Bears and Bills In-Game Blog

Analysis and reporting live from Saturday's Bears game at Soldier Field against the Bills where game time temperature will be about 10 degrees.

Fourth Quarter

• Fields 15 of 23 for 119 yards. One TD, 92.5 passer rating.  
• It will be interesting to see if Fields is injured afterward. There was no announcement and he limped off after Milano's hit on fourth down. Now Nate Peterman is finishing the game.
• Bills rub the Bears' noses in it. They throw a bootleg pass for a TD to Knox instead of getting the first down or the 100 yards for Cook. Bills 35, Bears 13.
• Cook gets 4 and is a yard shy of 100. Singletary already got it.
• Now the Bears are interested in stopping the run. Third-and-7 with 1:54 left but the Bears are out of timeouts.
• TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!!!!
• A four-and-out and Fields got hit by Milano trying to throw on fourth down and limped off the field.  Bills ball at Bears 20 with 2:08 left. Bears have one timeout left.
• Allen bootlegs in for the 4-yard TD with 3:45 left. An eight-play, 56-yard drive to put it away. Bills 28, Bears 13.
• They announce tickets distributed as 59,929. The place was only half full though. If that.
• Hines is caught short on a pass in the flat but spins away from Gordon and gets the first down at the Bears 11 with 5:20 left. Brilliant open-field move. Also not good tackling by Gordon, who has had problems with this in the past.
• Nicholas Morrow injured making the tackle on Josh Allen on a scramble but eppears to be all right leaving the field. Bills have third-and-9.
• After a yard gain, the Bears use a timeout with 5:53 left.
• Singletary breaks straight up the middle for 26. He has 99 yards and Cook has 92. They could have two 100-yard runners in this one.
• Bills from their own 44 after a short Gill punt and a holding penalty. The Bills wise up and go back to the run with Singletary gaining 8. It was working fine for them and then Allen started throwing interceptions.
• Fields stumbles scrambling and Matt Milano gets him after a yard gain. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened without the stumble because Fields had open field for 25 or 30 yards if Milano isn't tackling him.
• Buffalo uses a timeout with 8:06 left. They probably just want to get mentally ready after laughing so hard at the Bears ineptness.
• Then they screw up and have 12 players in the huddle for a 5-yard penalty on third-and-8. So now it's third-and-13. Wow. 
• They don't, they run twice once each by Montgomery and Herbert and face third-and-8 at the 23.
• Sam Martin with a fantastic punt to the 21, 62 yards and out of bounds. Saves the Bills. Bears need to try something different because Buffalo has bottled everything up for the last two quarters.
• Dominique Robinson flushed Allen out and forces him to throw it away. First time Robinson contributed a big play in quite a while. 
• A 1-yard run and incomplete deep ball to McKenzie leaves Buffalo facing third-and-9.
• Hines botches the kick return and Bills are bottled up at their 16. He muffed it, then it hit and kicked away from him. By the time he recovered the Bears were on him. He's actually fortunate he wasn't tackled near the 10.
• Bears within a TD and two-pointer with 10:19 to play in this holiday funfest
• Kick looked like it easily could have been blocked but it snuck through arms just inside the left upright and only about 7 or 8 feet over the crossbar. His kicks haven't been impressive again but at least they have been good.
• Bills defense snuffs out run by Montgomery and short throw to Herbert and it's third-and-12. Impressive defense. Then Fields is forced to scramble and Buffalo's quick recovery limits him to 3 yards. So Santos will try a field goal, like they  should have done earlier. Squibs another one through from 35. Bills 21, Bears 13
• There is justice in the league. Allen looks around and throws it right to Bears linebacker Nicholas Morrow for his first interception in Chicago. Ball at Bills 18. 
• Bills get the ball. If it took that long for the officials to determine, it wasn't conclusive and shouldn't have been overturned. The replay really does look like the ball is on the line needed too. What a joke. Bears should make sure the heater goes out in the refs' locker room after the game. And not because of the reversal, but because they made everyone stand there too long.
• The season doesn't hinge on this and the cold is miserable. And they can't make a decision.
• Replay is really close whether he got over before his knee hit, but officials are acting like this is a playoff game. Make the call you clowns. It's inconclusive.
• Ryan Griffin with a rare appearance in the offensive production, catches a short toss and leans with the ball for the first down despite a big hit. The Bills want a second look at whether he stretched far enough for the first down. Besides losing a timeout, the Bills should be fined for making everyone stand around in that cold.
• Running game going nowhere still, leaves them in third-and-2 and they lose a yard by Montgomery so they go for it from the Bills 16. Nothing to lose. 

