The Chicago Bears blew a fourth quarter lead and lost 37-34 in overtime to the Detroit Lions after Matt Prater nailed a 27-yard game-winning field goal. After losing a tough one in Detroit, the Bears go into the bye-week at 2-4 and third place in the NFC North. There are three major improvements the Bears must address in order to stay in the race for a crowded wild card spot.
Score early and often. The Bears have trailed in all of their games played, and trail for the majority of each game. Although quarterback Jay Cutler displayed his clutch heroics against the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, it is tough to put such pressure on Cutler to win games late every week. Cutler did drive the Bears 69 yards in 21 seconds that eventually resulted in Robbie Gould’s game-tying field goal, but Chicago’s offense could not capitalize in overtime. Chicago squandered numerous red zone opportunities in regulation, even though Detroit ranked towards the bottom of the league in red zone defense in terms of points scored before today’s game. The good teams find ways to score touchdowns while in the red zone. The Bears are capable of marching down the field in a short amount of time, but the offense must improve its ability to score six instead of three.
Pernell McPhee, 92, has been one of the brightest spots on a Bears defense that lacks talent, but his late penalty cost the Bears a touchdown. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Avoid penalties. Playoff teams typically do not commit as many penalties as non-playoff teams. Usually, the more penalties a team commits, the team is more inexperienced or less mature than a team that does not commit as many penalties. The Bears committed nine penalties for 76 yards, most notably Pernell McPhee’s roughing the passer penalty that gave the Lions a fresh set of downs within ten yards of the end zone late in the fourth quarter. McPhee has been the Bears’ best defensive player this year, but his penalty was costly.
Had McPhee not roughed the passer, the Lions would have had fourth and goal from about the 20-yard line and had to score a touchdown since they were down by four without any timeouts. Unfortunately, Matthew Stafford found Calvin Johnson in the end zone. Penalties kill momentum. A single holding penalty can ruin a drive and potentially take points off the board. Chicago needs to shore up the issue of committing so many penalties so that it can potentially score more points or prevent points from being scored.
More aggressive play-calling on offense. Offensive coordinator Adam Gase made the Lions head coach Jim Caldwell look like a genius after the Lions decided to kick a field goal to cut the Bears lead 31-27 instead of going for a touchdown with 2:46 left in regulation. Chicago had the opportunity to milk the clock had its offense strung together a few first downs. However, Gase called three consecutive running plays that resulted in a three and out, which was what the Lions wanted. In that particular situation, the Bears should have played to win, meaning Cutler should have had at least one throwing opportunity to get a first down. Instead, the Bears elected to play not-to-lose and conservatively by predictably running the ball. In key situations like this, the coaching staff needs to trust Cutler more in order to win close games. The Bears continued to play conservatively in overtime and failed to get within field goal range.
These are the three areas of improvement if Chicago wants to contend for a playoff spot. There are a number of teams that hover around .500 and are in contention for the two wild card spots. Although the season is not completely lost, there is not much margin for error at 2-4.