This is the ultimate debacle for the Bears, one so epically embarrassing that people could lose their jobs. Now nearing a calendar year without a victory, they lost 31-28 at home to the previously winless Broncos to hit the franchise’s lowest point in nearly a decade.
This disaster is worse than anything they’ve encountered this season — and this season was going disastrously. Now they’re 0-4 and have lost 14 in a row.
The Bears squandered a 28-7 lead late in the third quarter and fell apart in such an exhaustingly familiar way. Quarterback Justin Fields continued to be the NFL’s most generous turnover machine, the defense had multiple late-game lapses and coach Matt Eberflus made a highly questionable decision that backfired.
Or, as the Bears call it, just another Sunday.
They finally ran into a defense worse than their own, at least statistically, and still found a way to get outplayed. The Broncos’ comeback marked the worst blown lead in Bears history.
The Bears were still up 28-21 with seven minutes left when Fields dropped back from his own 42-yard line and had no awareness that linebacker Nik Bonitto was behind him. Bonitto popper the ball loose, and Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper scooped it at the 35-yard line and sprinted for the game-tying touchdown.
The Bears could’ve wiped all of that clean, at least for a day, if they’d done anything when they got the ball back. They made it to the Broncos’ 18-yard line when Eberflus opted to go for it on fourth-and-one, but Khalil Herbert didn’t pick it up.
The Broncos responded by driving to the Bears’ 33-yard line. Will Lutz kicked the winning 51-yard field goal with 1:46 left.
Fields threw away their final chance with an interception from near midfield with 32 seconds left.