Third Quarter

• Tough sledding for the running game. The Bears will need to start passing soon.
• First play we see why Fields is called a good deep passer. Play-action bomb to Velus Jones and led him perfectly on a windy, freezing day. Jones didn't drop it for once either and the Bears are in business at the Bills 23 following a 44-yard gain as the quarter ends.
• Second straight week Alan Williams' defense is ball-hawking. Good rally to the ball by Adams.
• Allen picks apart Bears zone but Matthew Adams hits Davis after a completion and Elijah Hicks comes up with the ball at the Bears 32.
• Diggs' second catch is for a first down but he ran backwards and instead of 14 he got 11 yards. He used to do that a lot at Minnesota.
• Gill with an outstanding punt from his end zone. It will go down as 54 yards but he got it to carry 73 yards in the cold air and Bills are at their 38.
• Bills defense adept at swatting down passes. A third tipped pass and it falls to the ground. A scuffle broke out between linemen but fizzled into nothing afterward, so the Bears have to punt following a three-and-out.
• This time it's the Bears botching a return on the punt as Dante Pettis lets it hit and it rolls dead at the 11.
• Brisker with tight coverage on Knox on third down and Allen throws incomplete after looking to scramble but seeing no room. The Bears brought five on that one.
• Holding call on Spencer Brown on second down sets the Bills back. Bates has returned at center for Buffalo.
• Bills at their own 33and the blocking is so good that Cook falls on his own, gets back up an still gains 7 yards.
• Pettis drops a third-down catch at the sticks and the Bears are punting again.  Excellent coverage by new Bear LB Elijah Lee on the punt.
• Bills were trying a two-point conversion but a penalty forced Bass to kick from 38 yards instead. He made this one but it looked ugly again. A 3-play, 45-yard drive after Montgomery's fumble. Bills 21, Bears 10
• Cook gets 8 and then on third down roars straight up the middle 27 yards for a touchdown.  Not a linebacker in the house. Joe Thomas lunged at him but didn't even get close.  
• Really bad decision by Allen to throw across the field deep to Davis but he gets away with it as it falls to the ground. 
• Fields loses it on a fumble forced by Dane Jackson and recovered by Tim Settle.
• Tre'Davious White holds on third down completion to Montgomery and the Bears get a first down. Again Buffalo with great pass rush pressure. What they really do well is stay in their lanes and don't allow Fields to get around the edge.
• Good quick Fields decision to get it to Montgomery for an 8-yard gain.
• Shaq Lawson completely beat the blocking of Braxton Jones and knocked down David Montomery for a 7-yard loss.
• Bears start strive from the 26 after a 24-yard Jones return.
• Two-point conversion pass in back of end zone to Khalil Shakir. No one had him in coverage, a little like the Bears' TD. Eight plays, 86 yards and 4:09 on drive. Bills 14, Bears 10
• Allen pays on an 11-yard scramble to the 33 a Matthew Adams gives him a good shot. Singletary then goes straight off left guard 33 yards for the TD. They finally realized they had running backs on this drive. 
• Second down and a 9-yard play-action to Singletary over the middle is an easy gain. The linebackers were nowhere near Singletary.
• On third-and-1 Allen gets a short toss and Singletary picks up the first down at the 47. Bears had pass rush pressure from Trevis Gipson. 
• First play goes to Diggs. Of course. A 15-yarder.
• Return went 35 yards but the Bills hada hold on Siran Neal and the drive will start at Buffalo's 24.
• Bears kicking to the end where balls have been dying. Gill kicking off.
• No Jaylon Johnson, no Kindle Vildor, but Stefon Diggs doesn't have a target for Buffalo.
• Bears are 30 minutes away from throwing away the second pick in the draft.
• Montgomery the leading ball carrier in the first half with 60 yards on nine attempts.
• Buffalo's pass rush must have really been something with Von Miller on it because they've been good anyway without him.
• Not sure why but for the second straight game the opposition has forgotten they have running backs and are going against a Bears defense that is porous against the run. The Bills have seven runs by running backs. The Eagles did the same thing last week in the first half, and actually for the whole game, and it helped keep the game close. This could wind up going that way too.

