Bears and Browns Live Blog

Fourth Quarter

Tells you one other thing. A 38-year-old guy who has been with a team a month can throw for 374 yards and your quarterback can only throw for 166. Don't lose Caleb Williams' number just yet.
Game should tell people a few things as next year is what counts now. They need another play maker for games like this. Mooney doesn't help enough. Scott is just a kid and might develop but he missed a chance on that 25-yarder on the sidelines with 36 seconds left. They also need better offensive line. This group didn't get it done against a banged-up Browns defensive front.
Darnell Mooney has the TD winner in his hands laying on the ground in the end zone on the Hail Mary, bobbled it up into the air and it was picked. Game over. Browns 20, Bears 17 FINAL
Two incompletions and Bears have five seconds left. Going to be a Hail Mary.
Good play to say to heck with it, and throw the deep ball. They'd be expecting something to get in field goal range.

Scott makes up for it with a catch on a shorter play on the sideline that he breaks to the Browns 45.

:25

Za'Darius Smith got hurt on the pass rush on that play and there's a timeout ... on the field. Kind of a quick seven seconds. Must be nice to have the clock in your guy's hand.
Scott drops a high pass 20 yards downfield. High throw but one he should have had at the 49.
No timeouts left and the Bears will start from their own 25.

Hopkins kicks a 34-yard field goal with 32 seconds left. Browns 20, Bears 17
Good time to try to block it because it's fourth-and-8, not less than 5. Jump the count.

It's going to be exactly like the Lions game. They will be eliminated from the playoff chase on a replay of the end of the Lions game if Cleveland makes a field goal here. The Bears can stop the clock twice yet but they'll have no time to come back, just like the Lions game.
Again Njoku invisible. Gets wide open on third-and-15 somehow and the Bears have DT Julius Jones playing in coverage for some reason. A stupid call by the defense there with 46 seconds left. The play carries down to the 19-yard line with 46 seconds left.
A short screen inside and the Bears line smelled it coming. It goes for a loss of a yard.

Stevenson nearly picks a ball thrown right to him. Let it hit his helmet but drops it.
An offsides penalty on the Browns pushes it back to the other side. What it is it with all of this offside stuff on offenses. The officials need to watch tackles pulling away too quick before they start with that.
Suddenly Njoku is invisible. He gets wide open as Tyrique Stevenson left the sideline uncovered and gains 31 yards on a catch. They're at the Bears 48.
Gill with another bad punt but catches a break. It hits and rolls and goes 56 yards unreturned to the 21.

Starting to look like the first Lions game again. They had control with a 10-point lead and the offense stopped working, the defense gave up some big plays and they're looking at needing to stop a two-minute drive by Flacco or they lose.

2:00

Screen doesn't work and the Bears will punt again. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!
Browns defense has taken over now. They stuff Herbert for a 5-yard loss, then blitz Fields into an incompletion on second-and-15.

3:08

Amari Cooper on a TD pass from Flacco. Catch-and-run as the Bears coverage in the secondary broke down with 3:08 remaining. Flacco Rolled, threw a 51-yard TD. The catch against the zone was at the 27 but Brisker missed the tackle and he tight-roped down the sideline with no one else there. Bears 17, Browns 17

3:18

Flea-flicker play for a first down out of the wildcat but the Bears react well and stop it at the Browns 43.
Great tackle by Edmunds but not enough to prevent a first down at the 30.
Third-and-2 coming after Flacco was bottled up and stepped outside the pocket for a short pass to Elijah Moore.

4:55

Not urgent by the Browns, they run a toss play to Strong and get a couple is all.
Another failure by Gill. This time not distance but placement. Could have pinned the Browns deep and instead just kicked it straight into the end zone for the touchback.
Bears will need to punt again after a screen to Johnson gets back sack yardage and a few more. The clock is now the big factor at 5:30.
Second-down blitz off the edge was pretty risky but the Browns got the sack.
Fields nearly slid too short on the scramble but realized what he's doing and gathers himself, then fumbles as he hits the turf out of bounds. First down for the Bears. The ball wouldn't have been a fumble anyway. Came out when he hit the turf.

