What DJ Moore and Matt Eberflus said about the viral Chicago Bears play where Moore left the field early

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - If you were watching the Chicago Bears' 29-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinal last Sunday, there was a play in the first quarter that caught everyone's eye.

On second and six from the Arizona 48-yard line, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took the snap, waited and then bailed left. 

Williams scrambled, evaded and dodged Cardinals defenders before slipping back into the middle of the field. He fired a pass to Keenan Allen, but Allen was hit with a flag for offensive pass interference.

All that to move back 10 yards.

What many pointed to after the play, however, was that Bears receiver DJ Moore walked off the field during the play as Williams drifted to the left sidelines. 

Moore and Bears head coach Matt Eberflus were asked about the play on Wednesday, and had a good explanation for that action.

Moore, as it turns out, had a good reason for leaving the field mid-play. He was injured.

"I was coming back, because I had seen Caleb was scrambling, and my ankle went in and out," Moore said. "I already couldn't stop, so my momentum took me out of bounds."

This wasn't known at the time, of course.

The Bears weren't concerned then, and weren't concerned on Wednesday.

"That's what it was, and then we just moved to the next play," Eberflus said. "We just have to do a good job on those plays of executing scramble drills and making sure we find guys open and all those types of things."

Social media discourse around Moore had already been going since fans and media members critiqued his body language during the Bears' first two-game losing streak of the season.

Asked about it then, Moore brushed it off. He mentioned he might need to have better body language, but this was different.

Moore mentioned how the injury in the moment was extremely painful.

"The initial roll of the ankle was hurting bad, so that's why I like hobbled off and sat down," Moore said. 

It was so bad, Moore needed time to treat the injury before he played on it again. 

"It didn't clear up right away," Moore said. "I was doing a bunch of stuff on the sideline to keep him going, um, throughout the game. So that's what kept going through."

Moore did come back into the game. He finished the game with four receptions for 33 yards.

Returning to the game was one thing. Social media and the outside perception of Moore leaving mid-play without knowing he was hurt is another. 

"They could take it how they want to," Moore said. "Wish they didn't without even knowing what happened."

Moore is going to be a Bear for a while. He signed a massive extension this offseason to remain in Chicago until 2029.

While the Bears' offense struggled on Sunday, Moore has proven to be a tough player who has battled through hard hits before to make plays for the Bears.

"I didn't stop playing the game," Moore said.