USA Today
One Mistake After the Other for Bears
It was the proverbial microcosm of a season Monday night, actually of the last three seasons for the Bears.
The defense held up its end even without the starting secondary due to COVID-19 as Akiem Hicks and Robert Quinn wreaked havoc and Deon Bush intercepted a pass.
However, the offense struggled to get the ball in the end zone once again amid a stack of penalties, three lost fumbles and total frustration in a 17-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
"That's been the story, that's been the story of the year," quarterback Justin Fields said. "It's just us shooting ourselves in the foot. Once we eliminate those penalties, sacks on my part where I should just throw the ball away, throw the ball down to the ground, once we eliminate those we start seeing more points come up on the board and have more success.
"I thought our whole defense played great tonight and put us in a position to win."
The Bears had drives die on downs at the Vikings 21, 9 and 14 in the second half, had a 34-yard Cairo Santos field goal in the second quarter on another red-zone possession and didn't get in the end zone until the game's final play with an irrelevant 19-yard Fields TD pass to Jesper Horsted.
"It was just a recycle of last year when we played them on Monday night," wide receiver Darnell Mooney said. "We didn't score at all last year, and it was just a repetitive thing."
The Bears had nine penalties for 91 yards, got angry over some questionable officiating and left with a 4-10 record, eliminated from the playoff chase and entirely frustrated.
"So that's what this came down to: nine total penalties, five personal fouls, one including myself," coach Matt Nagy said, after he got a 12-yard penalty for arguing about a late hit call on Deon Bush when the Bears broke up a pass over the middle. "It was an emotional game and I think that it sucks losing but I'm talking to the guys and just knowing for me to understand where they're at and to see their fight, I appreciate that."
Nagy sounded more and more like a coach who knows he's going to be fired as he spoke about what kind of career Fields will have in the future tense, after the rookie progresses past this year's struggles.
Fields finished 26 of 39 for 285 yards with a TD and no interceptions. But he fumbled twice, recovering it once.
Fields wasn't the only rookie fouling up, as Teven Jenkins and Dazz Newsome drew penalties.
They had a turnover in the second half on Damiere Byrd's muffed punt and a David Montgomery lost fumble in addition to Fields' fumble.
The Bears' COVID replacements in the secondary allowed a 12-yard TD pass from Kirk Cousins to Justin Jefferson and a 7-yarder to Ihmir Smith-Marsette, as well as a 37-yard first-half Greg Joseph field goal.
But they gave up only 12 of 24 passes for 87 yards to Cousins,, sacked him four times and held Jefferson to four catches for 47 yards with practice squad players like Thomas Graham Jr. stepping up in a big way.
Quinn had his 15th and 16th sacks and Hicks returned from an ankle sprain for two sacks.
"It's frustrating at this point, especially with the false starts, just everything," Fields said.
The Vikings had 33 runs for 132 yards, including 89 yards by Dalvin Cook. Yet, their running game carried less impact than Bears mistakes.
"Whether it's penalties, any of it, again you have to understand that you have to score in the red zone," Nagy said. "Field goals do you no good, missed field goals do you no good, you need touchdowns."
It's been a Bears loser's lament all year, and in 2019 and 2020 as well.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