From the 33, Fields play-action wants to go deep over the middle but is hit as he throws and it comes up short.
On third-and-17 they give up the pass for 7 to Njoku and rally to the ball to force the punt with nine minutes left. A great old-fashioned battle of two good NFL defenses. They are playing this like the hash marks are widened.
Sweat with another sack, may have had help on that one from Gervon Dexter. Could be 2 1/2 sacks and not three.
Sweat with a stout play on the end, forces a run inside for a 1-yard gain.

10:35

Scott tackled for a loss with end-around by slot as Getsy tries to get cute on third-and-1 instead of attacking. Bears have to punt again.
Nice time for an 8-yard run by Herbert up the middle. Then he gets 1 and it's third-and-1.

Bears at the 25 to start the drive.

12:27: Bears 17, Browns 10

Hopkins pulls the Browns back within a touchdown. Bears 17, Bears 10

The Bears shut it down with a short gain and Dustin Hopkins comes on for a fourth-and-9 field goal try. Could be a fake here too.

Ball at the 18 and it's second-and-12 and Stevenson dives for a PBU.
On second-and-5 from the 5 Ford gets around the edge for a first down but the Browns were holding.
Play-action bomb and former Bears receiver Marquise Goodwin burns them for a 57-yard gain. Got behind Jackson.
Browns have all the mo and first play they jump. That's a killer by Geron Christian, the tackle.
Defense needs to come up with the big play again.
Fields goes around end on a bootleg fake and is tripped up and misses the first down. Browns ball. If he hadn't been tripped up he had 10 yards or even a touchdown.

Third Quarter

Getsy special. The third-and-8 run up the middle by Roschon Johnson. Took the Browns by surprise but it looked like he came up a foot short at the Browns 33. I can't imagine they're letting Cairo Santos kick from 50 or 51 in this weather so maybe a fourth-and-1 gamble. Quarter ends.

Newsome interferes with Moore but officials let it go.
Naked backfield and you had to get flashbacks to 2021 when Matt Nagy got Fields decapitated but this time Fields is running it himself and the extra blocking works. He runs all the way to Cleveland's 42.
Finally the QB run around end works, this time for 8 on second-and-10.

What a diving pick by Stevenson. He came straight across and caught it cleanly.

When they most need it, the Bears defense delivers. Tyrique Stevenson buzzes the seam route to Njoku. Pulled off his landmark and picked it and returned to the 35.

Muffed punt by Taylor and this one the Browns get at the 20. Tucker lost that one earlier and recovered it but this time he misjudged it, it hit his pads and Browns have it at the Bears 20.
Down goes Flacco again. This time DeMarcus Walker for an 8-yard loss so there won't be any going for it here. Watch out for the fake though.

Browns facing third-and-8 after a 2-yard pass that Brisker snuffed out with a big tackle. Ball is at Bears 49.
Play action, RPO to Tillman. The Bears should be able to stop that because the only option they have on the play is handing it off. Flacco's not running it. A first down on the catch near midfield.
Another shaky punt after sixth Bears three-and-out and Browns have momentum and the ball at their own 30.

Browns were finally ready for a Fields planned run and stop it on second down and Fields' tipped pass goes nowhere after Moore catches it so they have to punt.
The pick at halftime hit the ground and shouldn't go down on Fields' stats as an interception. Replay finally got around to showing it.

Bears to get the ball back on a punt from bnear the goal line. Taylor with a short return to the Bears 41.

The Tez Effect! This time, the effect is Montez Sweat sacking Flacco for the second time. DeMarcus Walker almost had him first.

Blitz came after Flacco and he nearly repeated his pick throw to Jackson of the first half but sailed it. The Bears need to remember to keep that heat on him.
Another play by Edwards in the pass game, knocking away a throw to Njoku at the sideline. He's all over the field again today.

