Bears and Saints In-Game Update | Saints 21, Bears 9, Final

A live in-game blog by BearDigest.com's Gene Chamberlain looking at Sunday's wild-card round matchup between the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints, with the Bears looking to advance and face the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.

Fourth Quarter

• Jimmy Graham with one hand on the last play for the touchdown. What a catch. A tough one-hand catch. Would be an appropriate way to retire. Scoring against his old team.  No PAT coming. Kind of curious? The spread was 10. Bears are 12 down and could get 10. Hmmm.

• With 21 seconds left at the Saints 25.

• Wide receiver screen to Robinson. Where's that play been? You've got Kmet, Ridley and Wims and all are big guys and so is Robinson and they never run the play anymore. Picks up 7 and OB.

• Allen Robinson with a 4-yard catch. Bears at the 44. Back shoulder to Ridley and he's in Saints territory. 

• Riley Ridley with a first-down catch and run. Forgot who he even was, it's been so long.

• Two-minute warning and the Bears have third-and-3 at their 7 following DeAndre Carter catch over the middle. I'll 

• Not a touchdown. Brees short-armed it and got what he deserved. TD overturned. Bears ball at the 1.

• Brees leaps over with the reach for the sneak and a TD. Replay doesn't look like a TD.

• Hicks and Jenkins still in their battling against their old team as the clock winds down. Saints at the Bears 1. They stop Saints inches away on third-and-goal. 

• Kamara breaks a long run off down the sideline to the 22.

• Trevathan fails to make tackle on Burton and he gains 9 on reception. Defense has played a solid game but tackling has been questionable in the secondary the last 2 1/2 quarters. Lack of fundmentals. Need to look at the coaching in the secondary next year.

• Hicks with a vicious body slam of Kamara coming down the line.  

• Bears defense fought the good fight but you can't win a playoff game with just  a field goal.

• Three and out for Bears. Trubisky incomplete on the sideline. 

• Montgomery for no gain. Can't say I understand the point of running now with 8 1/2 minutes left and down 18.

• A drive of 8:51 as they wore down the Bears defense with short gains and penalties.

• Kamara in for the TD on a 3-yard run. Ballgame. I'll give the refs credit on that one. At least they didn't try to throw a block for Kamara.  Saints 21, Bears 3

• Kamara stuffed behind line on first-and-goal. Saints have had the ball almost nine minutes. 

• Saints at the 1. Refs doing everything they can to get them that touchdown. 

• Saints try a trick play, a jump pass with tackle eligible and Trevathan makes a nice play but they call him for pass interference. Hill threw for Hill and Trevathan was the one who was shoved. 

• Mack with the sack but a penalty on the Bears for holding on Vildor.  Vildor did not grab and made contact within 5 yards.

• Kamara  smashes off left tackle for 4.

• Cook catches a throw over the middle and gains 12 to the 9.

• On third-and-7, Saints false start at the Bears 35.  Then Brees nearly sacked throws ball out short to Humphrey and he breaks tackles for a first down at 26.

Third Quarter

• Hill back in game after hurting his knee, catches a 5-yard throw from Brees, then goes to cat and runs for 2.

• Brees throws out to Kamara on the sideline for a first down and a 10-yard gain.

• Brees dumps down to Murray for 5 yards, then Mack a TFL for a 2-yard loss on Kamara.

• Janoris Jenkins with a nice tackle of Carter on a dump off. Bears punt.

• Another deep ball to Wims. Good coverage by Marshon Lattimore, who hasn't been very good all year.

• Patterson with a yard on first down off left guard. Don't see the logic in running him. He has a bad knee.

• Chuck Pagano screaming at the defense on the sideline. Someone needs to scream at Eddie Jackson. Made all that money, no interceptions on the year, getting beat at a high rate all year, and jumps offsides to give the Saints new life when they're trying to do something stupid like gamble on fourth-and-1, leading by only 4. Put Jackson right next to Wims in the zeroes column on heroes and zeroes.

• Murray with a 6-yard TD pass on a dump off as Brees was about to be tackled by Mack.  Saints 14, Bears 3

• First down at the 8.

• Cook with a great diving catch in front of Gipson. Saints go wildcat. Eddie Jackson jumps offsides on third-and-1.

• Saints flagged for delay of game.

• Cook with a big height advantage but 5-10 Shelley (he's actually 5-8) jumps up and knocks it away in end zone.

• Jenkins hauls down Murray after 3-yard gain off right tackle.

• Nichols stuffs Kamara for no gain. Saints face third-and-4. Sanders gets 5 on a short pass over the middle just pass the stick at the 20.

• Dump-off to Kamara and Te'o has trouble getting him to the ground. Gains 6.

• Cook breaks five tackles on a 10-yard pass. 

• Saints at Bears 41. 

• Thomas beats Kyle Fuller for third-and-3 pass of 37 yards. 

• Kamara for 7 up the middle. Kamara fumbles on second down but lucks out as it bounces back to him before Hicks can get it.

• Matt Nagy went over and talked to Miller. If there is a receiver who is susceptible to being baited by an opposing big mouth, it's definitely Miller. 

