In the world of sports media, terms like “historic win” and “generational talent” are often thrown around so much that they lose their true meaning. However, sometimes there are moments that truly deserve these accolades. The Bears’ loss to the Lions on Sunday was one such moment.
As ESPN 1000 reported, the Bears did something that no other NFL team had ever done before: they lost in regulation with a plus 3 turnover margin and 40 minutes of possession time. Despite this setback, the Bears played an almost flawless game for three and a half quarters. They followed their script perfectly, with Justin Fields making huge plays both with his arm and legs. The Bears’ performance was dominant against the class of the NFC North on the road.
However, everything came crumbling down in the final four minutes of the game when the Lions scored 17 unanswered points to take home another disappointing loss for the Bears. The question now is: where did it all go wrong? Was it due to conservative playcalling or an inability to make a stop on defense when needed? Did the Bears fail to capitalize on every opportunity given to them by the Lions? Is Eberflus’ HITS program insufficient for building a winning program? Or do they simply not have enough talent on the field executing at a high enough rate?
These questions will be debated all week as people try to understand why this once-promising season has turned into such a disappointment for the Chicago Bears. But one thing is clear: if they want to win quality games against tough opponents, they will need to play absolutely perfectly from start to finish.