The Chicago Bears had a blowout loss, 49-29, against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Chicago has now lost four of their last five games. This was the second time this season that the Bears lost by more than one possession.
Despite the success Chicago had last week against the New England Patriots, they couldn’t follow it up with back-to-back wins. Surprisingly, the offense wasn’t the problem for the Bears on Sunday, their defense was.
Here is everything we know about Chicago’s Week 8 loss.
Final Score: Cowboys 49, Bears 29
Keys to the Game
Justin Fields’ Continues to Improve: Fields has put back-to-back impressive games, both in the air and on the ground. Over the last two weeks, he has thrown for 330 yards with three passing touchdowns and has rushed for 142 yards with two rushing touchdowns. Now that he’s stacked solid performances together, we’re finally seeing the quarterback we hoped for when Chicago traded up.
Undisciplined Football: The Bears weren’t a disciplined football team against the Cowboys. They gave up too many big plays, they kept too many receivers wide open, and they caused too many mistakes that put their team in a hole. The biggest mistake they made came on the offensive side of the ball. David Montgomery fumbled the football, Micah Parsons picked up the football and was on the ground. Instead of touching Parsons down, Fields jumped over him – and the rest of the offense turned away from the play until it was too late. That play was the story of Chicago’s undisciplined play on Sunday.
Lack of Defensive Efficiency: The Bears defense was less than efficient in Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys. They have just two third down stoppages in 11 attempts. They only sacked Dak Prescott once, for a loss of eight yards. All four times the Cowboys got inside the red zone they scored touchdowns.
It was over when...
It was over when Micah Parsons picked up a fumble by David Montgomery and ran it back for his first career touchdown. It wasn’t so much the score that deflated the team, it was how it happened.
Parsons picked up the ball and was on the ground, while Justin Fields, instead of touching him down, jumped over him. An untouched Parsons took the ball 37 yards for a touchdown. That made the game 42-23.
Hypothetically speaking, if the Bears would have scored on that possession instead, they could have been down 35-30, instead of being down 19-points and more than out of it.
3 Stars of the Game
*Justin Fields: Fields put back-to-back good games together, which is encouraging for his development in Year 2. He completed 17-of-23 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns. Along with that, he rushed for 60 yards on eight attempts, with one rushing touchdown.
**Khalil Herbert: Game-by-game, Herbert is edging out David Montgomery for the top running back position. He rushed for 99 yards on 16 carries, including one rushing touchdown in Sunday’s loss to Dallas.
***Eddie Jackson: Jackson was the Bears’ best defensive player on Sunday, with 11 total tackles and one interception. That interception came right before halftime, when the Bears were down 28-14. It was a game-changing play, leading to a Cairo Santos’ field goal, cutting Dallas’ once 28-7 lead, to 28-17 at halftime. The game got as close as 28-23 before the Cowboys took over.
What's next
The Bears will host the Dolphins on Sunday at Noon CT. The Bears are 1-0 against the AFC East this season, and they will look to add to that with a win at Soldier Field.