• The Bears are now down two of their top three receivers, and have Wims  out there, who apparently doesn't catch passes. Might need to start putting DeAndre Carter out there on offensive plays as a receiver.

• Anthony Miller has been ejected for shoving C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who has once again punked a Bears receiver. Second time someone from the Bears let his garbage get under their skin. Didn't throw a punch. Ejection? For that? It was a shove.

• Another jailbreak and Bears have to punt. Officials throw a late flag. Unsportsmanlike penalties on both teams.  How did they determine it was on both teams when before Kmet got one for doing nothing more than anyone o the Saints did. 

• Alex Bars gives up a sack on second down and now Bears face third-and-15.

• DeAndre Carter on a rushing attempt for 3. That was new.

• Bootleg pass is thrown away with no one open. Then Trubisky finds Robinson again diving for a gain to the 34 of New Orleans cutting to the sideline. 

• Allen Robinson good concentration against tight coverage over the middle and makes the catch slanting in at the 50.

• Cole Kmet false start after Cordarrelle Patterson return to the 34, then a 1-yard run by Montgomery.

Second Quarter

• Offsetting penalties and Bears have to punt again. Half ends after punt

• Saints already nearly blocked one punt. And almost blocked this one but there are two penalties. One has to be running into the kicker

• They stuff the third down but the Bears wisely have the clock running. For once, Matt Nagy has learned conservative play and Saints won't get more than 10 seconds left to try and score. This is a real step forward in terms of his coaching. Usually he rushes them out, tries three passes that are incomplete and gives the opponent a minute to score. 

• Montgomery for 3. Third-and-2.

• Bears should run again because Saints can't stop the clock. 

• Montgomery gains 5 off left guard and Saints call their last timeout.

• Bears take over at the 17 after punt with 1:55 left in the half.

• False start on punt by Saints, who try to claim it was on Bears. 

• Kyle Fuller knocks it away from Michael Thomas. DeAndre Houston-Carson now on concussion protocol

• Bears with 27 rushing yards. That has to get better in the second half.

• Rush forces a check down and Saints with a 5-yard completion at 2-minute warning.
• Short pass for no gain as Eddie Jackson with a nice open-field tackle. One of his few plays of the half.
• Saints on third down now and 7 from the 26 and Brees again finds Deonte Harris against zone and no one tackles him. Deon Bush was right there and let him go and he gained 24 yards to midfield. Bush seemed more worried about preventing Harris from getting to the sideline than tackling him and there was no one else there helping on the inside.
• Saints challenged and if they win then there is no such thing as a catch and a football move in the rule because Montgomery didn't get to make a football move. He caught it started to take half a step and it was knocked out. 

• Jenkins returns a fumbled catch by Montgomery for a touchdown. Montgomery took a a step and a half. The on-field ruling is incomplete. Fourth down and Bears will punt. 

• Saints have really been selling out to stop Montgomery. He gets a yard on first down. 

• Another risky throw by Trubisky over the middle but Anthony Miller hauls it in for 11 diving. 

• For a team using so many subs on defense, the Bears appear very well prepared to handle the Saints offense. The key will be if they handle the halftime adjustments to what is letting them get their consistent pass rush.

• Saints pick up a first down but the pass rush pressure stays after Brees and Robert Quinn's heat forces a third-and-11 incompletion. Saints punt.

• Bad snap but Cairo Santos gets it just inside the left upright from 36 yards. Saints 7, Bears 3

• Talk about punk calls by the official. This is a playoff game and they call that kind of thing? Neither guy did anything but jaw at each other and Kmet flipped the ball to the official. Maybe they better start looking at replay for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

• Boot pass well diagnosed plus the snap came at the wrong time. Short gain to Kmet. Janoris Jenkins and Kmet yelling at each other. They give the penalty to Kmet. Jenkins was doing the mouthing off.  Wow. Terrible call by officials. Now third and 20

• Montgomery gets under the pile and keeps driving to get 4 to the 10.

• Montgomery barrels ahead twice for 10 yards and a first down to the Saints 14.

• Rush gets to Breez and John Jenkins comes up with the deflection for an interception at the Saints 26.  Tashaun Gipson with the blitz and deflected the deep ball. Saints had the TD to Deonte Harris if he got it off

• Murray smashes ahead for 3. Kamara then straight ahead for 8.

• Saints have to call timeout coming out of the timeout. 

• Saints come after O'Donnell. They're good at that but he gets it off and Saints have the ball at their 16

• Miller catches a one-handed throw, a great catch but was way out of bounds. Bears punting.

• Bears aren't being true to their running game. Gave it to Montgomery around left side for 2 yards but it wasn't their style of run.

• Bears trying to set up a deep ball but it isn't there and Trubisky wisely throws it away.

• Bears at 40.  

• Lutz now 4 of last 9 kicks after missing a 50-yarder wide right after a high snap.

• Saints catch Bears off guard and have Kamara try to run it up the middle. He gets 9 and puts them in field goal range.

