Chicago Bears: Why the loss is not as bad as it seems

The Chicago Bears took a crushing loss last night to the rival Packers, but there are reasons to be optimistic about the Bears season.

Welcome to overreaction Monday. Every team in the NFL played their first game this week and if there is one thing we know about week one, it is the most overhyped and overanalyzed week in the NFL season. Everyone thinks their team is going to go 0-16 or win the Superbowl based on how they looked in one game.

The Chicago Bears lost in heartbreaking fashion last night to their arch-rival Green Bay Packers. They had a 20-3 lead entering the third quarter with Aaron Rodgers in the locker room with a leg injury and the game looked in their control, then Aaron came back.

The Bears had two key moments where they could have seized control of the game and both moments went against them. Bears fans will have these moments in their head for a while, but there is reason for optimism because if one of those two things happen, the Bears win.

The first moment happened on a third and one after Jordan Howard had been averaging almost 5.5 yards per carry on the Packers all night, Matt Nagy decided to pass instead of feeding Howard. I will not lie, this play call is baffling to me. The Bears were in a 3rd and 1 situation with 2:46 left in the game. Howard just ripped off a 12-yard run on the previous play.

Unfortunately, this did not only happen once. It seemed that whenever a third and short came up, they were scared to run the ball with Howard. With a young quarterback and the lead, I do not understand this move.

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You have your running back who is killing the defense and you need one yard. Who cares if they knew it was coming, they were playing the run all night and still could not stop it, give the ball to your best player.

The second moment happened when Aaron Rodgers tried to hit Devonte Adams on a slant route. The ball was well overthrown and hit Kyle Fuller right in the chest — then it hit the ground. If Fuller makes a play that he has made many times throughout his career, the game is over. There were two minutes left at that point and you get the ball back.

At that point, up six points, you need one first down to end the game. If by chance you fail to get the first down, you’ve run the clock down and the Packers have burned their timeouts. Also, you are in field goal range at that point. Assuming you make the easy field goal, you go up nine and the game is over. However, Fuller dropped it, and on the next play, Randall Cobb took it 75 yards to the house.

Bear fans, I know you are all mourning over last night, but this team is not the Bears of the last few years. They are talented and exciting to watch. They competed to the end with one of the NFC favorited to reach the Superbowl. They had multiple chances to win this game, and just came up a few plays short. This team will learn how to win these close games as the season goes on.

There is no reason to panic about this loss because the Bears looked competitive and looked like they could be a real threat in the Wild Card race this season, Take my advice and do not throw in the towel on the season based on week one, especially when the Bears had two easily fixable mistakes and if either one flips, they win.