Moore wasn't open and Fields threw it downfield out of bounds so they'll try a 41-yard field goal. Santos gets it and Bears pad the lead. Bears 17, Browns 7
Another short on a hitch to Scott and they face third-and-7.
Bears are getting the formation spread out with theswe plays. They run the boot pass to Tyler Scott all the way to the 26.
Two good runs by Velus Jones Jr, one an end-around and the other like Deebo out of the I and the Bears are in business at the Browns 41.
Fields has to hit the ground after 3 on a scramble with Garrett in pursuit.Browns' two runs net 6 and on third-and-4.
Flacco gets really conservative with a 1-yard pass and Edwards smashes down Njoku forcing a punt. The Browns have a reputation for taking over on defense to start the second half. The Bears defense is showing they can do it too.

13:50: Bears 14, Browns 7

Last time they took the lead, the defense then let up instead of getting after Flacco. Will they do that again?
Bears are leading this the way Lovie Smith's defenses used to do it. The defense is scoring or giving it to them at the 1-yard line.
This is what Eberflus saw in Edmunds as a middle and not weakside. Put that speed in the open field back in the middle and you get the pick-6. His third interception of the year. The Bears came into the game second in picks. Might be headed for No. 1 after this one.
Tremaine Edmunds with the pick off the deflected pass and is gone, 45-yard pick-6 TD. Bears 14, Browns 7

Officials talked and said the ball wa down at the 40.
With the pass blocking and run blocking not working, the only thing they could really count on is Fields scrambling but he's not doing it today. Looks like he's bottled up with the rush keeping him inside and won't go straight up the middle. There were a few chances late in the first half but he was reluctant then, too. Maybe bad memories of 2021 still in his head.

Fields nearly sacked on third down and throws it short of Johnson anyway. This is the worst the Bears offensive line has looked in weeks. They aren't run blocking well and they're getting beat one on one on pass blocks. Browns take over after the punt at their own 35.
First play Lucas Patrick beaten badly by Shelby Harris for a TFL of 4 yards. Then Harris is held again on second down incompletion.There's why center needs to be a priority in the offseason.
Jenkins still out.
On seeing the replay of the TD by Njoku, not only did he look like his heel was on the end zone, but he caught it and then juggled it briefly before being pushed out of bounds. The catch was definitely questionable and they went quickly to that extra point as if there was no question. Should have had more review of that.

Bears get the ball to start the half.

Second Quarter

Packers losing to Tampa Bay 13-10 at home in bad weather. Bears fans can enjoy that.

Fields 12 of 21 for 101 while Flacco is 14 of 23 for 140. Both with a TD pass. That last Hail Mary took Fields' passer rating way down and ended his interception-free streak. He would have gone 14 straight quarters without one if it hadn't been picked. That field goal try of 56 yards would have been a prayer and against the Browns' special teams and ability to block kicks, in that weather, it wasn't a good idea.

Mooney gets open but Ronnie Hickman knocks it away and Bears decide to go for it on the last play. The Hail Mary doesn't work and the half ends. Fields took a cheap and unnecessary hit long after throwing the Hail Mary that was picked and officials said nothing.

Nifty pass OB to Mooney as Fields is backpedalling and it's at the edge of field goal range at the 37.
Replay said it was too close to call apparently and the completion to Roschon Johnson is allowed. Lousy replay call.
Fields was down on a sack but the officials missed the call and said he threw it for a short gain. He was definitely down and a replay should change it to a sack.

A first-down to Kmet and the Bears are at the Browns 44.

Kmet with a spectacular play for only about 6 yards but his stiff-arm and a nice catch on a jump pass as Fields is sacked and he gets OB.
Fields reluctant to take off on a run. But he finds DJ Moore on the dagger over the middle for 20.

Let's rethink that. Roschon Johnson broke a 22-yard run off left guard and Bears have all their timeouts from their own 27.
Bears will have it to start the second half so there's no sense pushing their luck.
An 11-yard bullet to Cedric Tillman in tight coverage but third-and-down throw and Jaylon Johnson got away with knocking Tillman out of bounds on an incompletion. The punt is a true coffin corner to the Bears 2 rolling OB. The Bears are lucky Cleveland has only one timeout. They can just down it there a few times and let the time run out.

