Phil Rosenthal on the costliest plays of 2018,
Suppose the Bears defeat the Vikings on Sunday, but the hobbled 4-11 49ers fail to pull out a road victory over the 12-3 Rams.
That would mean the NFC North champion Bears (11-4) have to open the NFL postseason against a wild-card team while the Rams, whom they shut down 15-6 earlier this month, enjoy a first-round bye.
A handful of plays, any one of which could have leapfrogged the Bears past the Rams, surely would haunt coach Matt Nagy’s team in that scenario.
Here are the four they’re most likely to regret, an exquisite blend of bad decisions, bad execution and bad breaks:
1 | Kicker Cody Parkey’s extra-point attempt with no time on the clock in regulation against the Giants on Dec. 2.
The Bears had rallied with a field goal and touchdown in the final 73 seconds of the fourth quarter, and the irony is that Parkey actually converted this kick to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Forget backup quarterback Chase Daniel’s pick-six on the game’s second play from scrimmage to help give the Giants a 7-0 lead. Never mind Taylor Gabriel’s late fourth-quarter fumble to set up a Giants field goal in what wound up a 30-27 overtime loss.
The killer was that the Bears didn’t keep Parkey on the sideline and go for the two-point conversion.
It’s hard to believe Nagy’s much-praised bag of trick plays doesn’t have a little something in it to pick up 2 yards when needed. The Augustus Gloop, maybe?
2 | Dolphins quarterback Brock Osweiler throws to Albert Wilson in the fourth quarter on Oct. 14.
Sure, Parkey missed a 53-yard field-goal try that would have given the Bears the game in overtime instead of merely prolonging it so the Dolphins could win 31-28 on a 47-yard field goal as time expired.
Yes, Jordan Howard fumbled on the Dolphins 1 late in the first half, and Tarik Cohen fumbled with two minutes left in regulation, aborting a potential go-ahead scoring drive near midfield.
But Osweiler-to-Wilson with less than four minutes to play was a killer, a mess on par with the ski-jumper whose wipeout became synonymous with “the agony of defeat” for all those years on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.”
The Bears had gone 75 yards on 11 plays to take a 28-21 lead. Parkey’s kick gave the Dolphins the ball on their 25.
Osweiler hit Wilson wide open on first down over the middle on the 29. Wilson turned upfield, and that’s when the comedy of errors began.
Players on the Bears vaunted defense ran into each other. They missed multiple tackles. Guys were blocked out. The result was a 75-yard touchdown that, with the PAT kick, tied the game again with 3:01 to go. Brutal.
3 | The Patriots’ Tom Brady throws to Josh Gordon on fourth-and-1 midway through the second quarter on Oct. 21.
There were any number of plays for the Bears to rue in what would be a 38-31 loss at Soldier Field.
Trubisky was twice intercepted in the second half. The Bears special teams gave up a pair of touchdowns, one on a 95-yard kickoff return and the other on a blocked punt. The defense couldn’t stop running back James White from taking 3:49 off the clock on eight straight carries.
But the nagging feeling is that, with what had been a 17-7 Bears lead already down to a three-point advantage, stopping Brady and company on fourth-and-1 at the Bears 42 would have gone a long way to assert preeminence over Patriots coach Bill Belichick, the alpha’s alpha.
Instead Brady hit Gordon for a 19-yard gain. Five plays later, the Patriots were up 21-17.
They never trailed again.
4 | The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers throws to Davante Adams with 2:39 remaining and the Bears ahead 23-17 in the season opener on Sept. 9.
The Bears had seen a 20-0 halftime lead dwindle, and Nagy didn’t help with clock management in the fourth quarter.
Still up by three on third-and-2 at the Packers 14 after Green Bay had burned its last timeout with 2:47 remaining, Trubisky threw — yes, threw — to Miller. The ball was tipped and fell incomplete, so the clock stopped again at 2:42.
It took Parkey just four seconds to kick a 32-yard field goal, giving the Bears a 23-17 lead.
That left Rodgers, who returned from a first-half knee injury for which he was carted to the locker room, with more than enough time to pull off a comeback.
But on first down at the Packers 25 and hoping to hit Adams, the guy Rodgers threw to was cornerback Kyle Fuller. Right in the hands.
Unfortunately for the Bears, who would have wrapped up the victory with an interception, Fuller couldn’t hang on.
Two plays later, Rodgers hit Randall Cobb for a 75-yard touchdown play.
The Bears had a realistic chance to rally from the 24-23 deficit in the remaining 2:13. But on fourth-and-10 from the Bears 46 with 1:06 to play, Trubisky was sacked and fumbled, and that was the end of that.