• They have blown up the replay of it and they overrule the interception because the ball tip touched the ground. Third-and-11 at the Bears 41.

• Either way, Shelley is to be commended for getting up and running with the ball because you never know with officials today. They all seem to want to let replay decide everything and are afraid to make a call.

• Duke Shelley intercepts a deflected pass after Tashaun Gipson deflects it. They are reviewing to see whether he had his hands under it or it hit the ground. Can't really tell by these replays. Maybe they'll have a better one. 

• Bears have been giving Brees too much time to throw when they're in zone on second down.  Should throw in a blitz here or there. When they've blitzed on other downs they've been more successful.

First Quarter

• Bears stuff run by Kamara for a yard loss and quarter ends. Saints 7, Bears 0

• Harris again makes Jackson look foolish, faking inside and gets a catch at Bears 40.

• Saints jump this time and Bears catch them. Ruiz false start.

• Pass rush nearly gets Brees and has naked screen flushed so he throws it away.

• Former Bears fullback Michael Burton catches a 6-yard pass against Trevathan.

• Hill in at QB to start series after getting hit good by the Bears earlier and going to the tent. He runs around left tackle and Saints get away with a hold on the edge for a 10-yard run. Held Mack.

• Wims got kicked out of the first game with the Saints and now he's blown a touchdown in this one. What more damage can he do? Maybe he should get kicked out. Bears would benefit.

• Trubisky tip-toes at the first down marker scrambling and fails to get it. Saints ball at the 31. This was the Trubisky who doesn't know how to run anymore. He runs scared. When he was a rookie and second-year player he ran with abandon. Then he became a tip-toe guy. He easily could've made that first down if he'd taken off for the stakes right away. Just waited and slowed down and failed.

• Quick throw for 6 to Kmet and Bears face a fourth-and-4 and Nagy is going to go for it from Saints 34.  They take a timeout. 

• Third-and-long.

• Second down goes nowhere to Montgomery out of the gun. That never works. 

• At Saints 40. Flea flicker and Wims is open for a TD and Wims is open and drops perfect throw from Trubisky. Right through his hands.

• Duh. It was a catch and the officials missed it. Four feet down on the play. Three and a drag.

• Javon Wims catches deep ball and officials rule it incomplete. An awful call. Wims had the ball all the way to the ground, was 3 steps out of bounds and then let the ball goal after the play was over and they're calling it incomplete. Bears challenge it. If it's incomplete then we don't know what complete and incomplete are.

• Kmet with the boot catch from the 20 for 9 yards. Bears staple. Then Montgomery makes a few quick cuts and easily has first down but almost goes back and doesn't get it. First and 10 at 32

• Quick throw for 11-yard TD to Michael Thomas against zone between Trevathan and Te'o. Saints 7, Bears 0

• Brees overthrows Emmanuel Sanders at goal line. Then Kamara wiggles through for 6

• Saints at the 22 but Akiem Hicks jumps offsides

• Perfect second down play for defense. They flushed 41-year-old Brees out of pocket and then punished Taysom Hill with the hit on the short catch. Third-and-9. But the zone coverage doesn't work against Harris on third down and he catches it for 17.

• Te'o in there again on first down and they stuffed first run for 2-yard gain.

• Eddie Jackson embarrassed in open field by Deonte Harris on a short pass. Jackson didn't get close enough before breaking down to tackle, then let him go by. Saints get the first down on a 5-yard Kamara run to the Bears 41.

• Too risky on first Bears series for their field position. They can play that way at midfield or between the 20s, but not backed up to their own goal line.

• Saints faked the blitz, then brought a delayed blitz and rattled Trubisky into an incomplete pass over the middle, a bad decision but got away with it. So Bears punt and Harris returns it to the Saints 45.

• Dangerous backward pass to Anthony Miller for 2 yards to just over the 10. They look like they could have thrown a double pass off of the play. Then David Montgomery off guard for 3.

• Third third-down try for Saints, a third-and-4 at Bears 38 and Bears pass rush flushes him out of the pocket. Mario Edwards, Drew Brees' old teammate, among those with pressure. In complete and they punt and Bears have it at the 8.
  Manti Te'o seeing action already in the defense instead of Josh Woods.
• Two nice tackles by Kindle Vildor on the opening series and Saints face third-and-1 at the Bears 47, but Taysom Hill runs like a fullback for the first down to the 43

Inactives

Bears

• LB Roquan Smith 
• WR Darnell Mooney 
• CB Buster Skrine
• CB Jaylon Johnson
• OL Lachavious Simmons
• DL Daniel McCullers
• OLB Trevis Gipson

* Bears have activated DB Marqui Christian and LB Manti Ta'o from the practice squad

Saints

• G Nick Easton  
• DE Trey Hendrickson 
• CB Ken Crawley
• WR Ty Montgomery
• WR Austin Carr
• OL Derrick Kelly
• DL Malcolm Roach
• WR Juwan Johnson

**Wide receivers Mark Thomas and Deonte Harris have been activated from injured reserve

***RBs Alvin Kamara, Latavius Murray and FB Michael Burton have been activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

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