Browns holding on G Michael Dunn on second-down throw-away pass and Browns face second-and-long

2:00

Elijah Moore an 11-yard catch for the first down. Billings flushed Flacco out of the pocket but no one home on the right side to get after him and he threw back across the field to Moore on a somewhat dangerous pass. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!
Cody Whitehair in for the often-injured Jenkins. Looked on replay like Myles Garrett hit him when he wasn't expecting it but didn't seem illegal or anything.

Fields' third-and-3 incompletion was nearly picked by former Northwestern Wildcat Newsome and Teven Jenkins is injured on the play.

3:48: Browns 7, Bears 7

They confirm the TD but his heel definitelyc ame down on the end line. I guess the rules are different here. Flacco 7 of 8 for 80 yards on the 84-yard TD drive.
Njoku with a TD catch at the back of the end zone over Brisker on a rollout pass by Flacco. Looked like back of his heel on the second foot was out of bounds.
Nice boot pass for Flacco and Bears aren't fooled but he hit Gordon over the middle at the 1. Sanborn's first-down TFL puts it back at the 2.
They yank Flacco for one play and get the first down on a pass by Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Jaylon Johnson was held on the play. No call.
Browns going for it on fourth-and-2 after a wildcat run nets a yard.
A 42-yard gain and Flacco comes out firing again over the middle with Bears backed off now and it's second-and-3. Zacch Pickens stacks up the run and Browns face third-and-3.
Flacco hits Cooper at the Bears 27 while on the run. Gervon Dexter was held on the pass rush. No call.
Jaylon Johnson now being aggressive goes for the ball on pass to Cooper and nearly picks it but drops it as he hits the turf. Flacco better beware. They're coming.
Sweat more pressure and looke like he was held but Flacco got it off for 3 yards. Sweat going against backup tackle figured to have good game.
T.J. Edwards near pick at the 25 but the Browns get a first down on the pass. He had it go right through his arms.
Bears special teams get the kick covered well and Browns starting inside their own 20.

Bitonio is out of the game with a back injury but now they also have Mike Ford, a special teamer, out with illness.

10:54: Bears 7, Browns 0

That's too bad for Jackson because he's been looking for that seventh defensive TD for a while and finally got the chance after officials took a couple away from him in other seasons. And he comes up a yard short.
Kmet atones. Fields spins out of a sack, runs left and finds Kmet wide open at the corner for the TD on third down and 5 with 10:54 left in the half. Santos makes the PAT, no easy accomplishment in this weather. Browns made that 1-yard drive really difficult. Bears 7, Browns 0
Kmet jumps on the tush push and it's second-and-goal from the 5. That's terrible when the tight end jumps on that play. He's nowhere near the play.
Foreman is across the goal line as the pile unstacks on first down but officials say he was down inches short.
Again the first down run is stuffed and again the Browns have 12 men on the field. Don't they get the rules?
Emerson interferes with Moore in the end zone on a back-shoulder throw type of play. He held Moore as he was going to turn. You can't do that.
Dalvin Tomlinson stuffs the run by D'Onta on first down. They should have run outside. Then they get a break. The Browns had 12 men on the field. That's one way to stop a team at the goal line.
Eddie Jackson with the pick and nearly six. Came up a yards short. First interception this year for him and it was a predictable situation because Flacco will throw it downfield where the safety is. Credit Justin Jones with pressure.
Kareem Hunt works inside for 2. In this game so far 2 yards is a good play.
Gill with a fantastic punt under pressure as the Browns could have blocked it and a fair catch at the 8. Bears have a bit of the edge now in the field position war.
Screen to Roschon Johnson and it fails to get the distance. They're just going to play the field position battle and punt fromm midfield.
Bears have only 9 yards rushing after a quarter.
One first down apiece. The Browns' season history is their defense only gets tougher as the game goes on.

