CHICAGO – The Bears' formula for "winning ugly" finally failed them against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
For the third time in 2020, the Bears erased a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit and were in position to win another game they had no business winning.
Bears kicker Cairo Santos’ valiant, 51-yard field goal -- Santos went 3-of-3 on the day -- sent the game to overtime. But Chicago’s offense -- the bane of Bears fans' existence -- just proved too ugly to overcome as New Orleans left Soldier Field with a 26-23 victory.
The Bears' offense, which stumbled six days ago at the Los Angeles Rams, roared back to life -- on occasion -- in Week 8.
Chicago’s four-play, 80-yard second-quarter scoring drive contained all the ingredients head coach and playcaller Matt Nagy has searched for since he arrived in town in 2018.
For once, the NFL’s least-explosive offense looked explosive. In the blink of an eye, veteran quarterback Nick Foles aired out a deep ball to rookie speedster Darnell Mooney, who came down with a 50-yard reception -- the Bears' longest catch of the year.
Two plays later, Foles fired a corner route to Allen Robinson, who laid out to make a sensational 24-yard touchdown grab.
The Bears were back. Or so we thought.
After the Bears crashed back to reality for much of the second half, Foles caught fire again in the fourth quarter as the Bears scored 10 straight points to push the game into overtime.
All too often, though, the Bears (5-3) fell back into their old habits on offense: delay of game penalties, sacks, interceptions and a shocking loss of composure.
The feel-good vibes the Bears possessed following their better-than-expected first half went out the window when wide receiver Javon Wims sucker-punched (twice!) Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. It was a wild lack of discipline that earned Wims an ejection and perhaps a future suspension. On the next play, Foles tossed a bad pick.
Give the Bears credit for fighting back. They are resilient, as Nagy likes to say. But every game will be a struggle because of an offense that cannot string together four good quarters.
QB breakdown: Same story every week. Foles is OK. The veteran quarterback finished 28-of-41 for 272 yards, two touchdowns and one interception (92.7 passer rating). But let’s be blunt: The Bears' offense needs a breathtaking quarterback in order to be consistently good -- especially with that offensive line. Foles is good but not spectacular. The middling results of the entire offense speak for themselves.
Encouraging trend: Cross kicker off Chicago’s wish list. Santos is the man. He has hit 11 straight field goals and is 14-of-16 on the year. The Saints tried to ice Santos before he nailed the 51-yarder that sent the game to overtime, and he still made it, twice.
Encouraging trend, Part 2: David Montgomery rushed for 89 yards on 21 carries. For the first time in a long time, Montgomery impacted the game on the ground. That’s the definition of encouraging.
Mitch alert: The Bears debuted their mini-version of the Taysom Hill package when benched former starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky entered the game on Chicago’s opening drive and gained three yards on a designed QB keeper. It marked Trubisky’s first snap since Nagy pulled the plug in favor of Foles in Week 3. The Bears are in no rush -- barring injury -- to make the permanent switch back to Trubisky, but the 2017 second overall pick is infinitely more mobile than Foles. The Bears ought to explore all options to jump-start the offense -- and that might include calling Trubisky’s number on occasion.
Revolving door: The Bears' situation on the offensive line went from bad to worse when veteran right tackle Bobby Massie left Sunday’s game with a knee injury. The Bears were already without a pair of Week 1 starters (center Cody Whitehair and left guard James Daniels) prior to Massie’s latest health setback. To add insult to injury, Jason Spriggs, who replaced Massie at right tackle, briefly left the game himself with an undisclosed injury. At one point, the Bears' offensive line consisted of Charles Leno Jr. (LT), Alex Bars (LG), Sam Mustipher (C), Germain Ifedi (RG) and Rashaad Coward (RT). The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, and the Bears figure to aggressively search for available offensive line help.