Chicago Bears: Inexcusable mistakes lead to devastating loss vs. Dolphins

The Chicago Bears had an opportunity to improve to 4-1 on the road Sunday, but let victory slip through their fingers. Costly mistakes led to an overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins.

The Chicago Bears went into Miami this weekend confident that they could pull off a win to remain alone in first place in the NFC North. Their odds to win increased when the Miami Dolphins announced that injured quarterback Ryan Tannehill wouldn’t play and would be replaced by Brock Osweiler. Unfortunately for the Bears, things definitely didn’t go as they planned Sunday.

The Bears had a very sluggish first half in which they were shut out offensively. Miami led 7-0 at halftime, and it looked like the offense was reverting back to the squad that struggled to score early in the season.

One of the biggest mistakes that cost the Bears the game was ball security. Running back Jordan Howard fumbled on Miami’s one-yard line in the first half, costing the Bears the game-tying score. Running back Tarik Cohen fumbled during a crucial drive in the fourth quarter with less than two minutes left. These are the types of mistakes that winning teams don’t make.

Cohen had a great day other than the fumble, so it’s hard to get too mad at him for that one big mistake. One of the most inexcusable performances of the day has to go to the Bears defense. The unit that previously looked like the best defense in the NFL completely collapsed on Sunday, especially in the second half.

It was hot in Miami on Sunday as temperatures approached 90 degrees and humidity was around 70 percent. The weather got to the Bears’ defense, especially late in the game. The defense gave up 24 points after halftime, including two long touchdowns by Dolphins receiver Albert Wilson on short passes. One play was a screen to Wilson that turned into a 43-yard touchdown.

https://twitter.com/MiamiDolphins/status/1051557507263426560

The defense looked completely different out there on Sunday as compared to previous weeks. The Dolphins were effective at completing short passes to keep the Bears pass rushers away from Osweiler. In the second half, the defense was clearly tired and made several mistakes. The fundamentals weren’t there as guys missed easy tackles. The defense finished with zero sacks.

Just watch the Bears attempt to tackle Wilson on this short pass that ended up going for a 75-yard touchdown. After Wilson catches about a five-yard pass, he turns upfield and you can see how many Bears took a bad angle. Linebackers Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith were out of position. Safety Eddie Jackson missed an easy tackle that allowed Wilson to take it to the house.

The Bears offense tried their best to bail out the defense but came up short. Surprisingly, young quarterback Mitch Trubisky wasn’t to blame for this loss in my opinion. Trubisky did throw a bad interception in the Dolphins’ end zone during the fourth quarter that hurt the team. Other than that, he threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns. He did enough to line the team up for a win.

I don’t bash refs often, but one inexcusable moment from this game came just before the Trubisky interception when he threw a touchdown to Cohen. The score was wiped off the board after the officials called offensive pass interference on tight end Trey Burton. It was called as a “pick” play, but I really didn’t see anything wrong with Burton’s route. Neither did Bears coach Matt Nagy.

The last inexcusable mistake goes to Nagy himself. The Bears got an opportunity to steal a victory in overtime after Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake fumbled at the Bears’ goal line. Howard had some nice runs to put the Bears on the edge of field goal range. Nagy declined to pass the ball at all in OT, and the Bears were stopped on 3rd and 4 and forced to try a 53-yard field goal.

Bears kicker Cody Parkey missed the long kick that would’ve won the game, but it’s hard to blame him for the loss. Nagy didn’t set him up for an easy kick like he could’ve. The Bears were 8-12 on third down conversions at that point in the game. In my opinion, Nagy’s lack of aggression on that play call was one of the biggest mistakes of the day. He clearly still has a lot of learning to do.

Now the Bears are faced with a tough home matchup next week against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It would be a huge win for the team, but if they play how they did this week against the Dolphins they have little chance of winning. It’s time for the defense to step up again, and for this team to prove they are playoff contenders.