Despite Barkley loss, Giants nearly pull it out

James Bradberry and the Giants’ defense shut out the Chicago Bears in Sunday’s second half, forcing two turnovers to nearly complete an inspiring comeback.

But Joe Judge’s team undercut its resilience in the face of Saquon Barkley’s likely season-ending torn right ACL with a dreadful start in a 17-13 loss at Soldier Field, dropping the Giants’ record to 0-2 for a fourth straight season.

“I like the way our guys responded,” Judge said. “We’ve got the right guys. We’ve got the right kind of guys. We’ve just got to clean some things up and improve by not putting ourselves behind in games by making mistakes that we can control.”

Daniel Jones turned the ball over twice for a second straight week, contributing to a 17-0 halftime deficit, and failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 14 career NFL starts.

Jones drove the offense 50 yards in two minutes with no timeouts to give the Giants one shot at the end zone to win it with four seconds to play. But intended receiver Golden Tate was whistled for offensive pass interference in the end zone on

Bears corner Buster Skrine.

Judge was ticked with Tate, calling his infraction “the f---in’ penalty,” though the coach was “proud” of the way his team “fought.”

“I’m proud of our defense going out there and not giving up any points,” he said. “Our offense, that two-minute drive at the end was very telling of the fight we had.”

Bradberry led the way on defense, earning some of the three-year, $45 million free-agent deal he signed this offseason that included $32 million guaranteed.

He tipped a Mitch Trubisky pass intercepted by safety Julian Love on the Bears’ first drive of the third quarter, setting up a 39-yard Graham Gano field goal to put the Giants on the board.

And Bradberry made an incredible play to steal the ball out of Allen Robinson’s hands on the Giants’ 34-yard line for his first interception of the season in the early fourth. That led to Gano’s second made field goal from 37 yards and the final score.

“We feel like we’re a dominant defense,” said Bradberry, who had four passes defended in all. “We feel like we showed that in the second half.”

There were too many mistakes, though, even in the second half.

Love returned his interception to the Bears’ 25yard line, for example, but Darius Slayton dropped a pass for a first down over the middle as a safety was bearing down, so the Giants had to settle for three points.

Dion Lewis, in place of Barkley, punched in the Giants’ only touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 14:18 to play in the fourth quarter. He followed pulling guard Will Hernandez and fullback Eli Penny into the end zone.