The Bears aren’t blaming Darnell Mooney for their loss Sunday, even though the receiver had a chance to make an amazing catch on a tipped Hail Mary as time expired.
“If that’s the play you’re pointing to, that’s not the play we should be harping on — and we didn’t,” tight end Cole Kmet said one day after the Bears’ 20-17 loss to the Browns in Cleveland. “I can understand why as a fan you’d be upset because it looked like it was there and all that, but there were plenty of opportunities throughout the game for us to make things happen and we weren’t able to do that.”
Quarterback Justin Fields threw the ball toward Kmet with hopes he’d catch it or the Bears would get lucky in the ensuing scrum. The ball was tipped forward and onto Mooney’s lap as he fell to the ground. It went through his hands. He kicked it into the air and it was picked off.
The Bears were *this* close to completing an INSANE Hail Mary 🤏🤯 pic.twitter.com/fP4OgNP3FQ
— PFF (@PFF) December 17, 2023
“[Mooney] wants to make the play, you know what I mean?” Kmet said. “But again, it’s hard for me to look at that and just be like that’s ... sure, that’s the play that could have won it, but you can’t be depending on those plays at the end of the game to win the game.
“Three-and-outs are the things that are more glaring. If we’re able to execute a couple first downs here and there instead of three-and-outs we win that game with how our defense is playing. I tend to more look at those things. But the Hail Mary, it kind of just is what it is.”
