(670 The Score) How do you describe the indescribable? Or explain the inexplicable?
How do you find the right words – or any words really – after the Bears lost 18-15 to the Washington Commanders on a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Noah Brown that provided the NFL highlight of the season … and Chicago's lowlight of the fall?
What do you say after that?
Nothing printable. Nothing logical. Nothing rational.
Truth is, there are no adjectives descriptive enough nor emojis expressive enough to capture exactly what happened Sunday at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md.
There just aren't enough GIFs or memes or exclamations after OMG to do it justice.
No, the Bears didn't deserve to win that game based on how carelessly they played and coached for most of it. But they sure didn't deserve to lose like that. Not in such a memorably cruel way after a Caleb Williams-led fourth-quarter comeback was negated by Brown's heroics.
The hardest part for the Bears now will be preventing one defeat from causing another. Now, coach Matt Eberflus must find a way to help his players recover quickly after having their hearts ripped out.
The Bears lost a game, and it's now up to Eberflus and his staff to make sure they don’t lose the season too. They can't let bad become worse and allow their season to end in late October. It has happened before in pro sports after losses this devastating and potentially defining.
And, frankly, the overall coaching was suspect enough to wonder if Eberflus and the Bears coaches can accomplish that. Because as painful as it felt and as fluky as it appeared, this was a coaching loss. And everything starts with the head coach.
For three quarters, the Bears looked like they forgot everything about football during their bye week. They lacked focus, intensity and football intelligence – unforgivably so when Tyrique Stevenson drew a personal foul shortly after jawing with Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin, who beat him earlier for a 61-yard completion.
They committed too many silly penalties, eight overall. They hardly functioned like a team coming off a three-game winning streak. They looked sloppy, clunky and out of sync – especially on offense – and preparation so poor reflected on coaching more than anything.
Easily, the most egregious example of coaching shortcomings came with 6:21 remaining in the game and the Bears facing third-and-goal from the Commanders’ 1-yard line while trailing 12-7. The exciting drive had featured the resurgence of Caleb Williams, who struggled for three quarters yet somehow put the Bears in position to regain control of the game.
Then offensive coordinator Shane Waldron etched his name more deeply in Bears infamy. If you thought the speed option against the Colts was a terrible call, this set a new low.
Offensive guard Doug Kramer – the "Mini-Fridge" – reported as eligible and lined up at fullback. The expectation was that Kramer would lead as a blocker as he had successfully earlier this season.
Then for reasons only Waldron understood, he called for Williams to hand off to a 6-foot-2, 300-pound offensive lineman expected to carry the ball one yard for the go-ahead touchdown.
A fumble ensued, Commanders defensive tackle Johnny Newton recovered and the Bears franchise had a new nominee for dumbest call in team history.
With the game on the line, the Bears put the ball in the meaty hands of a player who blocks for a living. Whose idea was that? Who approved that call?
The Bears had regained momentum in a game they had no business being in. They were on the road, with Williams finally finding a rhythm and D’Andre Swift an available and smart option after his own 56-yard touchdown run. They were 36 inches from taking the lead.
And they still handed the ball to a backup offensive lineman. Inexcusable. Unacceptable. Dumb.
Those who try so hard to look like the smartest guy in the room often accomplish the opposite. Not that Eberflus sounded as baffled by the decision as the rest of us – or as ticked off as he should've seemed.
"It's a one-yard play,” Eberflus told reporters. "We felt a big guy taking a dive could do that.”
Come on, Flusy. Hold your coaches as accountable as your players. Is there anyone else on staff capable of calling plays? Now is the time to have that hard conversation.
It speaks to the resilience the Bears will need now that they got the ball back and scored a go-ahead touchdown even after Waldron's wayward call. That came when Roschon Johnson barreled into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run with 23 seconds left to cap a drive that demonstrated Williams' resourcefulness.
For three quarters, Williams – not rookie counterpart Jayden Daniels – played like the quarterback who hadn't practiced all week. In the hyped matchup between the last two Heisman Trophy winners and the top two selections in the 2024 NFL Draft, Daniels outplayed Williams. And it wasn't even close for three quarters.
Heck, until the fourth quarter, the game hardly lived up to the hype. By the third quarter, somewhere a CBS executive probably wondered why they flexed this game into the network's marquee time slot.
Then the last few minutes happened, and those same executives were probably high-fiving and toasting martini glasses.
Daniels showed what makes him special by completing 21 of 38 passes for 326 yards and one touchdown and adding eight carries for 52 rushing yards. What made Daniels' performance all the more impressive was it came with him playing through obvious pain. Commanders coach Dan Quinn on Monday labeled Daniels "week-to-week" after he left the game the day prior with a rib injury.
Yet Daniels left not only the winning quarterback but the better one, for now.
Williams completed 10 of 24 passes for 131 yards, falling well short of his own expectations for his homecoming that included his high school football coach and team attending. Alas, this is how bad Williams was early: It felt unfair to blame the offensive coordinator for the offense going nowhere. Not with Williams missing throws he typically makes, throws that consensus No. 1 overall draft picks must make, throws that Daniels made with more frequency.
The Commanders’ pass rush harassed Williams, enhanced by the first-half exit of left tackle Braxton Jones. Rookie Kiran Amegadjie showed how inexperienced he was protecting Williams, who barely had enough time to look downfield as Amegadjie got beat snap after snap. (Note to Ryan Poles: Offensive line depth remains a problem.)
Then something clicked in the fourth quarter and, for a while, Williams played like he was refusing to let the Bears lose. And in the fourth quarter, he did all he could – most notably with a 29-yard completion to DJ Moore just before he took a shot from a blitzer.
Indeed, Williams put the Bears in position to win by leading the late touchdown drive. As he stood on the sideline with 25 seconds to go, ahead 15-12, Williams believed the Bears he had done enough to head back to Chicago with his team's fourth straight victory.
And the football gods laughed.
Ironically, Williams' ascent to football stardom unofficially began when he was the quarterback at Gonzaga College High School and completed a similar Hail Mary pass to win a game – a clip CBS even showed during the broadcast Sunday. If that qualifies as irony, it’s the cruelest sort.
“Weird, definitely weird,” Williams said of being involved in two such plays near his hometown.
Even weirder? Watch a clip of the Commanders' final 52-yard answered prayer, the one circulating on social media, and you'll see Stevenson – the Bears’ mouthy cornerback – taunting Commander fans even after the ball is snapped. His back is facing the line of scrimmage as he gestures to the crowd. Then Stevenson moved toward the scrum, leapt to tip the ball and likely felt his heart sink with the rest of Chicagoans watching as Brown came down with the jaw-dropping, head-shaking, game-winning, season-defining touchdown.
Commanders 18, Bears 15.
“That's a tough one to swallow,” Eberflus said.
It didn't have to be, a fact that's easier to accept than explain.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.