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Cassie goes 1-on-1 with Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore
The Bears' offense has struggled to find consistency this year, but has shown moments of success. Cassie Carlson goes one-on-one with Bears star receiver DJ Moore, a key piece of that success.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Hindsight is always 20/20 vision, and the Chicago Bears poured over the past after losing on a Hail Mary throw to Washington last week.
One such play that deserved an extra look was the fourth and one handoff to reserve center Doug Kramer.
On Thursday, Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron expressed no regrets with that play call.
"I was confident," Waldron said, "Had trust in it."
The play, objectively, was a disaster.
Kramer didn't get a hand on the football. The ball spilled out and bounced forward, where a Washington Commanders defensive lineman recovered the loose ball. On the one-yard line, it was a moment that would have changed the complexion of the game for the Bears.
Instead of trailing 12-7 and needing a defensive stop, the Bears would have been ahead 13-12 had they scored a touchdown. It was the first of two consecutive drives the Bears had that went to the Commanders' one-yard line, too.
The play was widely criticized in the hours and days following the loss. Still, Waldron would do it again given the circumstances.
"Felt confident in that moment in the call, but it didn't work out," Waldron said. "It wasn't a clean handoff."
The Bears franchise isn't any stranger to big guys scoring a touchdown, either.
Defensive tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry caught touchdowns and scored on handoffs during the 1985 season, which lifted Perry to stardom. Former Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks also scored on a handoff from the one-yard line during a game against the Giants in 2018.
Those were two different situations, however. This was a fourth-quarter moment the Bears needed to have.
This wasn't the first play call Waldron has had in a goal line situation that didn't work out. Against the Colts in Week 3, Waldron called a speed-option running play that was blown up immediately and lost 12 yards.
Waldron owned up to that call after that 21-16 loss to Indianapolis, where a touchdown would have changed the complexion of the game there as well.
It's different, though, when criticism comes from inside the house. Earlier this week on the Mully and Haugh radio show, Bears receiver DJ Moore was critical of the call.
"I don't know the reason behind the play call," Moore said. "It's been up for a few weeks, but I didn't think we were actually going to get it called in a game like this."
On Wednesday, Moore didn't apologize for what he said but said that criticism would be kept in-house next time.
However, Waldron is never one to shy away from criticism.
"I think there's always valid criticism when things don't work out," Waldron said.
The prime example was the offensive leadership discussing play calls after the Week 3 loss to the Colts. That led to a three-game winning streak, and consecutive games where the Bears scored 30 points.
With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to say the Bears would have benefit from a different play call. Had Kramer held on to the football and scored, the conversation would be much different. The game's outcome might have been different, either.
But, Waldron wasn't going to harbor regrets on a play call the team had practiced leading up to Sunday.
"Those guys looked at it, and moved forward from it," Waldron said. "We look forward to cleaning it up."