(670 The Score) It got so bad Sunday for the Bears that their offense couldn’t stop the run either.
That singular breakdown provided the highlight of the day in the Bears' collectively bad 49-29 loss to the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, a 36-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Micah Parsons with five minutes to go in the third quarter.
When diagramming how far the Bears have to go, Parsons' explosive play likely will show up at one end of the continuum. In the before-and-after pictures chronicling the Matt Eberflus era, Justin Fields hurdling Parsons promises to be a prominent part of the former.
On the key sequence, Parsons hustled downfield to chase down Bears running back David Montgomery and slid on the ground after recovering the ball that fell out Montgomery’s grasp. Instead of touching Parsons to ensure he would be marked down at the 36-yard line, quarterback Fields leapt over the Cowboys' star linebacker to avoid contact. That allowed Parsons to get up and start his rambling return for a gut-wrenching, game-changing score.
“I should have tagged him," Fields admitted to reporters postgame. “But I can’t tell you the last time I made a tackle, so I just have to be aware in that situation.’’
It’s a conundrum. Nobody wants a franchise quarterback being anywhere close to a defender with the football (Bears fans remember Jay Cutler’s injury tackling an interceptor changing the 2011 season), yet it’s easy to see how Fields could’ve smacked Parsons’ jersey and escaped unscathed.
“Just touch him down," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “We’ve shown them multiple times … you’ve got to touch ’em down. That’s part of pro football we’ve got to do a better job there. That was a big swing."
Maybe the Cowboys eventually would've scored anyway after the turnover, but Fields forgetting such a basic rule and neglecting to touch Parsons only made the momentum swing Eberflus cited harder to take. It was reminiscent of two Bears defensive backs inexplicably failing to touch Rams receiver Van Jefferson on a touchdown in the 2021 season opener.
How surprising that Fields’ biggest mental lapse of the game had nothing to do with reading a coverage.
How unfortunate for the Bears that Parsons never would've been on the field on third down if they hadn’t committed an illegal procedure penalty on third-and-12 when the Cowboys game-wrecker was resting on the sideline. After the penalty made it third-and-17 — a pass rusher’s dream – Parsons came back in the game to line up across from left tackle Braxton Jones and reinforce his standing as the NFL’s most disruptive defensive player.
For Eberflus, it provided a perfect teaching moment. The Cowboys, with Parsons pursuing the runner and recovering the fumble, epitomized everything about Eberflus’ HITS principle on the play: hustle, intensity, a takeaway and smarts. The Bears, by failing to touch Parsons or tackle him, neglected every tenet.
“Hey, we could’ve done a good job on the sideline saying, touch ‘em down," Eberflus lamented.
True, but make no mistake: That was the most memorable play of the game, but Montgomery could've held onto the ball and the Bears really never were that close to winning this game. Fields hurdling Parsons didn’t stop the Bears from making a big leap into the NFC playoff race.
Teams that give up 49 points and 200 rushing yards seldom win the NFL. That’s not winning football. Not since suffering a 55-14 loss to the Packers on Nov. 9, 2014 had the Bears given up that many points.
Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, filling in more than capably for the injured Ezekiel Elliott, gained 131 yards on only 14 carries and scored three touchdowns as the Dallas offensive line dominated Chicago. The Bears gave up four rushing touchdowns, their most in a game in six years. On this day, the holes for Cowboys running backs were like everything else in Texas.
Bigger.
“It’s very frustrating," Bears linebacker Roquan Smith said. “We can never allow someone to score that many points. It always starts with us."
The temptation for some will be to blame the drop-off from the Patriots game on the absence of Robert Quinn, whom the Bears traded to the Eagles earlier in the week for a fourth-round draft pick. Granted, Quinn likely would've provided more resistance than, say, overmatched rookie defensive end Dominique Robinson, but that sounds more like a feeble excuse than plausible explanation. Smith broke down in tears Wednesday talking about Quinn’s trade, but professional football players get paid well to play at their highest level, regardless of who leaves the roster.
The deeper problems for the Bears defense involved execution, not emotion. The difference from Sunday and last Monday night had more to do with facing a Cowboys team much closer to the playoffs than a Patriots one headed toward the division basement.
For his part, Eberflus wanted no part of any alibi other than the obvious.
