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.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
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.
Haters, Fields is why we had 40 minutes possession and a two score lead with 4 mins left. It’s not his fault Detroit scored 2 TDs in 3 minutes! Get a freaking clue! Why not blame Flus for bonehead decisions like not going for it on 4th & inches or going weak Prevent, the defense for missing tackles and not making plays like JJohnson dropping a sure Pick6, Scott dropping perfect pass that would have also put game away, Scott’s fumble that led to 1st Detroit TD, Edmunds missed tackle of Gibbs near end of game, EJackson not doing his… Read more »
If you need more proof of why Justin Fields is simply not a top quarterback, there’s a video floating around of the long pass to Tyler Scott. Before Fields throws the pass there is a shot that shows DJ Moore wide open 5-6 yards downfield. All Fields had to do was dump the ball off to Moore and he would have had an easy 1st down. Fields might have all the physical ability in the world, but he just doesn’t understand the importance of game situations. It doesn’t matter if Scott was wide open downfield. The top priority at the… Read more »
Tyson Bagent is 2 – 2 in his young career. Justin Fields is something ridiculous like 6 – 25 as a starter. There’s a reason for this. Two weeks ago the bears were ahead with time running out but they need a 1st down to win the game. On 3rd and long Bagent came up and threw a dagger into the hearts of the Panthers for a 1st down. The Bears run out the clock, the Panthers don’t get a chance for a miracle win. Against the Lions, with time running and needing a 1st down to win the game,… Read more »
Triumphant return? Justin Fields? Ha! People are delusional if they think Fields is a franchise QB. When the games is on the line in the 4th quarter, Fields fails to rise to the occasion. Again and again. And maybe even again. Fields is a great athlete. He’s just not a QB. He takes too many sacks, especially late in the game. He misses way too many easy passes. He misses way too many open receivers. He can’t throw a touch pass into the corner of the endzone. He can’t throw a bomb with any rate of consistency. He can’t hit… Read more »
Everyone is piling on Fields. If Scott wouldn’t have slowed down Fields most likely would have had another 60 yds and another td. But it’s his fault Getsy wanted to run the ball into the line. Well if you can’t blame coaching on the offense you can’t blame coaching on the defense either. Where were Sweat and Edmunds the last 5 minutes of the game? People don’t care what Fields did the first 55 minutes so it doesn’t matter what they did up till that point either. Those two are being paid extremely well for this exact type of situation.… Read more »