Fangio’s gamble works, but Bears win with FG.
Fangio takes chances, puts Broncos in position to win Defense can’t hold Chicago on final drive to victory
From the day he was hired in January, Broncos coach Vic Fangio was expected to have two calling cards: aggressiveness and defense. Having worked more than three decades to get his f irst chance at running an NFL sideline, Fangio wasn’t going to sit idle.
If that meant a fake punt/kick to steal a possession or going for two points at the end of the game, he was going to do it.
Fangio was going to do it, because as one of the league’s premier defensive play-callers, he had extreme confidence in his group to make up for a failed gamble or cash in on the positive momentum change.
On Sunday against the Chicago Bears, Fangio’s bold stroke paid off … until the defense couldn’t hold up its end.
Quarterback Joe Flacco’s two-point pass to receiver Emmanuel Sanders with 31 seconds remaining gave the Broncos a 14-13 lead. One more stop and last week’s eyesore of a loss at Oakland would be matched by a rally from 10 points down.
But outside linebacker Bradley Chubb’s iffy roughing-the-passer penalty, combined with Mitch Trubisky’s 25-yard pass to Allen Robinson on fourth-and-15 with one second remaining, gave the Bears a chance. Eddy Pineiro’s 53-yard field goal was good as time expired.
Final: Bears 16, Broncos 14. Knee-jerk reaction: Ouch. “Hopefully you learn from it and became better from it,” Fangio said. “But right now, it stings pretty good. It will sting (Monday). But we have to get over it
quickly.”
The Broncos are 0-2 for the first time in 20 years.
“Tough loss, no way around it,” outside linebacker Von Miller said.
The Broncos trailed 13-3 entering the fourth quarter. Against the Bears defense, the task seemed difficult. And with a touchdown-challenged offense, it seemed darn near impossible. Two games in, this is a Broncos offense that does acceptable work until they get bogged down by a missed block, penalty or any other mistake.
Having cut the lead to seven points, the Broncos moved to the Bears’ 2-yard line, but Flacco threw high to Sanders at the goal line and the pass was intercepted by cornerback Kyle Fuller.
The Broncos’ final drive started with 2:48 remaining. One play after outside linebacker Leonard Floyd dropped a potential interception, Flacco threw 10 yards to Courtland Sutton on fourth-and10. Later, on fourth-and-3 from the 12, Sutton caught a 5-yard pass. On the next play, Sanders made a terrific catch in the back right corner of the end zone (7yard touchdown).
Immediately, Fangio put one finger in the air, the universal symbol to kick the extra point. But the next thing everybody knew, the offense was back on the field.
But a delay-of-game penalty sent out kicker Brandon McManus. He missed his kick, but Chicago was penalized for offsides. The ball was placed at the 1-yard line and Fangio sent the offense back out again. Sanders, using a free release from Fuller exiting the right slot, caught the conversion.
“We’re trying to win games,” Fangio said of going for two. “If we have an opportunity to win a game with a two-point play at the end, I’ll always consider it. It doesn’t mean I’ll do the same thing next time, but I was convinced it was the right decision this time.”
Said Miller: “That’s my type of coach right there. During OTAs, he talked about winning right now and not playing for later. That was dope.”
Things went from dope to disastrous quickly.
Chubb’s penalty gave the Bears 15 yards of field position (to their 45) and stopped the clock (24 seconds). Trubisky threw three consecutive incompletions to set up fourth-and-15. Robinson was wide open deep over the middle. One second was put back on the clock after Robinson went down and Pineiro connected, setting off a wild celebration by the visitors.
Now comes the first crisis point for Fangio: rallying his mostly young locker room. Making sure they maintain belief. Figuring out a way to salvage left tackle Garett Bolles (two enforced and declined holding penalties apiece). And taking a close look at how to generate a pass rush (no sacks in two games).
“We’ll get back at it (Monday),” Miller said. “We have great character in the locker room. Great players. Great coaches. We’ll be good.”