“It comes down to guys doing their jobs and coaches getting them to play," Eberflus said.
Rest assured, neither of the defensive coordinators Sunday will be asked to present this videotape at a How To Stop the Run clinic. The Bears, the No. 1 rushing team in the NFL, outgained the Cowboys by amassing 240 yards on the ground and controlling the ball for 36 minutes, 4 seconds. Khalil Herbert led the way with 99 yards on 16 carries, with Montgomery adding 53 on 15 as the Bears cracked the 200-yard barrier for the third straight game and gained at least 230 rushing yards for the fourth time this season.
Near the midpoint of the season, the Bears run the ball better than they do anything. Offensively, play-caller Luke Getsy has embraced that identity – lose the double pass and the Wildcat formation gimmick, coach – because it accentuates the strengths of a group limited at the skill positions.
“On offense, I think we performed pretty well," Eberflus said.
Related
That includes Fields, who kept the arrow pointing up for the second straight game, a development positive enough for many in Chicago to outweigh any other negatives about the defeat. Fields exhibited toughness that's quickly becoming his trademark as well as the athleticism that makes him special, carrying eight times for 60 yards and a touchdown and completing 17 of 23 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns. His passer rating was a career-high 120.0, but the encouragement went beyond the numbers.
“I definitely feel like I’m growing as a runner and a passer, for sure," Fields said. “I’m just getting more comfortable with the offense. We’re growing."
It shows. On short passes, Fields displayed a softer touch and again adjusted his arm angles when necessary, excelling at the sidearm delivery. He displayed improved chemistry with favorite receiver Darnell Mooney and connected for touchdown passes with two emerging threats in the red zone, tight end Cole Kmet and receiver N’Keal Harry. He posed a threat that will make him every defensive coordinator on the Bears' schedule dread facing him.
Fields definitely will regret two throws. He overthrew receiver Dante Pettis badly enough for Trevon Diggs to intercept the ball, but it was nullified by a roughing-the-passer penalty. Earlier, on the first offensive play from scrimmage from the Cowboys' 25, Fields underthrew receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, who had beaten his defender by a step. Fields’ best throw of the day was an incompletion, a deep pass that Velus Jones Jr. dropped.
Jones, by the way, gained 18 yards on a jet sweep in the first half, but that drop proved the Bears can’t trust him yet unless they’re handing off the ball. They drafted Jones in the third round because they envisioned him making an impact in the passing game and on returns, and he has — but negatively. Bears coaches should respond with fewer opportunities, not more. The margin for error remains too thin for a struggling offense, and continuing to give Jones chances to disappoint makes little sense. Fields needs a wide receiving corps more likely to help the cause than hurt it.
The kind the Cowboys have for Dak Prescott.
In his second game back from injury, Prescott regained the form that makes him a $160-million quarterback by completing 21 of 27 for 250 yards with two touchdowns and an interception for a 114.5 passer rating.
Prescott got hot early, developing a rhythm with the short passing game that Fields can learn from, spreading the ball around to various receivers as the Cowboys moved the chains with ease. Prescott looked sharp and accurate, particularly when he picked on cornerback Kindle Vildor.
A 21-yard touchdown connection from Prescott to CeeDee Lamb also exploited Bears rookie safety Jaquan Brisker, caught in man coverage in what was a schemed mismatch. Credit coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore with increasing the tempo for the Cowboys offense and mixing in short passes with Pollard runs. And for all the talk about the Bears designing runs for Fields, the Cowboys called on Prescott to use his feet to keep drives going – especially on a quarterback sneak that he turned into a 25-yard gain.
Prescott’s only mistake came when Eddie Jackson made a terrific interception with 40 seconds left in the first half to set up a Cairo Santos field goal. Jackson read the quarterback, drove on the route and beat Lamb to the ball, picking it off and returning it 21 yards. On a long day for the Bears defense — especially the secondary — that play stood out and reminded everyone how resurgent of a first half of the season Jackson has enjoyed. It also suggested these Bears never quit, never stop playing for Eberflus, as 16 unanswered points in a 5:58 spurt to cut the lead to 28-23 represented.
But tenacity only will take you so far in the NFL. Talent almost always prevails.
The Cowboys still have considerably more than the Bears, which was obvious on more than just the play everyone will remember.
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.
Listen live to 670 The Score via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker