"What Went Wrong" aims to take a look at each of the Bears’ eight losses and figure out, well, just that. Consider it one last chance to hate-read about the 2019 season.
Considering just how much went wrong for the Bears this season, it’s a little funny to remember that they actually finished the first quarter of their season at 3-1. Eddy Pineiro kept the panic at bay with his 53-yard winner against the Broncos, they beat a bad team in Washington and even managed a scrappy, Chase Daniel-inspired victory over the Vikings. Trubisky was in a sling, but all things considered, the season was still going as planned. Just a quick, 8-hour transatlantic flight and game against Jon Gruden’s 2-2 Raiders stood between the Bears and a 4-1 record at the bye. So what went wrong?
On The Surface
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A very winnable game had it’s two obvious breaking moments: Kevin Pierre-Louis’s running-into-the-kicker penalty on a 4th-and-6, and the miscommunication between Daniel and Anthony Miller on the Bears’ last drive of the game. On the former, the Bears were up 21-17 and the penalty negated Tarik Cohen’s return, which would have had the offense near midfield. Now 4th and 1, the Raiders converted on a fake punt the next play. Oakland would score the game-winning touchdown on the same drive.
Daniel’s interception came with a little under two minutes left, and the Bears down 24-21. The Bears again were near midfield, and Daniel checked into one of the team’s staple plays. There was some sort of miscommunication along the way, and Gareon Conley grabbed the easiest interception he’s ever going to get:
Both Nagy and Daniel admitted that it was a poorly thrown ball, though they also both noted that Miller’s route could have been 4-5 yards deeper. Foreshadowing!!
Under The Surface
NFL
This was Kyle Long’s last game, and the tape wasn’t kind to him. Pro Football Focus gave him the worst overall rating (38.0) of anyone on the offense that day, as he allowed 11 hurries, 2 QB hits, and one sack over 56 snaps. Pass blocking was an issue all day; David Montgomery only had 25 yards on 11 rushes, averaging 2.3 yards per attempt. The longest run of his day was six yards. Bobby Massie, Charles Leno Jr. (who was flagged three times that afternoon), and James Daniels each allowed a sack, too. The passing game wasn’t particularly efficient either: Allen Robinson was good, but Tarik Cohen only had six catches for 39 yards, Miller had four for 52, and Trey Burton had three for 16.
It was also one of the first times that fatigue was a major factor for the Bears’ defense. Chuck Pagano’s unit allowed the Raiders to go 97 yards on their game-winning drive, only giving the Bears 100 seconds or so to try and answer. Akiem Hicks got hurt, they didn’t record a sack, and Khalil Mack was the only player to even record a QB hit.
The Raiders also did a great job exposing the Bears’ linebackers in passing situations. Of the 229 passing yards the team allowed, according to PFF, 126 of those are attributed to Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan. Smith looked a bit slow throughout the game, his first back since being a gameday scratch against the Vikings a week prior. It was a pretty sloppy affair – the Bears had seven missed tackles from seven different players. The Bears left London 3-2, banged up, and tasked with sitting through two weeks of Flight Time discourse. Things weren’t even that bad yet!