giants security Dane Belton dived on one final wild pitch.
Finally. Mercifully. The finish.
That’s how Sunday’s “False Hope Bowl” ended with the depleted Giants surviving for a 20-12 victory that moved them to 3-1. For the Bears, that ultimate play served as an applicable snapshot of your entire afternoon, beginning with the desperation persevering with with all that helter-skelter motion and culminating, after all, with a fate-sealing turnover.
The recreation was misplaced effectively earlier than, with the Bears coming aside in all three phases throughout their second defeat of the season.
The protection was far too flimsy, permitting 262 speeding yards, together with 49 yards and two touchdowns by Giants quarterback Daniel Jones within the first half.
The passing offense was once more erratic, ending with a season-high however nonetheless troubling 155 yards. The Bears have been 0-for-3 scoring touchdowns contained in the purple zone and transformed solely 5 of 15 third-down makes an attempt.
And the particular groups? Well, fill-in kicker Michael Badgley was nearly the day’s hero, scoring all 12 Bears factors as he made essentially the most of his emergency alternative to spell Cairo Santos for a weekend.
But late within the recreation, with the Bears looking for an opportunity to mount a game-tying landing drive, rookie Velus Jones muffed the second punt return alternative of his profession, taking the wind out of the Bears’ sails.
It was the wind, Jones mentioned, that crossed him up on Jamie Gillan’s punt, sending him swerving towards the sideline in entrance of the Giants bench, the place he merely dropped the soccer on the Bears 34.
“The wind was carrying the ball a lot, especially in that direction,” Jones mentioned. “You simply need to beat the ball to the spot. I felt like I didn’t do this. I used to be nonetheless transferring with it as a substitute of beating the ball to the spot.
“It’s really frustrating. I’m definitely going to let this one sit and hurt.”
Matt Eberflus tried to stability his duties as each a supportive and empathetic coach and a demanding boss: “No one feels as bad as Velus does. We understand that. We’re going to rally our team around him.”
But a number of moments later, Eberflus added: “It comes down to being under the football, squeezing your elbows and then high tucking it.”
Throughout his postgame information convention, Eberflus emphasised he must assessment tape of Sunday’s recreation to supply a extra complete evaluation of how the Bears performed. But that video viewing is nearly sure to depart him with an upset abdomen.
First and foremost, the Bears’ first turnover — a Fields fumble with the Bears in scoring vary within the second quarter — was a flagrant violation of Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. precept.
Fields was eyeing St. Brown on a crossing route when Giants outdoors linebacker Azeez Ojulari beat left sort out Braxton Jones across the edge and hit the Bears quarterback.
“That was going to be a big play if we held up a little bit longer,” Fields mentioned.
Instead, the ball got here flying out, fluttered to the bottom close to the road of scrimmage and neither left guard Cody Whitehair nor St. Brown put sufficient effort into chasing it, permitting Giants rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux to pounce on it for a takeaway.
“I saw it was a fumble,” Eberflus mentioned, “and I don’t know exactly what happened. I’ll have to go back and look at it.”
Added Fields: “It’s just a lesson for the O-line. If you don’t hear a whistle blow, you don’t know if it’s incomplete.”
The Giants transformed that turnover right into a 75-yard landing drive.
That’s not the type of focus lapse or effort deficiency Eberflus will tolerate. He’ll need to make that clear within the coming days. Just as he’ll need to proceed looking for methods to enhance Fields’ manufacturing because the second-year quarterback searches for his first groove of the 2022 season.
Fields accomplished 11 of twenty-two passes Sunday for 174 yards and was sacked six instances. He additionally gave the skin world one other sound chunk to parse when he took exception to a query about how he assessed the league’s Thirty second-ranked passing assault.
Why, Fields was requested, isn’t the passing recreation working?
“Who said the passing game wasn’t working?” he mentioned. “Numbers don’t matter in my opinion. As long as we win, like I’ve said, that’s all I care about.”
The Bears didn’t win Sunday, although. And they received’t win usually with the passing-game struggles which have continued by way of a month’s price of video games.
Not a single goal NFL analyst would argue that the Bears passing recreation is working. Fields has gone 36 possessions since throwing his final landing move. And it says all the pieces that the Bears appeared so keen Sunday to have a good time their longest play of the season — a lovely 56-yard deep ball from Fields to Darnell Mooney on the sport’s second collection.
“We got Mooney going today,” Eberflus mentioned. “Which is really good to see.”
Without query, it was a crisp route by Mooney and a picture-perfect move. But these big-play moments must be coming greater than a few instances every month.
Furthermore, that completion led solely to a subject objective. And the concept a four-catch, 94-yard outing for Mooney — whereas a step ahead — was one way or the other landmark exhibits how a lot greedy the Bears have been pressured into doing.
For full context, Sunday’s loss got here towards a middle-of-the-road opponent that was riddled with accidents. The Giants entered and not using a handful of key gamers — Leonard Williams, Sterling Shepard, Wan’Dale Robinson and Kadarius Tooney — who have been coping with numerous illnesses.
And throughout Sunday’s motion, they misplaced Ojulari (calf), Thibodeaux (again), security Julian Love (concussion), proper sort out Evan Neal (neck), receiver Kenny Golladay (knee), cornerback Aaron Robinson (knee) and defensive lineman Henry Mondeaux (ankle).
Jones needed to miss 12 offensive snaps after spraining his left ankle, then needed to play the Giants’ ultimate 11 performs with one bum wheel after backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor was taken to be evaluated for a concussion.
Still, short-handed and never even taking part in all that effectively, the Giants coasted to a relieving residence victory. That ought to provide Bears followers a reminder of how shaky and patience-testing this season figures to be.
The turbulence isn’t more likely to reduce anytime quickly.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com