First Quarter

Finally a Fields planned run. This was a play they should have been able to work. He gets 5 and it's third-and-5 as quarter ends.
Panic play call by Getsy when he could have used a run on first-and-15 and Fields nearly throws a pick to Martin Emerson, who has four interceptions but it falls.
Jenkins false-starts. Not having a good start to this game with sack allowed and falsey.

:30

Bears ball at the 40.
Terell Smith just showed why the Matt Eberflus likes him so much. Amari Cooper catches it and Smith, heady as always, pushes him out before he can get the second foot down inbounds. So the incompletion means the Browns must punt.
Flacco has to call timeout on third-and-8 and 50 seconds left in the quarter. A poor use of second timeout.
Sweat gets the strip sack. Actually it was Flacco trying to do some kind of illegal pass but he threw it backwards so it is a fumble and strip-sack.

2:14

Browns take over at their 19 after the punt and go right away to Njoku on a quick drop for 7.
Fields fumbles on a sack by Dalvin Tomlinson but Teven Jenkins recovered it, which is good becauswe he was the one blocking Tomlinson.
Browns' Bell with an excellent ankle tackle on D'Onta Foreman trying to cut off tackle. That's the place to attack the Browns defense, but it won't work with tackles like that.
Moore's catch is confirmed and the Bears have it at the Browns 46.
As long as they get Fields some time, it looks like they can get it downfield. At least it looks like Luke Getsy's answer to Cleveland's tough front four is not throwing one screen pass after another so far.
Third down catch by Moore along sidelines and they rush to the line because Moore is signalling to get up there. Maybe he didn't catch it. The replay indicates he might have had three feet touch down. Maybe they have another angle.
Beautiful throw by Fields to wide open Robert Tonyan Jr. on deep ball and he drops it. Fields sometimes doesn't use the touch he has but this was perfect and he drops it.
Best Bears field position, their own 19.
Tough assignment fielding punts in all that rain and wind (25 mph) and Trent Taylor muffs one. He almost never mishandles them. Fortunately for Bears he got it back.

Montez Sweat with the pressure, nearly had the sack but Flacco got away but Justin Jones got after him. Joe isn't going to run away from anyone so he just threw it away wisely. Bears get the ball back again on a punt.
Bears looked like they jumped this time but they flagged Wyatt Teller for moving. He did so they got that one right.
is how many Browns games start ... slowly. Bears don't like playing that way.

6:08

Bears get aggressive and Flacco beats the blitz with a throw to David Njoku. Browns guard Joel Bitonio is hurt after the pass and officials call timeout. The screen has hurt the Bears whenever they get overly aggressive with the blitz. Their nature isn't to blitz and when they start doing it they're like fish out of water.
Strong on a screen pass and the Browns' big game is coming back because of holding. Jaquan Brisker was held. Bitonio was holding him but they flagged someone else. More stupid officiating.
Fields wearing a glove today and overthrows Mooney, who wasn't really open much. He should just get rid of the glove. He says he doesn't like wearing one. Browns will take over at their own 37 after a good Gill punt this time.
More tough sledding in the ground game as Herbert comes in and gets only 4 on two runs. Moore is back, though.

