The Chicago Bears defense apparently still hasn’t recovered from the botched Hail Mary last week.
The Bears defense completely fell apart in the final seconds before halftime of their matchup with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon and gave up a touchdown. That sent the Cardinals, who were well out of field goal range before the score, into the locker room with a 21-9 lead at State Farm Stadium.
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray handed the ball off to running back Emari Demercado on a third down with just 12 seconds left on the clock in the second quarter. They were still on their own side of the field, and were at best looking at a long field goal attempt before the break.
But somehow, Demercado broke through the line and ran it 53 yards almost completely untouched for the touchdown.
That marked their second touchdown of the quarter, following a 1-yard touchdown run from Noah Swell not even three minutes earlier.
The blown play was the second consecutive half where the Bears stumbled. The Washington Commanders stunned the Bears last week with a last-second Hail Mary on a perfect throw from Jayden Daniels to Noah Brown. The play, which will go down as one of the best Hail Mary passes in modern NFL history, was made even worse for Chicago after cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was seen taunting Commanders fans before completely blowing his coverage.
Stevenson was pulled from the starting lineup on Sunday as a result, too. He reportedly didn’t respond to the news well ahead of the game, either, as he pulled himself out of practice briefly on Wednesday to “gather himself.”
The second half wasn’t any better for the Bears. The Cardinals cruised to the 29-9 win and held Chicago scoreless in the final 30 minutes. Chad Ryland hit a pair of field goals, and then the Cardinals actually scored a safety in the fourth quarter before closing out the 20-point win.
Kyler Murray went 13 of 20 for 154 yards in the win, and James Conner ran for 107 yards on 18 carries to lead the Cardinals, who now hold a 5-4 record. Caleb Williams went 22 of 41 for 216 yards for the Bears, and D’Andrew Swift had 51 yards on the ground. Rome Odunze had 104 yards on five catches, too.
The Bears entered Sunday’s game with a 4-3 record. Had they stopped the Hail Mary last week, they would’ve been on a four-game win streak, too. Now, though, they’ve dropped two straight and are back to .500 on the year. Matt Eberflus’ defense appears to be struggling when it matters most. We’ll see if they can turn things around next weekend when they host the New England Patriots.
