Big Plays and Big Loss for Bears

Watch Bears and Lions Video Highlights: Justin Fields had 67-yard TD run and two TD passes but the Bears fell 31-30.

USA Today

Once again the Bears failed on a last drive and this time quarterback Justin Fields made defeat both more enjoyable and frustrating than the last time.

In the end, it only meant another Bears loss, 31-30 to the Detroit Lions in spite of a ton of impressive statistics and big plays.

Fields went one better than last week and broke a 67-yard touchdown run untouched up the middle in the fourth quarter, after also throwing two touchdown passes to Cole Kmet.

However, he also threw a fourth-quarter pick-6 under a heavy rush to Jeff Okudah that combined with an earlier missed extra point by Cairo Santos to leave the door open for the Lions. And Jamaal Williams scored the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 2:21 left, capping an eight-play, 91-yard drive.

"A screen—they sniffed it out pretty good," Fields said of the ill-advised throw for the interception. "So I can assure you that will never happen again for the rest of my career.

"It was a screen. The D-End sniffed it out. I tried to move him a little bit and tried to float it over to Cole and just overthrew it. I've just got to dirt it and play the next play."

Fields' last gasp ended with a sack on fourth down by Julian Okwara with 1:04 remaining after the Bears (3-7) moved it 12 yards on their final possession to their 32.

It's the fifth time in seven defeats they had the chance to win or tie on the final drive without delivering. The only time they did finish a final possession for the win was when they had the ball gift-wrapped in field goal range against Houston for the winning kick on Roquan Smith's interception against Houston.

"They've got to have their eyes forward," coach Matt Eberflus said. "They've got to look at their performance for what it is and then move forward to the next game, and they've done that.

"It will eventually crack. If we keep having winning habits and doing things the right way and executing in the critical moments, it will crack."

Santos' missed conversion came in the bedlam after Fields' long TD run.

"Obviously with how the ball flew something tells me something in the operation (was wrong) and it comes down to me just trusting everything and going through it," Santos said. "But it didn't come off right. That's not how we operate. So I just have to look at what happened in myself and make the correction."

The Bears defense had a hand in another disappointment by allowing the final TD drive and giving up 19 of 26 passing for 236 yards to Jared Goff. He had a 2-yard TD pass to Brock Wright in the second quarter for a 10-3 lead but then Fields went to work by barreling in from a yard out for a second-quarter TD, then hitting Kmet for TDs of 6 and 50 yards in the third quarter.

At that time the Bears seemed to have the game in hand, but Santos kicked off out of bounds and set up the Lions for a short 55-yard TD drive to make it 24-17. Then Fields threw the interception with 10:29 to play.

The electrifying TD run followed that drive and it came on—of all things—a third-and-1 play.

Fields finished with 13 runs for 147 yards and was 12 of 20 for 167 yards with a 99.4 pass rating. But he wasn't interested in those stats or another Bears record for longest TD run.

"I mean, no not really," he said. "You just have to grasp what are your priorities as a player? Is it to break records or is it to win? And personally mine is to win. I don't care about breaking records. I just want to win games."

The Lions TD drive to Williams' score made certain he wouldn't win Sunday, as Detroit won on the road for the first time since 2020. It meant three straight games for the defense allowing at least 30 points.

"We can't keep shooting ourselves in the foot," safety Eddie Jackson said. "I'm just tired of getting up here and saying the same thing every week. It's just becoming repetitive for us."

Repetitive started long ago and there's no end in sight considering their remaining schedule.

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