The Chicago Bears withstood a late rally by the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon, holding on for a 47-42 victory. The Bears held a 41-27 lead after wideout DJ Moore’s 16-yard touchdown run with 4:53 to go, but the Bengals stormed back, taking a 42-41 lead on a nine-yard touchdown pass to Andrei Iosivas.
Thankfully, quarterback Caleb Williams saved the day, finding rookie tight end Colston Loveland for a 58-yard touchdown with 17 seconds remaining. But it’s the type of game that can break a team if they’re unable to pull it out.
Ask Bengals running back Chase Brown. When reporters approached him for his thoughts on how the game unfolded, Brown gave an NSFW response, expressing frustration and perhaps some drama in the Cincinnati locker room.
“We’ve just got to play complementary football,” Brown began via Locked On Bengals host James Rapien. “We put the ball in the end zone and go up a point at the end, finish the (EXPLETIVE) game. Like, just end it. Like, that’s it... That’s what we need to do. Just end the (EXPLETIVE) game. Like, make them give us the ball back, let us go to 22 victory (formation), and let’s end the game.
“Any playmaker on this team, any position, like we’re all willing to do whatever it takes to win. We’ve just got to finish. I think that’s like, what you’re going into this bye week thinking and kind of repeating to yourself is just ‘Finish. Finish. Finish these (EXPLETIVE) games.'”
Chase Brown’s Rant Shows How Far Bears Have Come Under Ben Johnson
While the direct quotes may not be familiar to Bears fans, the situation may be. Chicago started 4-2 a season ago, but things fell apart with a 10-game losing streak that effectively ended their year. While many pointed the finger toward offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and head coach Matt Eberflus, the players on the field couldn’t find the play to turn losses into victories, and it turned into a toxic environment in the locker room.
Sunday’s game dropped the Bengals to 3-6, and while they’ve been playing without QB Joe Burrow, who is sidelined with a severe turf toe injury, the temporary spark created with Flacco’s arrival has been snuffed out by the Bengals' porous defense. Just last week, the Bengals dropped a similar game to the New York Jets and saw the same movie play out as Loveland broke a tackle to head to the end zone in the final seconds.
As for the current landscape in the Bears locker room, it’s much different from the one the Bengals are facing. Head coach Ben Johnson has led Chicago to a 5-3 start and told his team that they “don’t have to apologize for a win in this league” after the game. While there are some things to clean up, the list isn’t as long as the one Bengals HC Zac Taylor is writing for his team, and that’s something that should make fans feel even better about pulling out the win on Sunday afternoon.