You can’t believe how the Chicago Bears blew their game.
In a weekend of football that was hard to fathom from Carolina gifting a win to Virginia Tech to nail-biters all over the NFL, the one game I have to talk about is how Mitch Trubisky’s Bears played the overtime in a last-second loss to the Dolphins.
Miami blew the game first when the ‘Phins fumbled on the one-yard line going in for the sudden-victory score with the first possession of overtime. The Bears recovered in the end zone and took over at the 20. Trubisky, who added three touchdown passes to the six he threw in his last game, deftly drove them across midfield barely within their field-goal kicker’s range of 50-plus yards.
The Bears’ first-year coach Matt Nagy will have to explain to the Chicago media and fans his asinine decision to run the ball on three straight plays and not let Trubisky get another first down or two to get their kicker closer. Considering the circumstances, the move was unthinkable.
The Dolphins used their timeouts to save something on the clock in case Cody Parkey missed the field goal. The Bears settled for the 53-yard attempt like it was a can’t-miss chip shot. A 53-yarder to win at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium with the crowd going crazy isn’t easy. And it wasn’t like the Bears were guaranteed a tie after Parkey missed wide right.
The poetic justice of the game was that Kenyan Drake, the Miami running back who fumbled at the goal line, scampered 35 yards to put the Dolphins in position to win. And they did at the gun on their own 47-yard field goal. Fans may be critical of Larry Fedora, but he didn’t fumble the ball away three times in what should have been a two-TD win for the Tar Heels over the Hokies.
Nagy’s conservative play-calling left the opponent with great field position and a chance to win if his guy missed the long field goal, which had no better than a 50-50 chance to go through the uprights. Had Trubisky been allowed to keep working the offense, the Bears would have moved much closer to that chip shot and left only seconds on the clock if that one missed, too.
Trubisky had already completed 21 passes and had a 122 QB rating on the day, but instead he handed the ball off three times and had to watch his team snatch defeat from the jaws of victory – or at least a tie.
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