KINDLE BREAKS DOWN
Bears cornerback was burned on multiple plays vs. Ravens, including on critical final drive
Cornerback Kindle Vildor sat on the bench with his head in his hands in the final seconds of the Bears’ 16-13 loss to the Ravens. He had good reason to: The Ravens’ 72-yard, 89-second touchdown drive to win the game had his fingerprints all over it.
“I’ll tell him what I told the whole defense: ‘Pick your head up.’ ” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said.
Johnson was targeted only once Sunday. Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley — Johnson’s friend and former Utah teammate — picked on Vildor, as other teams have in recent weeks.
“Man, it’s definitely tough,” inside linebacker Roquan Smith said. “There’s not a lot you can say to an individual after, if a play is on him like that . . . .
“It’s tough to say anything to anyone on defense when you know your guys just had it in our hands and we lost it like that.”
On Monday, coach Matt Nagy said Vildor was responsible for the biggest error in a drive full of them — a broken coverage on third-and-12 that gave the Ravens the ball at the 3-yard line with 25 seconds to play.
When the Ravens dropped back, they had a 35.9% chance to win the game, according to EdjSports.com. When they completed the pass, it went up to 80.6%.
There were other plays, too. Here’s a look at three big gains the Bears allowed on the Ravens’ final drive:
First-and-10 at the Ravens’ 28, 1:33 to play
Ravens receiver Rashod Bateman lined up tight to the right and ran outside toward the numbers on the right before turning his route upfield. Vildor got turned the wrong way — right before Huntley threw, he was actually facing the right sideline — but ran step-for-step with Bateman. Safety Deon Bush was waiting for him at the top of the route, too.