The Chicago Bears’ offensive unraveling began with about 11 minutes to play within the fourth quarter Sunday on the Caesars Superdome.
Trailing the New Orleans Saints by a landing, rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent despatched a cross towards Darnell Mooney in the midst of the sphere, however security Marcus Maye jumped in entrance of it for an interception.
Bagent hopped just a few instances after which dropped to the bottom for just a few seconds as he processed the turnover.
There have been far too a lot of these moments within the Saints’ 24-17 win.
Maye’s interception was considered one of 5 Saints takeaways, together with 4 off Bagent. In what could possibly be considered one of his final begins instead of injured starter Justin Fields — if not the final — Bagent threw three interceptions and misplaced a fumble. He dedicated three of these turnovers on the Bears’ ultimate 4 drives of the fourth quarter — with the sport inside attain because of some large defensive stops.
“It really just all comes down to myself in that last quarter of being able to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Bagent mentioned. “Coach talks about it every single day, how important it is to take care of the ball, and I didn’t do a good job of that.”
He added: “I thought our team played extremely well, which is why it’s so embarrassing. One-score game, to lose the turnover battle by that amount, it’s embarrassing.”
It’s unclear but if that was Bagent’s final begin instead of Fields.
Fields practiced Friday for the primary time since dislocating his thumb Oct. 15. Bears basic supervisor Ryan Poles mentioned in the course of the workforce’s pregame radio present on WMVP-AM 1000 there’s a risk Fields can be able to play Thursday night time in opposition to the Carolina Panthers at Soldier Field.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus mentioned he’ll know extra Monday because the workforce begins its three days of preparation.
“It was really good to see (Fields) throw and go through a progression over the last few days,” Poles mentioned. “To see him back out on the field with his teammates, throwing on air, throwing in seven on seven, working through some adjustments with a glove, without a glove. We’ll see what he feels comfortable with moving forward. We’ll also lean on our medical staff to make sure that we’re making the right decision as well.”
If Sunday was an finish to Bagent’s three-game stint as a beginning quarterback, it wasn’t one.
The day had began so nicely for the Bears, with Bagent discovering tight finish Cole Kmet for a highlight-reel 18-yard landing on their opening drive. A diving Kmet reached up over the arms of Saints security Tyrann Mathieu to drag down the rating.
Bagent threw an interception on his second drive to Paulson Adebo on a cross to Kmet, however he rebounded by main one other landing drive, hitting Kmet once more with a 9-yard landing cross. With the sport tied 14-14 at halftime, Bagent had thrown for 148 yards, two touchdowns an interception and had rushed for 60 yards.
Kmet didn’t place the blame for the primary choose totally on Bagent, saying he may have a minimum of tried to interrupt up Adebo’s catch.
“I don’t know if (Bagent) got fooled with the drop-eight a little bit, but I could do a better job of coming back to the football, and I think the other guys would say the same on theirs as well,” Kmet mentioned. “I just told (Bagent) to keep ripping it because those are the right throws. We’ve got to be better as playmakers in terms of making him right and making those plays, friendly angles, and all those types of deals. I still thought he played a really good game, and we’ve got to be better around him, and we’ve got to shore up the penalties.”
Adebo additionally pressured vast receiver DJ Moore to fumble following a 13-yard catch within the third quarter, and the Saints adopted with a area purpose. But the sport was tied heading into the fourth quarter.
The Saints then began all 5 of their fourth-quarter drives in Bears territory, although they solely scored as soon as, on a 3-yard Taysom Hill cross to Juwan Johnson that put them forward 24-17 with 11 minutes, 11 seconds to play.
That’s when Bagent’s string of late turnovers started.
“We came kind of to a screaming halt there,” Kmet mentioned. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it before where they’re on our side of the 50 for the better (part) of the fourth quarter. … That’s crazy. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. I’ve never seen that in my life.”
After the Maye interception, the Bears stopped Saints quarterback Derek Carr for no acquire on fourth-and-1 on the subsequent drive. But the Bears gave the ball again six performs later when Adebo obtained in entrance of a cross to Tyler Scott for his third takeaway of the day.
“I think it was good on their part, bad on my part,” Bagent mentioned of the fourth-quarter interceptions. “Tight coverage, they made a couple really good plays. Hats off to them, but once again, I’ve got to probably just go somewhere else with the ball. So that’s on me.”
The Bears had one ultimate likelihood to tie when Blake Grupe’s 47-yard area purpose bounced off the left upright to maintain it a one-score sport. But Saints linebacker Demario Davis obtained between offensive linemen Larry Borom and Cody Whitehair for a strip-sack of Bagent that linebacker Pete Werner recovered.
Bagent and Eberflus each mentioned the rookie’s primary focus is now studying from the errors he made. Whether that’s on the sphere in yet one more begin or in apply because the backup to Fields must be identified quickly.
“We’ve just got to let it soak in for him,” Moore mentioned. “You can’t just jump on him right now. We all know we lost the game because of turnovers. He knows that. We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com