(670 The Score) Chicago can stop dreaming now.
Reality smacked a football city in the face Sunday after the Bears blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and lost 20-17 to an injured Browns team full of backups playing for backups. But attrition didn’t matter because 38-year-old Joe Flacco proved to be the most clutch quarterback on the field and Dustin Hopkins booted a 34-yard field goal with 32 seconds left that felt like a kick in the teeth to the Bears.
That should end any nonsense about the Bears sneaking into the NFC playoffs, climbing past teams in the NFC North or finishing 2023 with more wins than losses. For the 23rd time in the past 32 seasons, the Bears will fail to finish with a winning record. That’s pathetic for the NFL’s charter franchise.
For the Bears to change their direction for more than just a year or two, they must set higher standards, accept some hard truths and make difficult judgment calls this offseason that were only underscored by the latest defeat.
Of course, the big decisions revolve around the futures of coach Matt Eberflus and quarterback Justin Fields but also include offensive play-caller Luke Getsy, who hardly covered himself in glory against the league’s top-rated defense. The Bears offense looks broken, slammed into a state of disrepair by the Browns, who forced eight three-and-outs. The Browns were missing several starters on defense – which wasn’t as banged-up as their offensive line and backfield – yet the Bears were unable to establish a running game or take advantage of a compromised secondary. Even then, with a chance to forge either a game-winning drive in the final minutes or get into field-goal range to force overtime, the Bears offense failed. Again.
Nobody was surprised: The Bears merely gained 236 yards and went 4-of-18 on third-down conversions. Robert Tonyan dropping a perfectly thrown pass from Fields that could've gone for a touchdown typified a game by coming close.
You can blame Getsy for not finding more creative ways to solve the Browns defense. You can point a finger at Fields for not giving the Bears a passing game capable of coming through in crunch time. You can say the Bears simply lack the talent necessary at wide receiver, running back and the offensive line to make Fields better or any offensive consistency realistic.
And you could defend every point with examples on display Sunday, as they have been throughout a long season.
Fields completed 19 of 40 passes for 166 yards and a 46.5 passer rating, one touchdown and two interceptions on Hail Mary throws at the end of each half. Fields’ desperation heave before halftime actually hit the ground, according to replays, so his passer rating should have been higher as a result. And the interception that clinched the victory for the Browns – and nearly allowed the Bears to steal the game – went through receiver Darnell Mooney’s hands and off his feet before Browns safety D’Anthony Bell intercepted it.
Surely that’s not what Mooney meant by wanting more touches.
On his touchdown pass to tight end Cole Kmet in the second quarter, Fields made the kind of play only he can make, escaping pressure and keeping his eyes downfield long enough to find the open guy. On too many other plays, he looked less polished and potentially more dangerous to the Bears than the Browns. After 35 NFL starts, Fields remains a work in progress as a passer regardless of the extenuating circumstances that have contributed to his lack of growth.
This was the third double-digit fourth-quarter lead the Bears have blown this season. They were up 14 against the Broncos, 12 against the Lions and 10 against the Browns. What happened in the Dawg Pound wasn’t the exception as much as the rule. This is who the Bears really are, a team more likely to break your heart than reward your faith. They're just good enough to get people fired.
For 45 minutes, this looked like a signature effort by the Bears defense. They created three takeaways and made the Browns one-dimensional.
**Eddie Jackson picked an ideal time for his first interception of the season, even if the Bears did have to wait until the 14th game to see it. Jackson picked off an errant Flacco pass and returned it 27 yards to the Browns' 1-yard line to set up the first touchdown. It took the Bears four plays and three Browns penalties before they scored, and even then it wasn’t easy. Fields pulled off one of his patented escapes to elude Myles Garrett and find Kmet – who atoned for a false start penalty at the 1 with a nifty catch.
**Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds appropriately scored a defensive touchdown on a day his unit dominated. On a pass intended for Cedric Tillman, linebacker T.J. Edwards delivered a punishing hit that dislodged the football. Edmunds plucked it out of the air and used all his athleticism on a 45-yard return for the go-ahead touchdown early in the third quarter.
**The defense did it again late in the third quarter after Trent Taylor muffed a fumble that gave the Browns life. Instead of letting Flacco capitalize on the mistake, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson made an instinctive, diving interception that gave the Bears their third takeaway of the game.
For most of the game, the run defense was stout, the secondary covered well and Montez Sweat dominated with 2.5 sacks.
Then, in the fourth quarter, the bottom fell out.
Down 17-10, Flacco bought himself some time and made an anticipatory throw into a tight window to Browns receiver Amari Cooper, who broke a Jaquan Brisker tackle and sped 51 yards for the game-tying touchdown.
Later, with the game tied at 17 and the Browns facing a third-and-15 at their own 47-yard line with 56 seconds left, Flacco held onto the ball just long enough to hit tight end David Njoku for a 34-yard completion that set up the game-winning field goal. The image of defensive tackle Justin Jones, for some reason, dropping into coverage trying to keep up with Njoku will be one seared into the memories of Bears fans for far too long. Njoku might pop up in a few nightmares too after his clutch catch that came after his toe-tapping touchdown reception earlier.
On most Sundays, the Bears defense could say it played well enough to win. But on most Sundays with the Bears, the offense falls short of playing complementary football.
To oversimplify everything, when the Browns needed their quarterback to bail them out, he did. When the Bears needed Fields to play the role of hero on the ensuing possession, something got in the way.
Something always seems to get in the way with the Bears offense.
Flacco, despite the three interceptions, threw for 374 yards and two touchdowns, completing 28 of 44 passes and earning a $75,000 victory bonus based on the contract he signed earlier in the week. Like many quarterbacks past their prime, Flacco alternated between looking aged and elite but, in the end, did enough to be the guy most responsible for the death of hope at Halas Hall. It was fun when the Fox broadcast spelled out all of the outcomes that needed to happen for the Bears to make the playoffs with a victory. But that’s all folly now.
The only thing the Bears are in the hunt for is respectability.
The final three games still look winnable for a Bears team that isn't as close to the playoffs as it wanted everyone to believe the last two weeks. For Fields and Eberflus, the remainder of the season gives them a chance to change any minds that aren’t made up by now. The questions about Fields’ passing prowess remain and won’t stop after a 166-yard performance. The culture Eberflus likes to cite will be questioned after Mooney said postgame the offense became “lackadaisical” after taking a 10-point lead.
How does that happen on a losing team?
Eberflus’ most widely debated decision came at the end of the first half, with four seconds left. Instead of trying a 55-yard field-goal attempt in a game in which points and yards were hard to come by, the Bears called for Fields to make a desperation heave into the end zone.
On one hand, the windy and rainy elements increased the degree of difficulty for kicker Cairo Santos, one of the Bears’ most reliable players. On the other, Santos connecting from his career-long distance – even in inclement weather – seemed more likely than completing a Hail Mary touchdown pass. Asked about it postgame, Eberflus explained that the kick was into a fierce wind that took about eight yards out of Santos’ range.
On this day, not even the wind was going the Bears’ way. But as the sobering truth sinks in, they really have nobody to blame but themselves.
In the holiday spirit, the Bears simply gave one away.
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.