Second Quarter

• Allen 7 of 12 for 89 yards a TD and an INT. Has 25 yards on three runs.
• Fields 8 of 12 for 55 yards and a TD. Five rushes for 7 yards.
• Montgomery takes a handoff and for some reason Buffalo doesn't call timeout. They could have stopped the clock two more times. Half ends.
• Another Oliver sack. Bills call timeout. If the Bears don't watch it, they'll be giving the ball back to the Bills with 30 seconds left and good field position because the ball is at the Bears 23.
• Still 56 seconds left in the half if the Bears want to risk some passes. 
• That was the easier end of the field to kick, at least in warmups. And Bates was way right of the mark. The kick looked bad too, without the end-over-end spin but like a knuckleball.
• Incomplete throw on the run by Allen, who was awfully close to being over the line of scrimmage.  Bates with a 38-yard field goal misses it badly wide right.
• Bates has a knee injury and his return is questionable.
• Davis catches it for 7 but to the naked eye it appeared he was out of bounds on the catch. And on the replay he is obviously out. Review overturns to catch. Third-and-10 at the 20 for Buffalo now. 
• Draw to Cook. Perfectly executed for 16 yards. The blocking up front was there but Allen set it up with a good delay and then by handing off with the ball disguised.
• Buffalo at the Bears 36 with first down.
• Allen does a great job of getting the ball out even when there is no rush. He doesn't let something develop. Gets his look in then out it goes, or he scrambles. Justin Fields said this week he doesn't watch Allen film but he could learn that there is a point where you just get the ball out instead of standing around with it and scrambling just keep from getting decked.
• Check down to Cook for 9 to the Bears 42. No rush on Allen again. Then Cook right up the middle for the first down on a 6-yard gain. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!
• Guard Rodger Saffold now at center.
• Bates is the player the Bears signed as a restricted free agent but the Bills matched the offer sheet. He gets up and walks off slowly.
• Allen scrambles 15 yards up the middle to the Bills 49 but a costly gain as Bates is hurt on the play. That's their second center hurt.
• DHC put a halt to what could have been trouble after a stubbed kickoff. He made the stop at the Bills 34.
• Fields has been held to 7 yards on five runs so Bills know what they are doing when it comes to defending RPO and the planned runs.
• Again, you have to wonder what Getsy is doing. He has Herbert in on third-and-4 as a target and Herbert drops the pass. Would have been short by a yard anyway. But why on earth have Herbert out there instead of Montgomery, who is a better receiver.  A 37-yard field goal by Santos into the tough end to kick at. Bears 10 Bills 6
• Pettis with a catch behind the line for a loss on a tipped throw but the Bills were offsides. Third-and-4.
• Twice Fields tries to run but the Bills aren't buying it. They have the edge stacked up and Bears face third-and-10 at the 25.
• Beautifully executed by Fields, a short pass to Montgomery and Montgomery stops and starts to shed the coverage after his catch for a first down at the 25.  Fields' strength is not the short pass but that was perfect.
• Not sure what Luke Getsy is up to here but he tries Montgomery again and leaves them with fourth-and-3 at the 31 so of course they'll go for it.
• Montgomery carries twice to set up third-and-5.
• Schofield has returned for the Bears at right guard. 
• Bears wearing coats on the field during timeout to keep warm.
• Pettis catches the punt at midfield and then returns it to the Bills 38. Bears with excellent field position after the 'punt-and-pin' worked out, a favorite phrase of coach Matt Eberlus.
• Bears bring the house on third-and-8 from the 4 and Allen tries to scramble out of it but Brisker sacks him for his team-high fourth sack of the year.
• Allen fumbles the snap and recovers inside his 1. That's what happen when you use a guard for your center. Mitch Morse is hurt. 
• The 68-yard punt is a best ever for Gill by 6 yards.
• Nyhelm Heins let the punt from Gill hit and roll, a terrible mistake. It kept rolling and went all the way to the 2. Bills backed up to start his drive.  
• Fields dropped a poor snap from center that came out low and to his right and Oliver sacked him.  Can't really blame Fields for a fumble on that one but he'll get one anyway.
• Fields threw away a pass and then Herbert caught one for a loss of 2 as the drive bogs down.
• Sprint-out throw to Kmet and he goes down low to get it for 7 before falling out of bounds.  Then Herbert got the first down on a 5-yard run behind blocking of fullback Khari Blasingame off right side.
• Gordon fell into the end zone after the pick at the 1, got up and returned it to the 34. The official along the sideline near the play was signaling to stop the clock and was calling the play dead when Gordon hit the ground, but he hadn't been touched at all and then they let the play continue. 
• Kyler Gordon with his third interception of the year, second in two games. Was covering Isaiah McKenzie and so was DeAndre Houston-Carson. McKenzie wasn't open at all at the goal line and Allen tried throwing it there anyway. Poor decision by Allen, who has 12 interceptions this year.
• Knox back in and catches a 1-yard pass. His blocking knocked a defender right into his path because the play had developed nicely.
• Allen scrambled but the Bills' Rodger Saffold held. One of the few plays where Bears had two players put heat on a QB.

