Bears drop heartbreaker to Commanders in Washington

The loss dropped the Bears to 4-3 and snapped their three-game profitable streak.

With the offense struggling for the primary two-and-a-half quarters, the protection stored the Bears within the sport by forcing the Commanders to accept 4 Austin Seibert discipline targets of 27, 30, 28 and 47 yards.

The Bears finally reduce the deficit from 12-0 to 12-7 on D’Andre Swift’s sensational 56-yard landing run with :43 to play within the third quarter.

They’d an opportunity to take the lead halfway by the fourth interval. However on third-and-goal from the 1, Caleb Williams tried at hand off to Doug Kramer Jr., an offensive lineman who was lined up at fullback on the play. Kramer by no means secured the ball, and the Commanders recovered the fumble on the 3.

“We have labored that play since he is been in there,” Eberflus mentioned of Kramer. “We have labored the mechanics of it, the hand-off to him. We have simply bought to do it higher. We’re wedge blocking. You are on the 1-yard line. You have bought an enormous man to get the ball. We have practiced it so much.”

The Bears rebounded to take their first lead at 13-12 with :25 remaining within the sport on Roschon Johnson’s 1-yard TD burst, capping a 10-play, 62-yard drive. The rating got here after Keenan Allen had drawn a move interference penalty ultimately zone on fourth-and-3 on the 12.

Williams adopted with a two-point conversion move to Cole Kmet, placing the Bears forward 15-12.

Daniels accomplished back-to-back passes of 11 and 13 yards to the Washington 48, leaving :02 on the clock. On the ultimate play, he scrambled round within the backfield for about 12 seconds earlier than launching the ball deep down the center of the sphere. When it settled in Brown’s palms, the stadium erupted.

“We have practiced that play 100 occasions since we have been right here,” Eberflus mentioned. “I am going to have to take a look at what the execution was of that. However we’ve a physique on a physique, boxing out guys like basketball. We have now one man that knocks the ball down. We have a again tip man that goes behind the pile. Once more, I’ve bought to take a look at it and element it out and ensure we’re higher subsequent time.”

“In that state of affairs, I am imagined to be the jumper and attempt to soar and [bat] the ball down,” mentioned security Kevin Byard III. “However I used to be standing again there, and all people was simply form of piling up. It is form of laborious to get an angle, attempt to get a operating begin. When the ball is within the air, you are attempting to battle to get place.”

Nickel again Josh Blackwell was additionally within the scrum of gamers leaping for the ball.

“That was powerful,” Blackwell mentioned. “We had them. We had the win and sadly simply that final ball was caught.”

The Bears trailed 9-0 at halftime after being outgained by the Commanders 267-90 within the first half. The protection pressured Washington to accept three discipline targets after reaching the Chicago 7, 7 and 9.

After their first three possessions resulted in punts, the Bears turned the ball over on downs at their very own 40 when DJ Moore was tackled for no acquire after a catching a fast move from Williams on fourth-and-1.

The Bears picked up three first downs on their ultimate drive of the primary half, reaching the Commanders’ 23. However on third-and-12 from the 25, Williams was sacked for a 15-yard loss, knocking them out of field-goal vary.

Within the first half, Williams accomplished 3 of 8 passes for 38 yards. For the sport, he related on 10 of 24 passes for 131 yards and a 59.5 passer ranking, snapping a streak of three straight outings with a ranking of at the very least 100.0.

“The progressions, I believed he bought off them a little bit bit, however I am going to have to take a look at them,” Eberflus mentioned. “The rhythm and timing we have seen the final couple weeks … it could possibly be guys which can be coated, strain in his face, no matter that is likely to be. Once more, that is an all people factor. That is a safety factor. That is a route operating factor. And that is a quarterback factor.”

Whereas the protection did not allow a landing till the ultimate play of the sport, the Commanders compiled 481 complete yards, 168 on the bottom and 313 within the air. Daniels accomplished 21 of 38 passes for 326 yards and a 92.7 passer ranking and rushed for 52 yards on eight carries. Terry McLaurin caught 5 passes for 125 yards. And Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for 65 yards on 16 makes an attempt.

Swift had one other stellar outing, speeding for 129 yards on 18 carries. On his 56-yard TD run, he bounced exterior and raced down the left sideline, selecting up blocks by Kmet and left sort out Kiran Amegadjie, who had entered the sport within the first half when Braxton Jones exited with a knee damage.

Earlier than Swift’s TD, the Bears had failed to attain on their first seven possessions, an enormous departure from their earlier two contests by which they’d generated 5 TDs in back-to-back video games for the primary time since 1956.

“Typically when you may have these days, you have simply bought to ensure you hold discovering solutions,” Eberflus mentioned. “Among the solutions might have been getting the ball to our tight ends and operating backs as I take a look at the stat sheet. I do know we have been attempting to try this. They did strain with their linebackers. We knew they have been going to do a few of these. These have been efficient for them. We have to do a greater job dealing with these. It is at all times about working to the subsequent sequence and discovering solutions, and we have got to do a greater job of that.”

Eberflus is just not involved that the Bears will permit Sunday’s devastating loss to outline their season.

“Our guys imagine in one another, belief one another, think about one another,” he mentioned. “They are a resilient bunch. They are going to come again extra decided. The sport did not go the best way we needed it to. However we had an opportunity to win it. We did the whole lot we might on the very finish. We have simply bought to execute higher.”

The Bears shall be again on the highway subsequent Sunday in opposition to the Cardinals in Arizona.