Bears coach Ben Johnson is known for his trick plays. He did it again in the first quarter Sunday.
Only 11 seconds after a Cowboys’ field goal, which cut Chicago’s lead to 7-3, Johnson called a flea flicker. Caleb Williams handed the ball off to running back D’Andre Swift, who had an ally-oop-type flip back to Williams. Williams had to jump to catch the high throw but still had time to find Luther Burden.
Burden was running free and caught a 65-yard touchdown pass.
The Bears’ first touchdown went for 35 yards as Rome Odunze scored.
Chicago leads 14-3.
If that wasn’t bad enough for the Cowboys, receiver CeeDee Lamb injured his left ankle when linebacker Noah Sewell inadvertently rolled over it on a running play by Lamb that didn’t count because of offsetting penalties. Lamb returned for the first play of the second quarter but lasted only one play.
The Cowboys were looking good . . . until they weren’t.
Javonte Williams had a 22-yard run to the Chicago 28 before Tyrique Stevenson pulled the ball out of the running back’s hands and secured it before going out of bounds. The Bears then went 76 yards in five plays for the first points of the game.
The Bears lead 7-0 with 10:35 remaining in the first half.
Rome Odunze beat Trevon Diggs, who was questionable to play with a knee injury, for a 35-yard touchdown. Diggs slipped on the turf, giving Odunze an easy score.
Williams is 4-of-6 for 70 yards. Rookie tight end Colston Loveland caught a pass for 31 yards in the scoring drive.
Edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney practiced all three days this week after signing with the Cowboys. He will not play.
Clowney is among the team’s inactives.
Executive vice president Stephen Jones said Friday that the Cowboys were leaning toward waiting until Week 4 for Clowney to make his Cowboys debut.
The Cowboys will have starting cornerback Trevon Diggs, who the team added to the injury report Saturday with a knee injury. Diggs was questionable to play but is dressed.
Defensive tackle Mazi Smith, a former first-round pick, will make his season debut. He was a healthy scratch the past two weeks, but the Cowboys instead made Smith active over Jay Toia for today’s game in Chicago.
The Cowboys’ inactives are running back Jaydon Blue, cornerback DaRon Bland (foot), linebacker Shemar James, offensive lineman Ajani Cornelius and offensive guard Trevon Keegan.
The Bears will have running back D’Andre Swift, who is active. He was limited in all three practices last week due to a quad injury. Swift has rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown this season.
The Bears’ inactives are cornerback Kyler Gordon (hamstring), linebacker T.J. Edwards (hamstring), linebacker D’Marco Jackson (hamstring), cornerback Jaylon Jones (hamstring), offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo and quarterback Case Keenum. Keenum will serve as the emergency third quarterback.
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson went on injured reserve Saturday and his next move could involve an operating room.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Johnson is set to meet with Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia this week. The likely outcome of that meeting is that Johnson will have core muscle surgery.
If that is the case, the hope is that Johnson will be able to return to action in the second half of the season.
Johnson initially hurt himself ahead of training camp and did not play in Week 1. He returned for last Sunday’s loss to the Lions, but it looks like it is going to be quite a while before he plays in any other games.
The story of the week had nothing to do with anything that happened on the field. The video of an Incredible Shrinking Tom Brady in the Raiders’ coaching box caused many to finally realize the clear conflict of interest between his Fox broadcasting gig and his partial ownership of a team.
Previously, some tried to downplay or justify Brady’s dual roles as not creating a conflict — or by engaging in clunky “whataboutism.” In the aftermath of Monday night, the question became whether Brady’s involvement in production meeting and his on-field presence during pregame warmups give him insights that can be funneled back to the Raiders.
Former Raiders coach Antonio Pierce seemingly put that debate to rest on Thursday when saying that, last year, Brady did that.
Brady’s actions, proper or not, don’t matter. The appearance of impropriety does. And the question for Sunday’s Cowboys-Bears game on Fox becomes obvious, especially with the Raiders hosting the Bears next week.
Will the situation be addressed?
It’s a box that could be checked on the pregame show, hours before kickoff. It could (should) be handled right out of the gate, with Brady addressing the situation minutes before kickoff in Chicago and reading from the pre-written P.R. talking points.
Don’t count on the latter happening. In January, when the Raiders reportedly were planning to make a run at Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson (now the head coach of the Bears), play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt teed Tommy up to address the elephant in the room. Instead, Brady spun a cotton candy word salad, reciting a string of cliches in order and avoiding the subject at hand.
That’s probably the most that will happen today, if anything happens at all.
