Final Word: These Chicago Bears have to do what their predecessors couldn't - move past the devastation

Pull up the receipts, if you can stomach it.

Where would the Chicago Bears' Sunday loss to the Washington Commanders rank on the list of heartbreaking, devastating, languishing and unbelievable defeats? 

It's certainly worse than last year's losses to Denver, Cleveland and Detroit. The last loss that dealt a blow of this magnitude had to be the 2018 NFC Wild Card "double doink" game against Philadelphia.

Finding the words to pertinently describe the feeling is a true challenge. On a night that's so close to Halloween, the Bears relished their treats too early. It was all a trick in the end.

This leaves the 2024 Bears in a spot where they've been in the past. These Bears, though, need to find a way to do something their predecessors weren't able to do: Move past the unimaginable.

"Just in disbelief," Bears defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker told FOX 32 after the game. "I couldn't believe that it finished like that."

Victory was there. A 5-2 record sat before the Chicago Bears. After playing dismal football for three quarters, the Bears pieced together a fourth that displayed gumption, poise and resolve.

Roschon Johnson's one-yard touchdown with 23 seconds left gave the Bears the lead. The defense just needed to defend 52 yards on a Hail Mary pass. Daniels changed the narrative with his massive throw.

FINAL: 18-15.

The pain from that one play is described only by dropped jaws and languishing cries. That pain left Bears fans worldwide most likely speechless for the following hour after the game. Others that could talk were probably pointing out the holding on the Hail Mary play, as if that could turn back time.

"That's just a gut-wrenching loss," Walker said. "We have to be able to process this one."

The Bears started to process it a bit after the game. They started to sift through it all and talk about what was supposed to happen.

"As long as we kept everything in front of us, kept them out of field goal range, that was the plan," Bears nickelback Josh Blackwell said.

After all they did to keep Washington at bay, holding the Commanders to four field goals instead of letting them in the end zone, the offense came together on the shoulders of Caleb Williams' magic. He led two fourth-quarter drives to the one-yard line.

One ended with a fumble on an inexplicable handoff to Doug Kramer, the other was Johnson's touchdown. 

Then, on the game-winning Hail Mary, Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was seen pointing at the crowd as the play was snapped. He declined to speak in the locker room after the game, but he apologized on social media later Sunday.

"To Chicago and teammates my apologies for lack of awareness and focus," Stevenson posted on X after the game. "The game ain’t over until zeros hit the clock. Can’t take anything for granted. Notes taken, improvement will happen."

Considering all that transpired – from the struggles to getting a lead with 23 ticks left – it's not surprising most of these Bears struggle to equalize Sunday with another moment of their football lives.

"I haven't been part of a loss like that," Bears safety Kevin Byard said. 

These Bears might not know that wrenching currently stirring their insides, but Bears fans know it well. The "double doink" game in Matt Nagy's era, the 2013 season finale against Green Bay – The Chris Conte Game – in Marc Trestman's era, plus both the 2010 NFC Championship game and Super Bowl XLI in the Lovie Smith regime are all moments that cause unrest.

Still, the Bears sit at 4-3 and near the midpoint of a football season where they could be contending for the postseason if a bounce or two goes their way. As devastating as Sunday was, the season isn't over. It was after those aforementioned moments.

"We're not about to just lay down," Bears safety Kevin Byard said. "Lick your wounds, and let's get back to work."

The most harrowing part of those past losses, though, is the bottom line. Bears teams that suffered that devastation never truly recovered.

The Nagy era never got back to that level of football the 2018 team had. Smith never made another Super Bowl. The Trestman era was over just one year later.

The Eberflus era has a chance to get over that devasation. They have a chance to pick up the pieces.

"It's having a strong mind and a strong conviction of who you are," Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said. "This is one game, right? I know. It's like I said, when you lose on the last play, it's going to hurt, right? But let's go back and look at the tape, right, and then get better from this."

The problem is: it doesn't get any easier.

The NFC North gauntlet looms after next week's game against the Arizona Cardinals on the road. Arizona has won the last two games after losing to the Packers.

The Packers and Lions both won on Sunday, too. Green Bay found a way to win a game where they struggled. Detroit blew out Tennessee, proving the Lions are in a different class of football at the moment.

Eberflus put together his preferred choice of staff this offseason. Shane Waldron, Eric Washington and other position coaches are seasoned veterans, but find me a coach that's suffered this kind of struggle.

Earlier this season, the onus came down to fixing the offense. The Bears showed they could.

Now, the bottom line is making sure this Sunday doesn't bleed into next Sunday and beyond.

"That's what we always do," Eberflus said. "That's what we're going to do here."

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