CLEVELAND, OHIO - DECEMBER 17: Justin Fields #1 of the Chicago Bears walks off the field after losing to the Cleveland Browns 20-17 at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 17, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The Chicago Bears were inching closer toward playoff contention with a 10-point lead and another win in sight. That's one reason why a 20-17 loss at Cleveland stung so much. And a night to sleep on it didn't exactly ease the pain.
"I think it stings more," tight end Cole Kmet said Monday. "Felt pretty good that if you win out that we could do something here. I thought things were kinda coming together for us as a team and yeah, just disappointing to fall short there and especially feeling like we built some momentum in previous weeks."
The Bears were in position to win their third straight game and match their best streak since a three-game run late in 2020, only to squander a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead for the third time in a loss. They came up short when Darnell Mooney let a Hail Mary pass squirt through his hands as he fell backward.
Chicago can point to a whole bunch of reasons for the loss besides that final play, from an offense that struggled all game to some questionable coaching decisions.
The Bears (5-9) needed a better performance from Justin Fields even if he was going against the NFL's No. 1 defense. Instead, he was 19 of 40 for 166 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a 46.5 rating.
The offense's lone touchdown came after Eddie Jackson returned an interception to the 1, and it took eight attempts counting penalties to get the ball into the end zone, with Fields spinning away from Myles Garrett before connecting with Kmet in the end zone.
A defense that shut down Cleveland for three quarters got picked apart down the stretch by Joe Flacco. The former Super Bowl champion who signed with Cleveland last month threw for 374 yards, including 212 and a touchdown in the fourth.
Eberflus left himself open to second guessing by going for it twice on fourth down rather than have Cairo Santos attempt field goals, and having 309-pound Justin Jones drop back into coverage on a third-and-15 blitz with just under a minute remaining. Flacco floated a pass to tight end tight end David Njoku, who broke a tackle and spun for a 34-yard gain to the Chicago 19 to set up Dustin Hopkins’ tiebreaking field goal.
"Really, it’s just relying on the relationships of the men and the guy next to you," Eberflus said. "We believe in the man next to you, and that’s so important for us. The relationship piece and how hard we work. The guys are tight. We’re just going to keep pulling together."
WHAT’S WORKING
Takeaways. The Bears have a league-leading 14 takeaways and 12 interceptions over four games since Week 11 after picking off Flacco three times. They were tied for sixth in the league through Sunday with 23 takeaways.
WHAT NEEDS HELP
Protecting leads. The Bears have been outscored a combined 47-6 in the fourth quarter in the three losses in which they blew double-digit leads — against Denver (17-0 in the fourth in Week 4), Detroit (17-6 in Week 11) and Cleveland (13-0 on Sunday).
"It’s tough to have games like (that) and games we’ve had like this prior, where we’ve been in reach of winning the game and should win the game, and it doesn’t come out like that," Kmet said. "It’s tough. It’s tough coming in this morning."
STOCK UP
DE Montez Sweat. Sweat delivered again, with a personal-best 2 1/2 sacks to bump his career-high total this season to 12 1/2. He has six in six games with Chicago after recording 6 1/2 in eight games with Washington and leads both teams.
STOCK DOWN
Fields. The Bears needed more from their quarterback even if they were going against the NFL's No. 1 defense. Instead they got shut out in another rough fourth quarter for Fields, who has a 62.4 passer rating in the final 15 minutes over 37 games.
INJURIES
LG Teven Jenkins (concussion) exited the game with a concussion.
KEY NUMBER
8 — The Bears went three and out on eight of their 15 possessions. They were a season-worst 4 of 18 on third-down conversions.
NEXT STEPS
The Bears host Arizona on Dec. 24.