Bears defenders said the quiet part out loud after Week 17 loss, showing some of the frustrations inside Chicago’s locker room
The Chicago Bears’ defense let the entire team down on Sunday.
The Chicago Bears came up short on Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers, and while it was a valiant effort right down to the end, valiant efforts mean nothing come playoff time.
“When you’re going against a dynamic offense like that, we talked about the possibility as an offense, us going tit-for-tat with them,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters after the game. “We, at times, were able to answer that call. They just ended up making more plays than us.”
It came down to the final play with the Bears in control of the ball inside the five-yard line in a do-or-die situation. The Bears ended up dying with Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams taking accountability for the result of the final play.
But the truth is, it shouldn’t have even come down to that play if the other side of the ball had held up their end of the bargain, and they should be held accountable for this loss as well.
Bears defenders said the quiet part out loud after Week 17 performance
“We let the offense down. I’m going to say it. We let the offense down, period,” Bears safety Jaquan Brisker said in the locker room after the game. “I feel like Caleb and them, they gave us enough points to do what we had to do to win. The defense didn’t.”
Brisker is right. The offense scored enough points to win that game if not for a pathetic showing by the Bears’ defense.
Chicago surrendered 42+ points for the THIRD time this season, the most such games in the entire league, while also allowing nearly 500 yards of offense and 32 first-downs against the 49ers. It’s inexcusable, and while Johnson won’t say it, we all know that’s the case and has been all year.
“We gotta find a way to fight,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. “They whipped our (expletive). We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and figure out a way to never let that happen again. It’s always surprising to get dominated like that. It’s not something you expect to happen.”
It’s hard to win games in the NFL, giving up that kind of performance on defense, and the competition isn’t getting any easier. The Bears have a Week 18 date against the Detroit Lions, who dropped a season-high 52 points on this defense in Week 2.
Then, in the playoffs, nearly every team on the NFC side has a similar high-octane offense that can demolish this Bears defense unless something is corrected after a game like that.
“It’s going to be truth-telling as far as just the film,” veteran safety Kevin Byard said. “Like I said, it was just a lot of mistakes out there on defense on all levels. We gotta make sure we tighten up. We might see this team again.”
Chicago Bears News
Bears HC Ben Johnson takes full accountability for the result of the final play that caused Chicago to come up just short in Week 17
Another tough way to lose such a close game.