• Davis wide open against Bears zone for a 15-yard gain and first down at Bears 19. 

First Quarter 

• After a 5-yard Singletary run the quarter ends. 
• Devin Singletary stacked up by Justin Jones after a 12-yard pass completion for a 2-yard gain. Shed the block and got Singletary wrapped up well. But Singletary busted one loose off the right side for 15 with Jones chasing him on the next play. Bears line getting out of their gaps again.
• Stadium filled up pretty good considering the weather in the last few minutes before the game.
• Fourth-down pass knocked down at the line by Ed Oliver. They had Dante Pettis breaking open and unless he dropped it like Kmet did, it would have been a first down over the middle but Oliver batted it down at the line. The longer the game goes on the more the Bears blocking will get exposed. You can't go down to your fifth guard without consequences.
• Justin Herbert run loses a yard and then Velus Jones Jr. with a rare catch downfield. Leaves Bears 3 yards short of the first down but they go for it.
• Cole Kmet drops a boot pass at the first-down sticks. Right to him.
• A couple of Montgomery runs,  the last one on a toss for 10 to the right, put the Bears at the Bills 40. Great surge by the line on the first-down run.
• It's Dieter Eiselen at right guard! He finally gets some real action.
• Great blocking again and a second strong Velus Jones  Jr. return but he let Tyler Bass take him down at the Bears 42.
• Bears are down another guard. Michael Schofield thumb injury and return is questionable. Now who goes in at right guard? Apparently Alex Leatherwood or Ja'Tyre Carter. What does a guard need a thumb for anyway? Just tape it up and put him in.
• Sam Acho the sideline in-stadium interview of the week. Only one brave enough among former Bears to be down there apparently.
• Gabe Davis catches one in the corner behind Brisker and Jaylon Jones for a 19-yard TD. Bass PAT gets blown by wind wide right.  Big gust of wind. Six plays, 71 yards in 3:19. Bears 7, Bills 6
• Defense benefits from a holding penalty and Bills go back to the Bears 43 but Brisker gets knocked to the ground by Dion Dawkins and James Cook gets 24 yards to the Bears 19. Brisker bowled over.
• Pass rush doesn't get there, and then lets Allen out of the pocket for a scramble of 10 yards and a first down at the Bears 33. Just poor situational defense all around by the line.
• Cole Beasley 9 yards over the middle. Automatic. Why did they not have him on the roster earlier anyway? 
• Bears caught a huge break as Allen came out on a scramble. He had two receivers wide open and could have run for 7 or 8 yards. Instead, he just under threw his target into the frozen turf by 5 yards.
• Kyler Gordon broke up a first-down pass at the sideline and officials also flagged center Ryan Bates, the would-be Bear lineman, for being downfield. The Bears took the penalty for some reason.
• Dawson Knox a 24-yard reception on first down and had to be helped off the field. He had to jump up and crashed to the turf.  He seems OK.
• Pettis came out of the slot and angled out to the corner and the coverage stayed inside, ignoring him. Easiest TD pass Fields has had this year.
• Another pretty lousy kick by Cairo Santos after an eight-play, 64-yard drive in 5:19. But he made it with about 6 or 7 feet of clearance over the cross bar.  Bears 7, Bills 0
• Dante Pettis for the 6-yard TD pass. No one covered him in the left corner of the end zone. Wasn't a sole near him. That's more fear of Fields. 
• Bills all over a QB draw by Fields. Fails to gain and that will probably go as an official sack. Facing third-and-goal at the 6.
• The 1-yard TD run by Montgomery negated by left guard Larry Borom's hold on first down. Fields gets them back to the 5 with a short pass. 
• Threat of Fields fake or run is apparent as Montgomery has clear running room off the right side wide zone blocking play. Goes 28 yards to the 1.
• Byron Pringle with the bootleg reception from Fields of 20 yards. Going right. Very good boot fake execution by Fields, who has gotteh better at this. 
• Refs set the ball down after a 5-yard Montgomery run on first down and the wind blew it off the spot and it was rolling 3 yards away before they retrieved it.
• David Montgomery with a typical tough run breaks a tackle and leans for the first down. This weather is made for him.
• Bears at 36 after Jones return. First play Fields doesn't get down in time and is nearly decked on a 7-yard scramble.
• Game time temperature official now and this is not a top 10 coldest Bears game. Nine degrees. Minus-9 degrees windchill. Wind 26 mph with gusts of 37 mph.
• Bills won toss and have deferred.

