Bears find big hope in big picture
Game-changing plays vs. Lions may provide needed springboard
Kyle Fuller was there when the Bears needed him. In the fourth quarter of a tie game Thursday afternoon in Detroit, the Bears defense faced a defining moment.
On the previous play, safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had lined up offside, shortening a third-and-5 for the Lions to third-and-inches. When running back J.D. McKissic took a handoff and bounced toward the outside, the Bears appeared to be in big trouble.
McKissic had room. The Bears held their breath.
Fuller had no help, little margin for error and one prevailing thought. “Just get a piece,” the Bears cornerback said.
And a piece he got.
With an aggressive burst and a precise dive, Fuller got a piece of
McKissic’s right knee, then a bit of his right ankle and finally enough of his shoe top to send the running back stumbling for no gain.
Fourth down.
“It happened so fast,” Fuller said. “You just shoot your gun and hope to get a piece. And I got enough of him.”
Disaster averted. “Probably the biggest play of the game,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “An absolute game-changer.”
The Lions still scored, using Matt Prater’s 24-yard field goal to take a 20-17 lead with 10:47 remaining. But Fuller had proved clutch. And a little while later Mitch Trubisky followed suit, leading a 90-yard touchdown drive for a 24-20 victory.
Trubisky’s two longest completions of that drive went to Anthony Miller for 35 and 32 yards, the latter featuring an athletic grab inside the Lions 5.
Nagy saw something in his quarterback. He saw conviction throws. Crisp timing. Confidence.
Nagy also saw something in his young receiver.
“The thing I love about Anthony is he plays with extreme passion,” Nagy said. “And he’s ultra-talented.”
With the game in the balance, with the season’s hopes on the line, each big contribution seemed to feed the next. The Bears made a series of gamewinning plays, finished off a game-winning touchdown drive and left Ford Field with a jolt of confidence.
“I don’t know where this is going to go in the next four weeks,” Nagy said. “But if it goes well? You could look to that drive …”
A narrow victory over a freefalling, last-place Lions team quarterbacked by third-stringer David Blough must be put in proper context and filtered accordingly. One dramatic division win doesn’t suddenly revive the Bears’ season or awaken a city’s dashed Super Bowl dreams.
The Bears remain a middle-ofthe-road team with a 6-6 record. And there’s enough evidence within their Thanksgiving Day triumph — blown coverages, dropped passes, foolish penalties, general sloppiness — to remind everyone why this season is where it is.
Still, the come-from-behind win — in a short week, on the road, with an extra level of resolve and toughness and togetherness required — provides something to build on. And that certainly beats the alternative.
The Bears don’t belong in the NFC playoff picture, but they at least enter December with a chance to photobomb it. And even the prospect of playing meaningful games during the final month of the regular season should provide players and coaches some added juice. Theoretically,
there’s still something to chase.
Even though the New York Times’ playoff probability tracker gives the Bears just a 3% chance of playing into January, the folks at Halas Hall can use that 3% to adopt the mindset of Lloyd Christmas courting Mary Swanson in “Dumb and Dumber.”
So you’re telling me there’s a chance.
Don’t forget, the 2018 Eagles, the team that eliminated the Bears from last season’s playoffs, started 4-6 yet found a way to keep grinding.
And that, for Nagy, has been an important part of this season’s cleanup process. The Bears understand the mess they made for themselves with a four-game losing streak in October and early November. But they’ve stayed together and retained an important level of belief.
“I just think it’s a credit to our players for battling through,” Nagy said. “And that’s what I like most about it. That’s why last night felt so good in that locker room: because we understand that we’re continuing to fight.
“Is it perfect? No. Can we be better? Yes. We know we have our hands full with the coming games. But as long as we just home in on (playing) the Dallas Cowboys at home (Thursday), who knows?”
Nagy has tried to describe what he felt in the Ford Field locker room Thursday. Before the game, he sensed his players’ readiness: “I could tell our guys were laser focused.”
And after the win? After Fuller’s critical tackle and Miller’s big catches and Trubisky’s final-drive poise and win-sealing splash plays from Roquan Smith and Eddie Jackson? There seemed to be a heightened spirit, an energized fulfillment in the way they had all clawed for that win.
Players danced in Club Dub and exuded a collective pride.
“You could just feel an organic fun,” Nagy said.
It’s up to the Bears to carry that forward, to recognize the difficulty of their December schedule — Cowboys, Packers, Chiefs, Vikings — and embrace the opportunity to attack each game with the proper energy and focus.
The chances of writing a storybook ending to this disappointing season remain slim. But at Halas Hall, anyway, there’s a belief that there’s still something valuable to squeeze from this season.