To be a Bears fan coming off the bye and treated to that game is so damn cruel. If you woke up still upset about the game that got away, it’s totally understandable. I am, too. But let’s get through this together. After all, there are more games to play.
So now, every team in the NFC North has one of those “are you [expletive deleted] kidding me!?!?” losses under its belt (I’d argue the Bears have two, but whatever). The Lions were blown out of the water by the Jets at home in Sam Darnold’s first start, the Vikings were bulldozed by the Bills in Week 3, Mason Crosby missed all the kicks ever in the Packers’ Week 5 loss to the Lions, and now the Bears have that inexcusable loss to the Dolphins in Week 6. And yet, the Bears’ loss to the Dolphins is the only one that came against a team that is tied for first in their division standings. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that this type of loss happens all the time in the NFL. “On any given day, any one team can beat another,” my mother used to tell me. Yesterday was that day. It sucks, but it happens.
Minor setback sets up a major comeback:
The Bears have lost in Miami in every year they've reached the Super Bowl.
Well, I sure didn’t hear a whistle until after Floyd completed his WWE-style move. Had it been after the whistle, I would understand it. But it wasn’t. What’s Floyd supposed to do? Just let him go and run free. We saw how that worked out for the rest of the Bears defense.
And then there was this questionable roughing the passer penalty:
Anyone else feel bummed for Cody Parkey? Prior to his 53-yard miss in overtime, Parkey had made five straight coming into the game. Oh, and that miss dropped his success rate from 90% to 81.8%. This stinks for him, but the Bears should have never settled for that long of a kick.
Here’s something that suggests a brighter future for the Bears kicker: Parkey has made 96.6 percent of his attempts inside 50 yards since the start of the 2017 season. At some point soon, the Bears need to better understand Parkey’s range if they’re going to deploy him successfully moving forward.
(Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images)
Tarik Cohen had a costly fumble, but he was also one of the reason the Bears were in the game in the first place. Cohen had 121 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. At this point, I’ve had enough of the Tyreek Hill comps. Not that Hill isn’t a player you would want to be compared to, but Cohen is his own man and Matt Nagy is using him in a unique way. Let’s just enjoy this for what it is.
I wish Coach Nagy would have had a little more faith in Mitch Trubisky in overtime. Trubisky was 13/17 for 227 yards, three touchdowns, and a bodacious 132.9 passer rating in the second half. But the Bears didn’t attempt a single pass in overtime. Huh? Trubisky led the Bears out of their offensive doldrums and should’ve been given an opportunity to go win a game.
Seriously, where was the guy with “BE YOU” on his play card when you needed him?
At least the Bears’ front office looks like it’s improving in the scouting department and the proof was on display in that game. Trey Burton and Allen Robinson scored touchdowns. Taylor Gabriel successfully stretched the defense vertically and picked up his second straight 100-yard receiving game. And Albert Wilson, who was often connected to the Bears in free agency, lit them up for six catches, 155 yards, and two touchdowns.
We’ll dive into some of the officiating issues from Sunday’s game later. So while this one doesn’t necessarily make the cut as among the most egregious, there’s certainly a case that this generous spot changed the complexion a bit:
In a game marred by busted coverages, poor tackling, and missed opportunities, Kyle Fuller was a playmaker. Oh, he had his issues, but Fuller came away with two significant interceptions that changed the complexion of the game. The first thwarted a potential scoring drive at the end of the first half and kept the Bears’ deficit at a manageable 7-0. Fuller’s second came on the Dolphins’ first possession after halftime and led to the Bears taking their first lead of the day. Had the Bears held on, we had those plays circled for a potential Fuller redemption post that would allow us to put his Week 1 drop past fully behind us. Instead, to the trash bin it goes.
The Bears’ defensive depth didn’t play the role I thought it would, which is disappointing because that’s something that could (should?) have helped tilt things in their favor. Roy Robertson-Harris (29%) and Jonathan Bullard (28%) played on a lower percentage of snaps than their season average, while Aaron Lynch (42%) and Bilal Nichols (19%) played their normal percentages. Considering the expected toll heat was going to take on players, this would have been an opportune time to tweak some things. To be clear, I’m not using the heat as an excuse. But it shouldn’t have impacted the Bears in this way. The coaching staff should wear this one.
Isaiah Irving didn’t play a single defensive snap in a game where the conditions figured to take a toll on players and on an afternoon where Khalil Mack was slowed by an apparent ankle injury. That doesn’t seem to make much sense. Then again, did anything in that game make sense? Mack was a non-factor and the rest of the pass-rush suffered without him producing as he did in the first four games of the season. It’s possible the taped ankle slowed him down enough to make him ineffective, but that just means the Bears needed to find a way to get pressure elsewhere.
That might have been Vic Fangio’s worse game as Bears DC. The Dolphins essentially ran some variation of the same play and it had me thinking back to the Dowell Loggains days, except these plays actually worked. Basically, Fangio had two years working against this offense to prepare to stop one play and couldn’t do it. That stings.
I’d think more highly of the Bears being part of this historic feat had they won:
At least one game has gone to overtime in each of the NFL’s first six weeks of the 2018 season, marking the first time that a season has featured at least one overtime game in each of its first six weeks.
Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.
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