The Chicago Bears suffered a historic collapse on Sunday in Detroit. They won the turnover battle and had 40 minutes of possession against the top team in the NFC North. Yet, the Bears couldn't put away the Lions and Detroit scored 17 points in the final three minutes of the game for a 31-26 victory.
What could’ve been a statement win in Justin Fields’ return turned into an unmitigated disaster. While losing ultimately helps the organization in the long run, a loss like the one on Sunday still hurts.
Danny Parkins talked about the Bears in the big picture vs. short-term with co-host Andrew Fillipponi on the Audacy Original Podcast “1st & Pod” on Sunday night.
“I thought you were going to say ‘Isn’t it fantastic that the Bears blew this game?’ Isn’t this cause for celebration that the Bears blew this game?’” Fillipponi said (9:15 in player above). “No?”
“If you want Matt Eberflus fired, which I do, and the draft pick that it helps you get and Fields played well but the draft pick improved,” Parkins replied, “Macro, big picture, man, you know I’m all for that; and this team isn’t going to the playoffs. So that’s fine.”
The loss isn’t necessarily the issue. It’s how the Bears lost.
“I think people need to understand how literally unprecedented this loss was,” Parkins continued. “It’s never happened. History of the NFL. To be plus-three turnover differential and have over 40 minutes of time of possession and lose. Never happened. Teams were 48-0.”
While Parkins may have enjoyed this type of loss last year as a part of the tank, this year’s team is different.
“This team is trying to win,” he said. “Last year’s team traded away Roquan Smith, traded away Robert Quinn, didn’t have a first-round pick. They were trying to lose organizationally.”
The positive that the Bears can take away from Sunday’s loss is the play of Fields. He reminded everyone just how good he can be as he returned from a dislocated thumb.
“Fields has seven games and seven tests the rest of the way. He passed it (Sunday). He was spectacular,” Parkins said. “He looked refreshed with the time off running the football. He dropped an absolute dime to D.J. Moore.”
Fields may not necessarily be the quarterback of the future but his success can still help the Bears.
“When the game is happening, even if they’re going to trade Justin Fields, you want him to be good because then you get more for him in a trade,” Parkins said. “He is a starting quarterback in the NFL.”
Ultimately, Ryan Poles has made it pretty clear that the Bears are looking to change direction with a few top quarterbacks available in the upcoming draft.
“It’s 70-30” in Parkins’ mind that the Bears will draft a new QB. “I can’t ignore the contractual side of it and how generational these guys are,” he said, “but I think it’s like 95-5 that Poles is going to draft one.”