Regardless of how ugly the game against the Commanders was, the Bears had what they thought was a perfect scenario to win it in the final minute: Darnell Mooney, open at the goal line, ball in his hands.
That’s the surest of sure things in an otherwise shaky offense.
Mooney, however, bobbled it in the air and couldn’t secure it before cornerback Benjamin St. Juste brought him down inches short of the end zone.
Mooney couldn’t estimate how many times he watched the video in disbelief over the next few days. And he replayed it even more in his mind.
“I’d be doing something with my family and be like, ‘Yo, what the hell? That’s me. I can catch that. What the hell?’” he told the Sun-Times on Friday. “I’ve gotta make that catch regardless of if there’s 10 people there or nobody there. To be that player I want to be, regardless of what anybody else thinks, I’ve gotta make that one.”
That last part is the real point.
Mooney aspires to be a true No. 1 wide receiver, and the Bears desperately need him to get there given that he’s their most accomplished player at the position by a wide margin. They can’t afford to let defenses take him away with scheme. Their passing game will not function without him, and so far it hasn’t.
As the Bears and quarterback Justin Fields sit near the bottom of the NFL in most passing categories and rank second-to-last in scoring at 15.5 points per game heading into their visit to the Patriots on Monday, Mooney’s numbers are either a symptom or a cause. He has followed up a 1,000-yard season with just 17 catches for 241 yards and no touchdowns over the first six games.
It’s difficult to produce in the NFL’s most unproductive passing attack — the Bears have thrown the fewest passes thanks to their sack-prone offensive line and run-heavy play calling by offensive coordinator Luke Getsy — but Mooney is supposed to be good enough to change that and elevate Fields by always being in the right spot and always being open.
“My expectation is to get open regardless,” Mooney said. “Everybody says, ‘They get paid, too,’ so they’re gonna win sometimes. I understand that, but I [need to] win every time. My expectation for myself is extremely high, and I’m gonna make sure whether it’s a double team, triple team, all 11, I’m gonna get open.”
That’s what the elite receivers do. Mooney doesn’t obsess over statistics, but he’s attentive to his standing compared to the greats at his position. The best receivers get numbers, and those numbers factor into the outcome of games. They’re also weighty when it comes to a contract extension, which is on the table for Mooney after the season.
Mooney believes he’s performing well play-to-play, and that his production simply isn’t matching up with that yet. Getsy agreed, saying Mooney has executed his role well as a pass catcher and in run blocking, which isn’t easy at 5-foot-11, 173 pounds.
“He cracks some defensive ends, cracks some linebackers,” wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said of Mooney’s blocking.
There are signs Getsy is shifting the game plan more toward Mooney. Given how short the roster is on proven playmakers, that should’ve happened earlier considering he’s one of the top handful of players in the building amid the rebuild.
After getting just 21 targets over the first five games, Mooney got 12 against the Commanders and turned it into seven catches for 68 yards.
“We’re figuring out what we do well, and he’s a big part of that,” Getsy said.
He added, “He’s been playing better each week... His mentality has been great, he’s been a really good leader for this football team, so I definitely see him as an ascending guy.”
Bears coaches would paint an optimistic picture about virtually anybody on the roster, but Mooney is one of the few who has a history that suggests it’s merited. On a young team, not many players even have a track record.
Mooney has been rising since the Bears drafted him in the fifth round out of Tulane in 2020. He climbed the depth chart immediately, overtaking former prized pick Anthony Miller in training camp, and constantly improved. He’s fast, of course, but has flourished in large part because he’s smart and reliable.
Those qualities haven’t changed, and because of that, there is good reason to believe Mooney can straighten out his season after such a slow start.
