The Bears’ only drive of the third quarter Sunday was a slowly squeezing boa constrictor of a possession, choking the life out of the Raiders team that they led by 11 points.
Over eight passes —mostly screens and checkdowns — and seven runs, the clock stopped only twice. In 8:16, the Bears marched 93 yards for a touchdown that smothered any concerns of another come-from-ahead loss. They won 30-12.
They could have used a drive like that against the Broncos. And the Vikings, too.
“I think it’s hard to start fast in the second half when you have such a controlling first half,” quarterback Tyson Bagent said. “So I think that was just another one of the focal points, you know — ‘Don’t let this be a comeback story.’”
Here are four keys to why it wasn’t:
• The run game was physical. The Bears were faced after first-and-15 when right tackle Darnell Wright started the drive with a false start. They called a toss left to running back D’Onta Foreman, who ran for 14 yards, even trying — and failing — to hurdle safety Marcus Epps.
“I told him just to stop jumping today,” receiver DJ Moore joked.
Foreman, didn’t. In the fourth quarter, he completed a clean hurdle.
“They were clowning me a little bit with the first one …” Foreman said. “I had to do it again.”
Foreman finished with 16 carries for 89 yards and figures to have earned himself lead back duties even when Roschon Johnson returns. His physical run game was the team’s metronome on their third quarter drive — their screens and play-action passes wouldn’t have worked without it — and is fast becoming their identity. Through three games, the Bears were 17th in the NFL with 305 rushing yards. In the four games since, they lead the NFL with 684.
As the weather gets colder, it’ll continue.
“We believe in running the ball — we really do — because of where we live,” coach Matt Eberflus said.
• Bagent’s alarm clock went off. The most impressive part of the undrafted rookie quarterback’s performance was the timer in his head. He took one sack on 33 dropbacks and checked the ball down when he was pressured.
“He’s got a good knack for that …” Eberflus said. “He understands the play design. He understands where it’s supposed to go, and he gets rid of it in a timely fashion. Even when it was off schedule, in terms of the pressure, he was able cause he’s athletic enough to be able to evade.”
He also knew when to tuck and run. When Bagent dropped back on second-and-11 from the Bears’ 29, Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby beat a double team by Wright and right guard Teven Jenkins. As Crosby reached for him, Bagent sprinted up the left hash. Tight end Cole Kmet boxed out his defender and Bagent pump-faked to freeze another. He gained 12 yards, his longest run of the day.
Starter Justin Fields is, by far, a more dangerous runner. But his alarm clock isn’t as precise — since joining the league, Fields has been sacked on 13.3% of his dropbacks, the second-highest mark in the NFL.
• Luke Getsy drew up a screen. The Bears installed a throwback screen pass weeks ago, but the offensive coordinator reminded his team of it at halftime by drawing it on the locker room white board. He called it for the first time this season after Bagent’s scramble.
From a pistol formation, Bagent faked a handoff left to Foreman and rolled right. When he got almost exactly in between both sets of hashmarks, he threw left to Foreman, standing at the Bears’ 35 just outside the numbers.
When he caught the ball, the Bears had four linemen — everyone but Wright — waiting on the left flank to block for him. Left tackle Larry Borom took out one player, leaving center Lucas Patrick and guards Cody Whitehair and Jenkins lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, with only one defender to block in front of them.
Foreman gained 17 yards — it would have been more had he not stepped out of bounds. Patrick celebrated the play by throwing both hands in the air and looking back at the Bears sideline.
• Bagent made a throw. Bagent thought he had his first career passing touchdown on second and goal from the 5 when he threw a fade to the back right corner of the end zone to DJ Moore, who bobbled it as he fell out of bounds.
On the next play he took a shotgun snap and looked right — first to Kmet on a snag route and then Darnell Mooney on a corner route. Defenders backed off toward the two just enough for Bagent to check the ball to Foreman in the flat. He caught the ball at the 4 and plowed through a Marcus Peters arm tackle for a touchdown.
It wasn’t an amazing throw. But Bagent didn’t have to make one.
“It was easy, especially how [Foreman] was playing today,” Bagent said. “Get it to him and let him break a tackle, which he did.”