Andrew Billings with the beautiful stuff on third down, makes the TF for Brisker possible and the Browns have three-and-out. Billings was cut by the Browns in 2021 and has to have some revenge on his mind. He also had an offsides play earlier and it looked like a false start not encroachment. Bears take over at the 17 after a punt needing to get out of the hole at that end of the field.
A couple of subs on the Browns line in this game too, and one playing hurt but they have no problem opening up a hole for 9 on first down.
Lousy punt by Trenton Gill to the Browns 45 gets downed. Gill hasn't been hitting it with authority consistently for some time now. He's 23rd in average distance, although 46 yards isn't necessarily a bad average. It's the consistency of hang time and distance that's lacking. Bears also came in last in covering punts and this is all part of it.
Second down toss wide to D'Onta Foreman is a TFL and it's really stupid to be running him wide anyway because it's Khalil Herbert who has that speed, not Foreman. Fields checks it down to Cole Kmet and they punt. A terrible first series because they had Moore leave right away.
Bears test Browns deep right away and DJ Moore gets up a bit gingerly and goes to the sidelines on incompletion.
Punt got marked out of bounds at the 16 but it was one of those where it was way up in the air and the official was nowhere near where it went out of bounds. He probably could have walked another 10 yards and no one could have complained. No one knows when that happens. They act like they're using trig or something to figure it out. Another reason to complain about the bad NFL officiating. Myles Garrett was 100% correct. So was Andy Reid, but that was offsides in the Chiefs game even if Reid was right about how the officiating is bad.
DeMarcus Walker makes his presence felt with a second-down TFL to set up a passing situation. It let the Bears blitz and Flacco wasn't holding the ball long with Tremaine Edmunds coming. Incompletion forces a punt.
Flacco running plenty of play-action to keep Bears rush at bay.
First test of Bears pass rush without Yannick Ngakoue isn't a good one as they had no pressure on a third-down completion for the first down to Amari Cooper.
The Browns come out working the running game from their own 25 and you have to think they'll do a lot of that, but Jaquan Brisker breaks in on the safety blitz and knocks down the second-down pass.

Pregame

Maybe a chance for Dominique Robinson to show he can rush the passer today as he's active for the first time since the Raiders game. He had 20 plays on defense that day without showing up on the stat board. So it's been six straight weeks. Did practice squad work only and tutelage from guys like DeMarcus Walker, Justin Jones and Montez Sweat help any? The Bears need to see something from the fifth-round pick if he does get some defensive reps. The Yannick Ngakoue injury is bigger than the Bears have talked about. You need someone who comes off the other edge and pressures to help out Montez Sweat, who will now attract even more double-team blocking.
Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone was fined for a hit he made on the sidelines on Darnell Mooney that drew an unncessary roughness penalty. He was fined $10,927 for the hit that occurred at the end of Mooney's 28-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter of a drive that led to a 46-yard Cairo Santos field goal. The play occurred one play after Anzalone had been penalized for defensive holding. However, the Lions received no fines for hits made on Justin fields in the game that infuriated the Bears, but failed to draw penalties. Also, a hit made on DJ Moore late along the sidelines that went unpenalized failed to draw a fine.
Rainy day in Cleveland. Will it be a game like the rain in Chicago at the 2022 season opener? Bears beat the 49ers that day.
The debate continues to rage between Justin Fields and drafting Caleb Williams. Go ahead and bang your head against the wall but you're going to be doing it until at least just before free agency if not longer. The Bears are not going to do or say anything that will affect what they could get in exchange for Fields if they decide to trade him and letting word go out about this to anyone would be doing this. Also, if they're planning to keep him and trade the pick for more picks, they're not saying anything about it until the time they do it. Last year this was in March. This year it could be then or even just before the draft at the end of April.

Let me simplify this.

Keep Fields and get

3 first round picks
+ your own 1st in 2024
2nd or 3rd rounder
Possible player

Draft Caleb Williams

Your own 1st in 2024

Your choice
— illwill (@79illwill) December 15, 2023

The Bears had their playoff chances improve to 8% from 7% after the Vikings blew a two-touchdown lead against Cincinnati on Saturday.

At what point does EVERY single 2024 NFL mock draft stop having Caleb Williams to the Bears at 1st overall?

How u watch Justin Fields and the current QB landscape then feel like that’s the move lol
pic.twitter.com/K5mD4rPmSC
— Lawrence Jackson Jr. 🃏 (@LordDontLose) December 11, 2023

Whatever the Bears do at quarterback, they'll have a difficult time finding one who is a better person than Fields. He was out signing autographs for his fans in Ohio on Sunday and there are plenty of those from his Buckeyes days. He's always going out of his way to think about others.

Justin Fields always has time for the fans. pic.twitter.com/Xzktq5LC3l
— CHGO Bears (@CHGO_Bears) December 17, 2023

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven