The Chicago Bears lost a game they had no business losing. Or is it that they had no business winning it? Either way, ugggggggh!
It was the New York Giants who sprung the trap game and emerged victorious with a 30-27 overtime win. Was it ugly? Yes. Was it exciting? At times, yes. In the end, we’re talking about a Bears loss when there was no reason to lose such a game. Then again, you could argue they didn’t play well enough to win.
Everything that could go wrong went terribly and hilariously wrong. A muffed opening kick by Taquan Mizzell Sr. cost the Bears field positioning on their opening drive, and two plays into said drive, Chase Daniel threw a pick-six. From there, the Bears missed tackles, blocking assignments, dropped passes, blown coverages, coaching miscalculations, and more in a game that had too much sloppiness to pin-point every example. That game also featured a Bears defensive lineman running in a touchdown on fourth down, a successful onside kick recovery, and a touchdown with no time left on the clock as part of a valiant comeback effort. If you were a neutral, you probably enjoyed the heck out of the game. But if you were a Bears fan, you’re left peeved that none of it was enough to secure win No. 9.
By all means, that loss wasn’t a dagger by any stretch of the imagination. FiveThirtyEight has the Bears’ playoff odds at 93 percent, but their odds of winning the division are down to 70 percent. A win by the New England Patriots over the Minnesota Vikings would kick those odds up to 93 percent to make the postseason and 79 percent to do so while winning the NFC North. See … things could be worse! (Yeah, I’m not feeling much better either.)
Moving forward, the Bears are about to enter the shredder. They’ll get the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams a week from tonight on Sunday Night Football, a ticked-off Green Bay Packers team looking to play spoiler on their rival’s home turf, an always-dangerous trip out west to play the San Francisco 49ers, and the regular-season finale on the road against the Minnesota Vikings. Chicago will be favored in at least two of the games, but none of those contests will be a walk in the park. But if Mitch Trubisky is healthy, you’ll probably feel better about their chances in those late-season showdowns.
In the end, the Bears are about to play meaningful football in December. Hopefully, our hearts can take it.