Bear Digest

Bears Produce Their Own Magic Yet Suffer OT Loss to Vikings

Caleb Williams' miracle rally in the final minute from 11 points down forced overtime but the Bears suffered their fifth straight loss, 30-27, on a 29-yard Parker Romo field goal.

Gene Chamberlain

Tarvarius Moore falls on an onside kick by Cairo Santos to set up a last-ditch Bears rally before they fell in OT 30-27 to the Vikings.
Tarvarius Moore falls on an onside kick by Cairo Santos to set up a last-ditch Bears rally before they fell in OT 30-27 to the Vikings. / Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
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Even when the Bears pulled off their own miracle finish, they still disappointed.

The Bears lost for the fifth time in succession Sunday, 30-27 to Minnesota on a 29-yard overtime field goal from Parker Romo after rallying from 11 points down in the closing minute of regulation.

It seemed like a signature moment for quarterback Caleb Williams yet it ended in defeat again because of a few special teams plays they didn’t make earlier and then their own inability to stop the Vikings in overtime.

“Just true grit, really inspiring the whole football team and just really good execution,” coach Matt Eberflus said of Williams. “He did a really good job of it, I thought, all day.

“Like I said earlier in the week that's a tough defense to go against with the different looks and pressure and variation of coverage. I thought he did a really good job of finding the space (for receivers), like we talked about earlier in the week and getting the ball to our skill. And he also changed the speed on the ball he was throwing. Sometimes he threw it in there like a dart and sometimes he lobbed it.”

Williams went 32 of 47 for 340 yards and two touchdowns with a 130.1 passer rating. He threw a 1-yard TD pass to Keenan Allen with 22 seconds remaining in regulation and the two-point pass to DJ Moore at the back of the end zone to end an eight-play, 40-yard drive.

Then the Bears’ Tarvarius Moore miraculously recovered the onside kick after Minnesota's Johnny Mundt had it touch his leg before going 10 yards, and it gave Williams the chance to tie it. His 27-yard completion to Moore gave Cairo Santos the chance to make a tying field goal from 48 yards, after he’d had one blocked earlier in the game from that distance.

But in the overtime, Williams and the Bears went nowhere after a sack and Vikings QB Sam

Overcame a Montez Sweat sack to lead a drive to Romo’s winning field goal.

“We fought all the way to the end and that's definitely encouraging,” Williams said. “You don't want to be around people that are quitting, are giving up.

“That's not the type of guys we have. So that's encouraging. I think we got better in all phases. We've gotten better over these past couple games. I think today was a testament to that, being decisive, receivers and everybody. It's tough. It's a tough loss just because you get the ball in overtime and you don't go and seal the deal.”

They might not have needed overtime except for special teams snafus.

They trailed 17-10 late in the third quarter and, as punt returner D’Andre Carter motioned for everyone to get away from a bouncing punt, it took a strange hop and hit his leg. The Vikings recovered at the Bears 15 and went in to score on Aaron Jones’ 2-yard TD run for a 24-10 lead.

“Yeah, that’s on me,” Carter said. “I’ve gotta be better. I tried to call a ‘Peter’ call: gotta get out of the way of the ball. That’s on me. I let the team down today. Game shouldn’t have been in the situation it was in.

“I felt bad for the guys. I felt bad for HT (special teams coordinator Richard Hightower). He’s a hell of a coordinator. Does a great job. And for us—for me—to put the team in a bad situation like that, very disappointed in myself.” 

The other was in the second quarter and a quite familiar one. The Vikings’ Jerry Tillery blocked a Santos 48-yard field goal, the first kick Santos made since he had a 46-yard potential game-winner blocked by the Packers to end the previous game.

“ I feel like part of it is just unlucky that we’re getting the trajectory of the ball going over the line and they’re getting that penetration exactly where (the ball is),” Santos said.

Which is sort of the point of the rush.

“So it’s just kind of matching the good rushes from them and good penetration and the ball starting that way,” Santos said. “But like I said, I kick a certain way here that’s resulted in a lot of success, but things are happening and I’m working to get that changed so I can control that on my end as well.”

Santos got chances to make amends with his tying field goal and the onside kick, and Carter did, too, with a 55-yard kick return to set up the final Bears touchdown after Minnesota had gone up 27-16 on Romo’s 26-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining.

However, Darnold spoiled it all with the 68-yard drive to the winning field goal in overtime. He finished 22 of 34 for 330 yards with TD throws of 5 yards to Jalen Nailor and  2 yards to Jordan Addison.  The blocked field goal set up the drive to Nailor’s TD.

The Bears were done, but Williams made it possible they could win in overtime. However, he was sacked for a 12-yard loss on second down and then a delay-of-game penalty ensued due to confusion over the play call, and the Bears wound up punting. Darnold took it from there, converting third-and-10 with a 13-yard pass to Addison and then hitting a 20 yarder to Justin Jefferson and a throws of 12 and 29 yards to T.J. Hockenson on the winning drive.

“I like to pride myself on two minutes and things like that,” Williams said. “I like to pride myself on being able to provide efficent drives and that's not what happened today.”

A lot did happen for him, just not a win.

It’s become a common situation for a 4-7 team that now needs to win in Detroit Thursday to avoid a sixth straight loss. The Bears have lost three times on the game's final play.

"It's tough. It's tough," tight end Cole Kmet said. "You just gotta take it one week at a time. It's kind of how you have to approach it. When things just aren't going your way, you gotta put your head down and just keep going to work. It's not easy to do but that's kind of where we're at."

It's all they have as another NFL postseason picture develops without the Chicago Bears in it.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.