Darnell Mooney lost it in the lights.
The Bears receiver split right on fourth-and-goal from the 4 with 33 seconds left and the game on the line Thursday night at Soldier Field. He broke inward off the line of scrimmage as if he were running a slant, planted his left foot and broke back toward the right pylon.
Quarterback Justin Fields, who struggled in the red zone all night against the Commanders, lofted the ball to Mooney, who was blanketed by the Commanders’ Benjamin St.-Juste. Mooney leapt, extended both hands — and bobbled the ball. He eventually caught it, but by then he was inches short of the goal line in the Commanders 12-7 win.
He said he lost it in the Soldier Field lights.
“Just tried to catch the light,” he said.
He couldn’t.
“If I wanna be that player, if I wanna be that guy for our team, I gotta make that play,” Mooney said.
A game-winning touchdown would have taken some of the pain off out of Fields’ struggles. Coming off his best game of the season, the second-year quarterback took a step back Thursday, completing 14-of-27 passes for 190 yards and a 71.5 passer rating. He threw one touchdown and one interception, and he was sacked five times.
“I gotta be there for my guy,” Mooney said. “He called my number. I just gotta be there for him.”
It was an apt ending. The Bears had the ball at the Commanders’ 5 or closer on three different drives — and came away with zero points.
Fields used a 39-yard scramble to move the Bears to the 5 with 52 seconds to play, but he scrambled for one yard on first down and threw two incompletions.
“We didn’t finish …” said Fields, who said he hurt his left shoulder, an injury he’s suffered before, on Thursday. “There was multiple plays in the game we could have made.”
With about three minutes left in the first quarter, the Bears had second-and-goal at the 5. Fields sidearmed a pass toward tight end Cole Kmet, who had lined up left and ran a slant route into the end zone. The ball hit the helmet of the Commanders’ Efe Obada, rocketed into the air and was caught by fellow defensive lineman Jonathan Allen for an interception.
The Bears were back in the red zone quickly, thanks to running back Khalil Herbert, who took a handoff on the first play of the next drive and zig-zagged up the field for a thrilling 64-yard run. A flag on the Commanders for having too many men on the field moved the Bears from the 6 to the 3.
After Herbert was stuffed for no gain, Fields faked two handoffs on second-and-goal — first to Herbert and then to receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, who ran an end around from right to left. That allowed backup tight end Ryan Griffin to slip away, unguarded. Fields saw him open and running into the south end zone, wound up and threw it over his head. Griffin dove toward the NFC logo, but the throw wasn’t close.
“It was a great play, a great call,” coach Matt Eberflus said.
A Fields scramble then put the ball inside the 1. The Bears went for it and handed to Herbert — who was stuffed at the line.
Fields was battered all night — even on his highlight throw.
Halfway through the third quarter, Fields had a free play — the Commanders had too many players on the field when the Bears quarterback took the snap. He looked left and launched a pass to Dante Pettis, covered one-on-one. The veteran receiver caught the ball about five yards into the end zone, tapped both feet in and tumbled out the left sideline for a touchdown.
Up 7-3 with about eight minutes to play, rookie Velus Jones muffed a punt for the second time in three weeks. The Commanders recovered at the 6 and scored two plays later to take a 12-7 lead.
On the ensuing drive, the Bears, amazingly, took a delay of game on fourth-and-11. The Bears went for it on fourth-and-16 and Fields threw incomplete to Smith-Marsette, who was running across the field well short of the first down marker.
The delay of game and the ensuing throw showed a shocking lack of awareness for a man the Bears hope will be the face of the franchise.
Commanders kicker Joey Slye missed a 48-yard field goal that would have given them an eight-point lead with about two minutes to play to give the Bears one last shot at winning the game — one that fell inches short.
“I think [Fields] took a step forward, I really do,” Eberflus said, not very convincingly. “The toughness … For me, the ability to take the ball and drive it down at the very end, to give us a chance to win it, that to me is what was the improvement.”
