Gould puts loss on his shoulders

LANDOVER, Md. — It was an eventful day on special teams for the Bears, even if Devin Hester’s 81-yard punt-return TD isn’t included.

Kicker Robbie Gould nailed 47- and 49-yard field goals but inexplicably missed a 34-yarder, which was ruled wide right, even though it appeared to sail over the upright, which would make it good.

“I hit a bad kick; I missed it,” Gould said. “They called it a miss, so it’s a miss. I can’t do that. You should never put a field goal like that that close. It’s got to go down the middle. It’s the difference in the ball game, and I can put this game on my shoulders. I have to make those. I didn’t do my job.”

Gould had hit 11 in a row this season and 13 straight going back to last season before the miss against Washington.

After Gould’s 49-yard boot brought the Bears within 38-34 with 8:39 left in the game, the Bears tried an onside kick, which was recovered by Zack Bowman. But it was ruled that Eric Weems was offside, although that appeared questionable on replays. After the 5-yard penalty was assessed, the Bears kicked deep.

“We did a great job of executing it,” Gould said. “We did what we were supposed to do. The officials made a call, so there’s not much we can do about that.”

Good and bad:

Alshon Jeffery led the Bears with 105 receiving yards on just 4 catches and he rushed for 16 yards on a pair of end-arounds.

But a high pass early in the second quarter that he couldn’t corral wound up being intercepted by Washington linebacker Brian Orakpo and returned 29 yards for a touchdown.

“I saw the ball hit Alshon and it just bounced out of his hands from my angle,” coach Marc Trestman said. “It looked like a place where Alshon would squeeze the ball and come down with it, but he didn’t.”

MRI for Cutler coming:

Jay Cutler was barely able to limp off the field after his groin injury, and he left FedEx Field on the back of a cart.

“It’s not a knee, it’s not an ankle, it’s not a hip,” coach Marc Trestman said. “It’ll have to be evaluated with an MRI (today).”

Internet reports said the Bears are expected to sign QB Jordan Palmer, who was with the team in the preseason.

Cutler completed just 3 of 8 passes for 28 yards with a pick-6 by Washington linebacker Brian Orakpo and a passer rating of 8.3, which dropped his season passer rating from 95.2 to 91.7.

Linebacker Lance Briggs (shoulder) and cornerback Charles Tillman (knee) both left the game in the third quarter and did not return.

“This (off week) gives (Cutler) time to heal up,” Trestman said, “as well as a number of our other players.”

In and out:

With rookie Jon Bostic starting at middle linebacker in place of injured D.J. Williams, the Bears had three rookies in the starting lineup including right tackle Jordan Mills and right guard Kyle Long.

Inactive Sunday were cornerback C.J. Wilson, running back Michael Ford, defensive tackle Christian Tupou, offensive linemen James Brown and Jonathan Scott, tight end Steve Maneri and defensive end Cornelius Washington.