LEVELAND — The Bears didn’t lose Sunday because receiver Darnell Mooney failed to wrangle a tipped Hail Mary as his backside slammed into the soggy turf at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
“It shouldn’t have to come down to those things,” Mooney said.
Rather, the Bears lost 20-17 to the Browns because their offense wasn’t something their defense could be proud of.
Their offense had one touchdown drive Sunday — and, amazingly, it was one yard long and took eight snaps. They produced 10 points, with a touchdown coming on linebacker Tremaine Edmunds’ 45-yard interception return of Joe Flacco’s pass in the third quarter, and averaged 3.4 yards per play.
The Bears defense intercepted three passes, becoming the fourth team since 2020 to post at least two in four straight games.
The offense, though, reverted back to a familiar place: stuck in the mud. In their last three games against teams not named the Lions, they’ve scored two touchdowns and eight field goals on 36 drives.
Sunday, the Bears went three-and-out on half their 16 possessions.
At the center of it was quarterback Justin Fields, who went 19 for 40 for a measly 166 yards and a 46.5 passer rating. Both his interceptions were on Hail Mary passes — at the end of the first and second halves. It was his worst output since the Chiefs debacle in Week 3.
“Defense did their job — they gave us the opportunity to win by flying numbers,” said Fields, who also ran seven times for 30 yards. “But as an offense we didn’t get the job done. …. We have to be better, and I have to be better.”
Both are running out of time. It was impossible to watch the offense Sunday and think it’s headed the right way — even if Mooney argued otherwise. The Bears could pick first overall if the Panthers, who owe them their pick, keep losing.
“Justin is the quarterback of the future — he’s the franchise quarterback,” Mooney insisted. “He’s been balling. I don’t understand why there’s any more questions about that. Obviously we have the first-round pick because of Carolina right now. Justin’s a dog. If he’s not here he’ll be somewhere else balling. I’m not the guy to make those decisions. Justin’s a dog. So wherever he’ll be — if he’s not here, somewhere else — he’ll still gonna ball.”
Sunday was the wrong day to make that case.
Fields’ final heave came after the Bears blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. On the first play of the quarter, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy ran Fields around the right end on fourth-and-one. He was tripped by cornerback Cameron Mitchell and fell short. The Browns marched for a 33-yard field goal to down seven.
On third-and-one on the Bears’ next drive, Getsy tried a jet sweep to rookie receiver Tyler Scott, who was stuffed for a loss. After the Bears punted, Flacco found receiver Amari Cooper on a crossing route with 3:17 to play. He turned up the right sideline and ran in for a 51-yard score to tie the game.
The response from the Bears offense: a handoff that lost five yards, an incomplete pass and a three-yard checkdown.
THE BROWNS WIN IT 🤯
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 17, 2023
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/dw6eZL2e85
They punted again, and the Browns drove for the game-winning field goal, a 34-yarder by Dustin Hopkins, with 36 seconds to play. The Browns’ key play came when Flacco caught Eberflus in a third-and-15 blitz and threw to tight end David Njoku for 34 yards with 46 seconds left.
A Bears offense that had gained 18 yards on 13 plays to that point in the fourth quarter put up one last gasp. They passed midfield when Scott tiptoed up the right sideline for a 30-yard gain, but Fields ended up having to heave a Hail Mary from the Browns’ 45 as the clock expired.
“We’ve got just got to do a good job of putting drives together in the fourth quarter on offense,” Eberflus said. “We’ve got to have sustained drives there to get in scoring position. We’re always behind.”
