Chicago Bears operating again David Montgomery had little curiosity in a deep dive into his third-quarter fumble Sunday.
“I dropped the ball,” Montgomery stated inside a glum customer’s locker room at AT&T Stadium.
Quarterback Justin Fields was equally matter-of-fact in describing his response as soon as the soccer was on the turf, then within the possession of Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons.
Fields, throughout a split-second focus lapse, hurdled Parsons moderately than touching him — which allowed the Cowboys star to get again to his ft and rumble 36 yards for a pivotal landing.
“That’s my fault for just hopping over him,” Fields stated. “I should have tagged him. But I can’t tell you the last time I made a tackle. I just have to be (more) aware in that situation.”
Parsons admitted he initially didn’t know what to do till he heard teammates urging him to stand up and go.
“Coach has been hounding on me about my superpower and just running to the ball regardless of if you make the play or don’t,” Parsons stated. “You just never know what happens on the football field.”
In a wild sport with a handful of Texas-sized twists, that collective breakdown by two of the Bears offensive leaders proved expensive and was a part of a miscue-filled third-quarter stretch that veered the Bears right into a 49-29 loss.
“We’ve showed multiple times during the course of our situations tape that we show every Friday that you have to touch guys down,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus stated. “That’s part of pro football. That was big.”
Simple errors. Big ramifications. That’s how Sunday’s loss should be filed away at Halas Hall. It left Eberflus delivering an easy message after his crew’s fifth defeat in seven video games.
“I told our players, ‘Guys, we’re going to look at the tape and we’re going to see it,’” Eberflus stated. “There’s no mystery here. It’s about good fundamentals and technique. And you have to do that down in and down out.”
For the Bears, the video evaluate of Sunday’s stumbles probably will show twice as painful because the loss itself, a compelled reliving of all of their breakdowns — from missed tackles to poor hole management to dropped passes to head-scratching teaching selections.
Yes, Montgomery’s fumble plus Fields’ psychological error had been notable blunders that contributed to the disappointing efficiency. But the log of such moments was fairly darn prolonged.
The Bears protection, for instance, was a scorching mess from the start, permitting touchdowns on the Cowboys’ first 4 possessions and surrendering 442 whole yards in simply 57 performs (7.8 yards per play). Quarterback Dak Prescott threw two landing passes and ran for an additional rating.
The Cowboys transformed 9 of 11 third-down makes an attempt, none greater than a third-and-1 with 10 minutes, 46 seconds remaining. Running again Tony Pollard eluded Eddie Jackson and Roquan Smith within the backfield, then bounced an influence run outdoors to the left, chopping between Al-Quadin Muhammad and Nick Morrow for a back-breaking 56-yard landing and a 20-point lead.
“We had a pressure on there for that particular run,” Eberflus stated. “And the guys who are away from the pressure have to hammer the ball back to the pressure. But the ball kept getting outside.”
Safety Jaquan Brisker agreed Pollard’s lengthy landing run was one in every of a handful of intestine punches that staggered the Bears.
“That wasn’t our best football,” Brisker stated. “We have to play cleaner ball. We have to trust ourselves and trust our teammates. And now we have to look ourselves in the mirror and play Chicago Bear defense.”
By afternoon’s finish, the Bears unraveling turned an enormous arrow pointing to an apparent however uncomfortable conclusion: This crew simply isn’t there but, nonetheless not geared up to compete recurrently with the NFL’s higher groups.
Six days after an attention-grabbing 19-point highway win over the New England Patriots, Sunday’s blowout loss supplied one other little bit of proof that this squad lacks sufficient expertise, expertise and consistency to make a significant run in 2022. These Bears are too error-prone. The roster has too many holes.
So once more the evaluation should transcend the sport outcomes and embody a deeper evaluation of the place the Bears could also be making significant development for the long run.
To that finish, Sunday’s 371-yard, 29-point output in opposition to a feisty Cowboys protection supplied encouragement. As the house owners of the league’s most efficient dashing assault, the Bears churned out their third consecutive efficiency with at the very least 200 yards on the bottom, rolling up 240.
Fields posted a season-best 120.0 passer score, finishing 17 of 23 for 151 yards and two touchdowns whereas including 60 dashing yards and an early 3-yard landing run.
In a number of methods, that every one felt like a step.
“It’s a positive thing for the guys,” Eberflus stated. “I think the guys are starting to really jell. You can see we have implemented some things that are really enhancing the skill levels of our players. I think it’s starting to open up some things.”
Added Fields: “The offense today played well. Of course there’s always room to grow and get better. But we put up 29 points. I think that was the most points (the Cowboys) let up this year.”
Even inside discouraging losses, the Bears will proceed attempting to find silver linings and proof of progress. They additionally should proceed gaining expertise in measuring-stick video games in opposition to high quality opponents.
Sunday wrapped up an eventful, emotion-filled seven-day stretch for the Bears that included that energizing win in New England, the midweek commerce of captain Robert Quinn to the Philadelphia Eagles and probably the most lopsided lack of the season.
With a lot for his crew to soak up and course of, Eberflus wished his gamers to know Sunday’s outing must be reviewed unbiased of something that got here earlier than it or could come after.
“Every performance stands alone by itself,” Eberflus stated. “When you ride the wave of momentum, it can become a tricky thing for a young football team. So you have to look at every performance for what it is.”
Sunday’s efficiency was at occasions thrilling however crammed with bothersome and premature slip-ups.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com