Bears defense snoozes, but offense keeps a high scoring game interesting in fun new way to lose against the Cowboys

This game was always a set up for disappointment. The Bears are coming off their best game of the season, where plenty of bounces went their way (literally every fumble was recovered by the Bears). It was a delightful viewing experience for Bears fans and clearly there would be a let down. I expected the Bears offense to struggle against one of the best defenses in the league. I didn’t expect the Cowboys offense to trample over the Bears like they were literally riding horses and the “Bears” were just hairy men on foot. Maybe Robert Quinn’s leadership was doing more than we realized.

I also didn’t expect the Bears offense to put up the fight they did to make this game briefly close despite 4 straight Cowboys TDs.

I don’t recommend looking at the Cowboy’s offense half of it, but the box score shows some fun Bears numbers.

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Rough start for the Bears defense

Bears defenders got munched up by blocks left and right as the Cowboys casually moseyed down the field for what felt like too easy of a touchdown drive.

I thought underthrown deep balls always got PI calls?

I’m not saying the Anthony Brown actually did anything to get PI against EQ Saint Brown, but it just seems like that always gets a call. I’m sure that’s what Justin was thinking when he threw the ball, but next time it’s probably better to throw the ball a little deeper and give EQ the chance to catch it in stride.

Rough start for the Bears offense

It was worth trying for the deep shot, but the Bears weren’t able to recover from a 10 yard OPI penalty in two downs. They ended with 0 net yards and a punt.

Rough continuation for the Bears defense

The Bears defense is struggling to make even one good play at this point. They did have one tackle for loss on CD Lamb, but when the Cowboys are getting 7+ on every other play, it didn’t matter. Good learning moment for the young safety Brisker on the touchdown pass.

Bears offense is starting to get cooking

The Bears offense has always been like an old electric stove. It’s not getting hot quickly, and by the time it does, it quickly gets too hot and something gets burned. So call me cautiously excited to see the Bears offense heating up on drive two. The Bears got things moving with Fields scrambles giving multiple third down conversions. It feels like cheating but it’s okay with me because the Bears are doing it. Sidenote, if the Cowboys aren’t going to bite on the VJJ jet, they should just keep doing it until they do.

Fields red zone runs are officially unstoppable

I wasn’t going to proclaim it with a sample size of 1 last week, but now we have 2. Or I should say 2.0000 to show that we have several significant figures in that number which I’m fairly certain is what you need to achieve “statistical significance.” The Bears officially left their end zone worries in Washington.

Update: I’ve been informed that the game against Washington was played at Soldier Field and the Commanders’ stadium is technically in Maryland.

Have you ever seen a quarterback sneak break free for 25 yards?

The Bears defense is as off as I’ve ever seen them tonight. As I’m writing this Tony Pollard is skipping into the end zone without a defender within 10 yards of him.

Almost-cool trick play gives late Nagy era vibes

On third and long, the Bears passed to Dante Pettis in the backfield who turned around and deftly overthrew David Montgomery. The ball flew out of bounds, EQ Saint B got hurt, and somehow it counted as an illegal forward pass, which I can only assume was because overthrowing the ball by that much should be illegal.

As I write this, Cowboys are 6 for 6 on third down conversions

And honestly, I’m just surprised the Bears defense got them to 3rd down 6 times.

Update: Late in the 4th quarter, Cowboys are 9/10 on third down conversions. Ewwwww.

The Bears defense has been great at second half adjustments...

I’m not sure how much that’s going to help when you give up 28 points in the first half. Also, it’s just rude to score on a play similar to the one Dak Prescott missed Ryan Griffin on. They’re just trolling us now when they’re up three scores.

Update: the Bears went into the second half only down 11 points and coming out with the ball. Go ahead and adjust up a storm coaches! I’m sorry I ever doubted.

Bears are stacking up deep ball misses

A certain percentage of these deep balls are not going to connect. It’s smart of the Bears to use up the missed connections in a game they are probably going to lose anyway. They’ve got their luck stacked up and I for one hope they cash it in against the Packers in Soldier Field.

Ok, the Bears are only two scores down!

Great pass from Fields to Harry taking advantage of the Cowboys backup cornerback Kelvin Joseph to refresh some hope for the Bears. Also, I hope nobody here bet the under, because it’s already gone in the first half.

Action Jackson adds to his all pro resume

Eddie Jackson pawed in his 4th pick of the season to set the Bears up for two touchdown shots and ultimately a field goal. The momentum is firmly in the Bears corner coming into halftime.

The Gillotine preserve momentum with a savage 6 yard line punt

After a disappointing wildcat flop ending the Bears first 2nd half offensive drive, Trenton Gill booted the Cowboys into a jam to keep the momentum int he Bears corner. The struggling Bears defense even

Wide open Moon Bear

Darnell Mooney has had a slow season so far, but he reminded us why we love him when he embarrassed Trevon Diggs getting astonishingly open on post-corner switcheroo route for a 36 yard gain. Love that Bear.

16 unanswered points

The Bears have climbed out of what felt like an unsurmountable hole to come within 5 points of the pesky Cowboys. It’s a fun change to see the Bears offense starting to make up for their defensive shortcomings.

And we have an answer...

And it’s another Cowboys touchdown. Yuck. The Bears defense was clearly what Dak Prescott needed to get right this season. Good for him.

Justin Fields needs to work on his defense

After an uncharacteristic David Montgomery fumble, Fields had the best opportunity to touch Micah Parson down, but instead made an impressive leap to clear the Cowboys star without making any contact. These were clearly Fields offensive instincts kicking in, but if he’s going to be a Bears quarterback, he’s going to need to get better at defense. Bears offense is gonna turn the ball over. It’s what we do.

There’s an unspoken rule on 30+ yard Justin Fields runs

There has to be a holding penalty somewhere. I’m pretty sure the ref procedure is to throw the flag and then discuss which Bear had the most egregious kinda-hold to put it on. Kmet is a good fallback if they don’t see anything worse. This is reasonable because the league isn’t ready to handle Justin Fields fully unleased.

Oh hey end zone, have you Kmet Cole?

Technically it has. And technically I’ve used this joke before, but it’s been 2 years so if anyone calls me out on it, thank you for your continued reading and paying attention. I appreciate you.

Another 200+ yards rushing

At some point, we’ll have to switch to mention when the Bears rush for less that 200. When you add in Justin’s legs, it’s just too easy to eclipse this pedestrian threshold.

Dante Pettis makes his best contested catch of the year

For 2 yards on 4th and 11. This Bear is growing on me.

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If the Bears are going to lose, this is one of the better ways for it to happen. Justin Fields played well. The offense put up plenty of points. The Bears got down by a lot early so we were able to watch in a semi-numb defeated frame of mind and the bad moments didn’t hurt as much.

The defense is likely going to bounce back from this embarrassment. If you’re a draft dreamer, you’re hoping to see games like this for the rest of the season.