Bears offense comes up short, in close game vs the Saints.

Seeing as I was one of the few (only?) WCG contributors to pick the Bears to win this one, I’ll take my lumps here. What I will say, is that it was just as close as I thought it would be, and the Bears had EVERY opportunity to win this one. They just blew it.

Here’s your box score: Box Score

The scripted plays, looked good. That’s something to cling to.

Lots of short passes, good motion, crossing routes, with Montgomery runs to break things up. All started out well. After the scripted plays however, the offense began to stall (to the surprise of no one).

A pair of plays showed what this offense can do when executed properly.

Nick Foles hooked up on a deep shot to Mooney, something that was NOT working against the Rams, for 50 yards.

Two plays later, and Foles hooked up on another deep shot to Robinson, who made a great move and a terrific grab for the touchdown.

Unfortunately, those were the two biggest plays of the game (No offense to Robinson’s 28 yard gain in the 4th to set up a 5 yard Mooney TD, and Montgomery’s 38 yard rumble to set up a FG in the 2nd).

The offensive line, which was already banged up, suffered even more injuries.

With Massie going down, Spriggs was brought in. Somewhat surprisingly, they actually held up fairly well with Spriggs in there. But, since the Bears can’t have nice things, he too went down and Bars came in at guard, and Coward swung out to tackle, and predictably, the pressure started coming.

Questionable personnel decisions are par for the course.

All I’m going to say is that they had Khalil Mack covering Alvin Kamara, and it resulted in a 47 yard reception. Maybe let’s not do that.

The second half started as a mirror image of the first half.

It seemed as if Matt Nagy was running the same (more or less) plays to start the second half as he did to start the first. Short pass to Miller, David Montgomery run for a positive gain, Mooney catching a ball on an out route off motion. Unfortunately, this drive resulted in a punt rather than points.

Cairo Santos was money.

I was apprehensive about Cairo Santos to start the year, for good reason. But, after some early struggles, he’s really come on strong for the Bears. Really impressed with him so far. He’s starting to look like the kicker he was for the Chiefs a few years back. If he keeps this up, they Bears look like they have finally found their guy.

Speaking of kickers, a doink went the Bears way for once...

Will Lutz bounced one off the uprights for a miss in the first. So that was somewhat cathartic to see. However, he rebounded and ended the game 4-5 including the game winner in OT.

Speaking of OT...

The Bear did come back from being down 10 in the 4th to send it to OT. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to pull it out. They had chances. Dropped passes, dropped picks and some poor execution ultimately led to their demise (as is their custom at this point). The comeback showed heart, but the lack of ability to finish is still troubling.

And of course, Javon Wims got Ejected.

Look. it was dumb. You don’t throw a punch and cost your team. Especially that long after the play. I get it. Gardner-Johnson poked Miller in the face, and was talking ish. That’s some BS. But it’s beyond dumb to not only start a fight with him after the fact, but to punch him in the helmet? Let me tell you a little secret. In the battle between knuckles and helmet, helmet is undefeated.

Be smarter.

End of the day, this game was close.

I’m not happy with the result, but it wasn’t a blow out. The Bears didn’t get embarrassed on national television like they did Monday Night against the Rams. Their O-Line is tragic. Their QB is meh at best. Their play-caller has timing issues. Their D struggles against dynamic runners, and the short passing game. But they were in this one. Quite frankly, they should have won it. They just couldn’t get out of their own way for much of the game.

On to the Titans, who just dropped one against Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Bear down everyone.

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