At 2:45 PM Sunday, scores of Bears beat writers were frantically trying to get their articles posted heralding the Justin Fields return to the lineup game. Fields had a terrific game at Detroit. His 9:00 drive ending in Cairo Santos kicking his 4th field goal of the game had increased the Bears’ lead over the Lions to 26-14. There was only 4:15 remaining in the game.
What happened over the game’s last four minutes became a historical failure.
This latest defensive collapse never should have occurred. The Bears had several opportunities to win this game, but those chances slipped through their fingertips, both literally and figuratively. Jaylon Johnson dropped an interception that likely would have been returned for a touchdown. Detroit scored on the next play to tie the game 7-7. Johnson would also drop another potential interception. Both plays were extremely detrimental to the game’s outcome. Offensively, Bears rookie Tyler Scott also had two costly blunders. The first was his fumble that led to Detroit’s first score. Late in the fourth quarter, Justin Fields found Scott for what would have been a game-clinching completion, only to see Scott slowed down, and the ball fell to the ground for an incompletion.
If Scott runs the route properly, he scores the game-clinching TD, and the Bears give coach Eberflus his signature win. A dominant victory against one of the best teams in the NFC, winning on their home field. It also would have been Chicago’s first back-to-back wins since 2021.
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But with that blunder, Chicago had to punt the ball back to the Lions. 10 plays later, former Bear running back David Montgomery scored the game-winning touchdown from the one-yard line, and the Lions walked away with a come-from-behind victory.
The Bears dominated this game for 54 minutes. They won the turnover battle with 3 interceptions and a fumble recovery. They also dominated the time of possession, controlling the ball for more than 40 minutes. Losing a game with that domination was hard to stomach. It turns out it had never happened.
“first time any team lost in regulation with (a) Plus three turnover margin and 40 minute plus time of possession. teams were 48-0 prior to today’s epic collapse.”
Doug Coletti- ESPN 1000 Chicago
Chicago now limps into Minnesota for what hopefully is their last game in Prime Time on November 27th. After that game, the team finally gets their bye week. The rest of the schedule is as follows: vs Detroit, at Cleveland, vs Atlanta, vs Arizona, at Green Bay.
