USA Today
A Bears Defense in Decline
On the day the Bears saw Justin Fields step forth like he hadn't before, they also saw their defense repeat a trend of collapsing in games.
The San Francisco 49ers scored on seven straight possessions and rallied to hand the Bears their third straight loss, 33-22.
"Obviously it was a game of two halves," said Bears special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who was acting Bears head coach. "I thought we played good football there in the first half.
"We were doing the things that we wanted to do but in the second half. We couldn't get off the field when we needed to get off the field."
The Bears seemed to miss injured pass rusher Khalil Mack and safety Eddie Jackson more even than they missed their head coach as they allowed Jimmy Garoppolo to cap off a 75-yard touchdown drive for an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, then another drive to a cap-clinching field goal.
They led 16-9 in the third quarter and a critical 83-yard wide receiver screen pass to Deebo Samuel set up a TD in the third quarter to turn the game. It happened on third-and-
"Gotta make the play," linebacker Roquan Smith said. "Not sure on everything that happened. I was up blitzing on that. I'm not sure what exactly happened but got to get the guy down on the ground.
"Had a lot of situations like that so we have to execute."
They went on to give up 467 yards and even Justin Fields' brillance running and passing couldn't keep it close in the fourth quarter.
"I think we have to appreciate the offense for stepping up and putting up points, right?" defensive end Akiem Hicks said. "As a defense, that's all you can ask for. So I think the onus falls on us to stand up toward the end of that game."
Fields had a spinning 22-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1, eluding Fred Warner to go in after the Bears had fallen behind on a 5-yard Elijah Mitchell TD run. When Cairo Santos missed the PAT kick after Fields' score, the Bears still trailed 23-22.
"It's just instinct," Fields said "I just saw pressure in my face and just instinctively tried to get away from him. It was that simple."
"I think No. 1 improved today," Tabor said. "I thought you saw he made plays with his legs and led our team.
"I thought he threw the ball well. He gave us a chance and obviously he's a special player. I mean, he made nothing into something."
Fields went 19 of 27 for 175 yards with an 8-yard TD pass to Jesse James, the Bears converted 8 of 15 third downs and Santos had field goals of 39, 40 and 25 yards.
It wasn't enough to help their defense, which managed no pass rush without injured Mack and failed to defend the pass without Jackson, who left with a hamstring injury on the second play
"Those things are gonna happen," Hicks said. "It happened to me against Detroit, right?
"Unfortunately, we can't predict who's going to be able to play on Sunday, but we have to understand that."
Unfortunately for the Bears, after giving up 34 points to the Rams, getting trampled by Cleveland, allowing Tampa Bay 38, the 49ers 33 and surrendering a key fourth-quarter TD drive to Green Bay, it's apparent who isn't going to play on Sundays.
It's the defense.
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