Bear Digest

The Long Legacy of Lost Leads by Matt Eberflus Teams

The Hail Mary pass Sunday was easily the most dramatic late loss by a Matt Eberflus-coached team but it started in Indianapolis and here's the list.

Gene Chamberlain

Commanders coach Dan Quinn can't believe what he just saw as the Hail Mary is tipped to Noah Brown for the Washington win.
Commanders coach Dan Quinn can't believe what he just saw as the Hail Mary is tipped to Noah Brown for the Washington win. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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The defenses coached by Matt Eberflus have not had a strong history of protecting leads.

The Bears use plenty of zone coverage, which is fine. However, playing too soft with a lead or making tactical errors once armed with leads can cause trouble.

In some cases, the Bears have lacked the manpower to beat good teams if they led late in games. In others, they should never have lost games they led.

None of the lost fourth-quarter leads carried with them the drama of the Hail Mary pass Jayden Daniels beat the Bears with on Sunday, but lost fourth-quarter lead is a missed opportunity nonetheless.

Here are leads lost by Matt Eberflus teams as a head coach or defensive coordinator.

Colts Defensive Coordinator

2018

  • The Colts led 23-10 but Andy Dalton found A.J. Green for a 38-yard touchdown pass and triggered a run of 24 straight Bengals points in a 38-23 Cincinnati comeback win at the start of the Eberflus defensive era.
  • Wendell Smallwood’s touchdown ended a 75-yard drive with 3:02 remaining and the Colts lost to the Eagles 20-16.
  • The Colts overcame an 18-point Texans lead for a 34-31 advantage with six minutes left but Deshaun Watson led two drives to 29-yard and 37-yard field goals by Ka’imi Fairbairn and Houston won 37-34.

GOOD REASONS EXIST WHY HEAT SHOULD BE ON BEARS DECISION MAKERS

TYRIQUE STEVENSON COULD FACE CHALLENGING WEEK OF PRACTICE

WHAT MATT EBERFLUS SAID TO SECOND-GUESSERS AFTER HAIL MARY LOSS

ADMISSION AND APOLOGY BY TYRIQUE STEVENSON ON MONDAY FOR TEAMMATES

2019

  • The Colts had a 24-23 lead with 8:43 to play but Ben Roethlisberger took the Steelers on a drive to Chris Boswell’s 26-yard game-winning field goal in a 26-24 win at Pittsburgh.
  • Indianapolis led 12-10 in a tight defensive struggle but two fourth-quarter drives to field goals gave the Dolphins a 16-12 win.
  • Indianapolis had a 17-10 third-quarter lead but couldn’t hold it and Deshaun Watson’s fourth-quarter TD pass gave the Texans a 24-17 win.
  • The Colts led 17-7 in the third quarter but Derrick Henry ran for 149 yards and Ryan Tannehill threw two touchdown passes as they rallied with 24 straight points in a 31-17 Houston win.
  • The Colts led 35-21 late in the third quarter but lost 38-35 as Jameis Winston engineered a comeback.
  • The Jaguars trailed the Colts 20-13 and Gardner Minshew led the comeback for a 27-24 victory.

2020

  • Once again Minshew led a comeback from a 20-17 deficit. In the fourth quarter the Jaguars drove 75 yards to win it on a 22-yard Minshew TD pass, then tacked on a field goal for insurance to win in the season opener, the only Jaguars win that season, 27-20.
  • The Colts led 24-7 in the third quarter but Ben Roethlisberger threw three touchdown passes in the final 18 ½ minutes of the game for a 28-24 Pittsburgh win.

2021

  • The Colts l ed 25-9 in the fourth quarter but Lamar Jackson took the Ravens on scoring marches of 78 and 75 yards and TD passes of 5 and 4 yards to Mark Andrews. The got both PATs on two-point tries, then went to overtime and won on a 5-yard TD pass to Marquise Brown.
  • The Colts led 21-17 in the fourth quarter. Then Matthew Stafford’s 10-yard TD pass put the Rams ahead but the Colts tied it before Matt Gay’s 38-yard field goal with 2:23 won it for L.A. 27-24.
  • They couldn’t entirely blame the defense because a pick-6 took away the Colts’ 24-21 lead in the fourth quarter but after Indianapolis tied it up on a 1-yard Jonathan Taylor 1-yard run with 22 seconds to play, they lost on Randy Bullock’s 44-yard overtime field goal.
  • The Colts led 17-13 in the fourth quarter but gave up an 11-yard TD pass to Hunter Renfrow by Derek Carr. Although they rallied to tie, the Raiders won it 23-20 on a Daniel Carlson field goal with 33 seconds left.
  • Jonathan Taylor’s TD tied the game with 3:29 to play after the Colts had blown a 24-14 third-quarter lead, but they couldn’t stop a 75-yard drive by Tom Brady, ending in Leonard Fournette’s 28-yard TD run with 20 seconds in a 38-31 Tampa Bay win.

Bears Head Coach

2022

  • The Bears battled back to lead 22-21 in the fourth quarter but Kirk Cousins led a 75-yard drive to a touchdown. Then, when the Bears tried to rally on a final drive, Ihmir Smith-Marsette had the ball stolen from his grasp from behind in a 29-22 loss to the Vikings.
  • The Bears led the Lions 24-17 and 30-24 in the fourth quarter. Cairo Santos missed a conversion kick, then Jared Goff engineered a 91-yard drive to Jamaal Williams’ 1-yard run for a touchdown and the PAT by former Bear Michael Badgley won it 31-30 for Detroit.
  • The Bears led Aaron Rodgers and the Packers 19-10 starting the fourth quarter. A.J. Dillon scored on a 21-yard run and the Packers went ahead on a field goal and Christian Watson capped it with a 46-yard end-around TD in a 28-19 Green Bay win.

2023

  • The Bears led Denver 28-7 in the third quarter and gave up 24 straight points to Russell Wilson. Wil Lutz’s field goal with 1:46 left from 51 yards won it for the Broncos 31-28.
  • The Bears blew a 26-14 lead in the final three minutes. Jared Goff threw a 32-yard TD pass to Jameson Williams with 2:59 remaining, David Montgomery scored to end a 73-yard drive, and then Fields lost the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety with 22 seconds left in a 31-26 Lions win.
  • Cleveland trailed 17-7 in the third quarter but rallied for a 20-17 win with a 51-yard Joe Flacco  TD pass to Amari Cooper and then Dustin Hopkins’ 34-yard field goal with 32 seconds remaining.

2024

  • A 52-yard Hail Mary pass by Daniels is tipped by Tyrique Stevenson backward to Noah Brown on the game’s final play and  in miraculous fashion the Bears wasted a fourth-quarter comeback by QB Caleb Williams in an 18-15 loss to the Commanders.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.