Nothing good can last.
Through a couple drives today, with the Bears suddenly looking nimble and inventive on offense – incorporating tight ends! passing on running downs! zone reads! oh my! – you started to catch a glimpse of the bright future that could lie ahead for this team, especially as the defense continued to be stifling.
… but, like I said, nothing good can last. Apparently.
A stupid Kyle Long penalty, a fumbled snap, burned coverage in the secondary, and a rash of injuries (including Leonard Floyd and Kyle Fuller going out on the same play), and all the optimism got sucked out of the air. Still, the Bears found a way to tie things up late in the 4th quarter on a beautiful aerial display by Tarik Cohen. But they couldn’t stop Matthew Stafford from leading a field goal drive, putting the Lions on top for good with 1:40 left to play.
Kudos to Mitch Trubisky and his wheels for putting together enough of a drive to give the Bears a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but Connor Barth’s 46-yard field goal attempt missed wide right. Very wide right. Never-had-a-chance wide right. Get-yourself-cut-immediately wide right. (That’s not a prediction; I mean, I’m just saying. It was very bad.)
There were encouraging bits in this one – certainly more than last week’s abomination against the Packers – but the Bears still just aren’t quite there. If each week is “one last chance” for the coaching staff to put together a clean week and save their jobs, you couldn’t quite say this week was the one that did the trick.