Pregame

• Temperature  7 degrees, wind chill -12.
• There are going to be so few fans here that it will look like pandemic football is back.

• Pregame kicking warmups are rather interesting. Trenton Gill punting toward the north end zone just put one 70 yards from where he punted. Earlier, Tyler Bass of Bils had trouble hitting field goals toward the south end zone from 48 yards. Made one by kicking it really low. Then he tried a 44-yarder and it was well above the crossbar a few yards away, then dropped like it had lead in it and barely cleared the crossbar. Bass turned and went the other way practicing kickoffs and drilled one through the uprights from his own 35-yard line, a 75-yard field goal. Of course, it was off a kicking tee. Kicking off into the wind from his own 35, Bass was getting it to the 18.
• Cody Whitehair and Teven Jenkins were never going to play once listed doubtful on Friday, unless they had a Saturday upgrade and they didn't. Teams don't list players as out or doubtful and then play them. That is, unless you were the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre. They did it and then he got knocked out of the game, ending his career as the Bears clinched the division (2010). Lovie Smith was not happy about that little bit of pregame chicanery by the Vikings.

Inactives

Bears

• WR Chase Claypool

• QB Tim Boyle

• WR Equanimeous St. Brown

• G Cody Whitehair

• G Teven Jenkins

• TE Trevon Wesco

• DT Angelo Blackson

Bills

• CB Xavier Rhodes

• S Dean Marlowe

• LB Baylon Spector

• DE Boogie Basham

• C Mitch Morse

• OL Justin Murray

• TE Tommy Sweeney

• N'Keal Harry mentioned the Bills-Patriots game of last year as his experience with extreme cold conditions. This was the game when Bill Belichick ordered up only three passes by Mac Jones, two completions. The temperature was 36 degrees with wind chill in the 20s. Not really that extreme. Wind was bad at 27 mph but not cold like this.
• Temperature at Soldier Field 2 hours before kickoff is 5 degrees and it's quite possible this will not be one of the top 10 coldest Bears games in terms of actual temperature because it needs to be 8 degrees for that. It will be in terms of wind chill because the wind is strong, around 20 mph and last wind chill check was around 22 below.
• Grass is a totally different color than six days ago. Had plenty of color then. Now it looks like frozen field, although they do have heaters under it.

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