One question refused to go away while the last-place Bears were dominating first-place Detroit on Sunday:
Wait, what?
Unless it was this one:
The Bears were doing what?
It was the strangest thing. One of the worst teams in the NFL was playing well, and one of the best teams in the league seemed to be going out of its way to make itself look bad.
One more question:
What could possibly go wrong?
Everything.
The Bears managed to prove one thing in a 31-26 loss to the Lions. When it comes down to it, when plays need to be made and a team needs to assert itself, the Bears can’t hide their inherent Bear-ness. In this case, that meant a fumble in the closing seconds by quarterback Justin Fields, who had had a nice game to that point. And it meant an uber–conservative offensive approach by head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy when the Bears had a six-point second-half lead.
All the feel-good stories being spun would soon be in need of major surgery.
Embracing the positives here would be like hugging smoke, though that’s what Eberflus attempted to do after the game. Fields did what he does, rushing for 104 yards on 18 carries. That put the Lions on their heels early, which opened up the passing game a bit. Fields threw for 169 yards and a touchdown. A Fields run or the threat of Fields run is when the Bears are at their best.
The problem is that the Bears’ best — and Fields’ best — isn’t enough. If the last stretch of the season is meant to answer whether they should move forward with him at quarterback or find somebody else, this game didn’t help. All those things that have been mentioned here — his rushing yards, his passing yards and his fumble — failed to add anything to that conversation.
We’ve seen this before. It’s fine. Fine doesn’t cut it in the NFL.
It looked like the Lions wanted to lose. They had four turnovers, including three Jared Goff interceptions. The Bears were never going to get a better opportunity to beat their NFC North rival.
Then they seemed to come to the sudden realization that they weren’t supposed to be in this position. They didn’t exactly freeze, but they slowed down with the apparent idea that hiding in a turtle shell could lead to victory. It couldn’t and it didn’t.
They took a 23-14 lead on Cairo Santos’ 40-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, choosing to kick instead of going for it on fourth-and-one from the Detroit 23. Field goals would be the story and the indictment for the Bears. Eberflus twice chose field goals over the possibility of touchdowns, and it burned him. The Lions scored two touchdowns in the final 4 minutes, 15 seconds to win the game.
The Bears had a sliver of an opportunity when they started their final drive with 22 seconds left. But it ended with a fumble of Fields on a strip sack, a scene that has played out over and over the past three seasons. It was his 33rd fumble, and 20th lost, in 34 games.
“We should have won the game,’’ he said. “It just comes down to finishing.’’
That last part is no small thing. It isn’t something that comes easily. It’s not a given. In fact, there’s very little evidence that it’s the next development in a natural progression for Fields.
He isn’t the reason the Bears lost Sunday. The coaching staff gets most of the blame. But this season was never going to be about victories, not with this roster. It was about whether Fields would progress as a quarterback. The thumb injury that kept him out of four full games didn’t help. Sunday was his first game back from that long absence, and there didn’t seem to be much rust. He had a standard Justin Fields game, this time against a good team. And … so what?
It would be nice to know what’s going on inside Ryan Poles’ head, but that’s not going to happen until next year’s draft. It’s hard to believe that anything Fields does in the last six games will change the general manager’s mind. The answer was right there in front of Poles on Sunday. It was Fields, for better or worse. He’ll run a lot. He’ll pass in moderation. He’ll fumble, sometimes at the worst moment.
Maybe Poles thinks he can build a defense that can carry the Bears to great heights, without the benefit of a great quarterback. That would be a terrible miscalculation.
If Poles thinks he can win with this coaching staff, Sunday’s loss should have given him pause. After the Lions scored in the blink of an eye to cut the lead to 26-21 late in the fourth quarter, Getsy ran Khalil Herbert twice, once for no gain and once for one yard. Besides the Bears, nobody was fooled. Then Fields overthrew Tyler Scott by maybe half a step on a deep throw. You could make the argument that Scott should have been able to get to the ball. But you can’t argue with the idea that great quarterbacks make big plays when they’re needed most.
