Bears Close Out Win Over Cardinals

Just like Ebenezer Scrooge, the Bears received a visit from a ghost on Christmas Eve.

It wasn't a ghost of Christmas past. Rather, it was the ghost of past blown leads.

They had a 21-0 lead by rolling through the Arizona Cardinals behind Justin Fields' passing, Cole Kmet's receiving and Khalil Herbert's runnning and then visions of the blown 21-point lead against Denver, 12-point lead against Detroit and 10-point lead against Cleveland began to arise.

The Bears pulled together and executed key plays on both sides of the ball in the final six minutes after the Cardinals pulled within 24-16, and Cairo Santos' 29-yard field goal let them exorcise these past demons for a 27-16 holiday victory.

"That's three out of the last four that we finised the fourth quarter, going back to Minnesota and the Lions, and obviously this one here and we were close to getting it done last week," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said, preferring wins over the ghost of in Cleveland. "So I can certainly see growth. Guys are understanding and believing it and they're doing the things necessary to get that done and that's the proof that we have."

Justin Fields threw a 1-yard TD pass to Marcedes Lewis after he first ran in from 3 yards out and Khail Herbert scored on an 11-yard run as the Bears reached the end zone on three straight drives while dominating on the ground.

They ran for 250 yards on the day as Herbert had 112 yards and Fields 97.

"I think we did a really good job of imposing our will in the run game," guard Nate Davis said. "If you can do that and time of possesssion and then end up with the ball in your hand at the end of the game you can't beat that with a bat."

At least early on it was enough.

After the 1-yard TD catch by 39-year-old tight end Marcedes "Big Dog" Lewis, the Bears had outgained Arizona 236 yards to 36 in the second quarter. Then it turned as their offense stalled out like at Cleveland. A knee injury to Kmet and an ankle injury to DJ Moore didn't help.

Kmet had four catches for 107 yards and then went out. Moore left and came back on occasion when his ankle let him. He finished with three catches for 18 yards.

However, the Cardinals edged back into it with a James Conner 16-yard TD pass from Kyler Murray and a 55-yard third-quarter Matt Prater field goal. After a 49-yard drive to Santos' 49-yard field goal, the Cardinals made it very much seem like a haunting from the past.

Fields had the game in his hand at the Cardinals 14 after the Bears' longest run of the year, a 39-yard scramble. Then, when they needed a field goal to lead 27-10, he threw an interception in the end zone to Jalen Thompson.

Arizona marched right back downfield and Greg Dortch caught a short pass and turned it upfield near the sidelines with no one around for a 38-yard TD, much like Amari Cooper had done for Cleveland last week.

But then Murray threw high as coach Jonathan Gannon went for a two-point conversion.

The Bears defense would have no more of it and dispatched Cleveland on downs at its own 27 with 3:03 remaining as the secondary 's coverage and the rush led to three straight incomplete passes.

Fields picked up a key first down on a 7-yard pass to Moore at the two-minute warning and the Bears added the clinching field goal.

For Fields, after a 15-of-27 day for 170 yards and one TD, the ghost to worry about is that of the future. Is he doing enough to convince the team he should stay around? The interception nearly loomed large when they could have put it away.

"I mean, I'm cool with whatever as long we win the game constantly," Fields said. So shoot, if I have 100 passing yards with zero touchdowns and zero (completions) we get the win, I'm cool with that.

"I know people love stats and this. He only threw for (small amount). I don't care. We won the game. Yeah, as long as we win, I'm not really a numbers guy, you know. All I know is one went up in the win column today. So that's all I care about."

It definitely didn't hurt with a 112-yard game from Khalil Herbert on 20 carries, his best of the season.

The yards they gained on the ground let them control the clock for 34:32, something they couldn't do against Cleveland. Continue this, and the team that now has doubled its win total of last year at 6-9 could start to be talked about as a team for the future rather than one with blown losses in its past.

"We want to finish this thing out right, finish the season out right and get these wins," Herbert said. "Everybody, every phase did a great job toay.

"Defense played good, offense played good, special teams played good. Just trying to play team football and come out with some Dubs."

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven