End-of-half drive comes back to haunt Bears

There were many reasons why the Bears dropped a 26-23 overtime decision to the Saints at Soldier Field on Sunday.

Chief among them:

• Saints RB Alvin Kamara racked up 163 yards on 21 touches.

• Taysom Hill, New Orleans' backup quarterback, picked up 35 yards on 5 carries and caught a 20-yard touchdown pass.

• The Bears' offensive line allowed 5 sacks, the last of which came on the team's only possession of OT.

But weed through the entire mess that was Sunday's game - and, wow was it a mess - and there's one possession that probably meant the difference between a Bears victory and a Bears loss. It began when New Orleans took over on its own 32-yard-line trailing 13-3 with 1:39 remaining in the first half.

The Bears' defense, which held the Saints to three-and-outs on their previous two possessions, appeared ready to force another punt after Khalil Mack sacked Drew Brees to set up second-and-18 with just 58 seconds remaining.

Brees, though, completed passes of 5 and 12 yards to make it fourth-and-1 from the Bears' 48.

Saints coach Sean Payton showed faith in his offense and elected to run the shifty, lightning-quick Kamara around left end. The play worked, but New Orleans was still 41 yards away from the end zone with just 34 ticks left on the clock. And Payton has just one timeout at his disposal.

So tackle any runner in bounds on the next couple of plays and New Orleans will almost certainly have to settle for a field goal.

But that's not what happened.

Instead, Brees hits Tre'Quan Smith on an 'out' route for 4 yards. The play takes just six seconds.

Brees then hits Kamara in the flat, a simple play that nets 8 yards and takes five seconds.

Now it's first-and-10 from the 29 with 23 seconds remaining.

After Kyle Fuller is flagged for pass interference, Brees sees a wide-open Jared Cook in the end zone, but the throw is off target.

Disaster averted, right?

Wrong.

Inexplicably, the Bears allowed Cook to run the same route on the opposite side of the field, and the tight end hauled it in to slice the lead to 13-10.

"I'm just a little surprised how soft (Bears CB) Jaylon Johnson was on this coverage," said Fox TV analyst and former QB Troy Aikman. "You see he's not even in the frame when you see Cook come into the picture."

The defense had a strong second half, holding the Saints to a pair of third-quarter field goals after New Orleans took over at the Bears' 16 and 39.

Linebackers Roquan Smith (11 tackles, 2 for loss) and Danny Trevathan (9 tackles, 1 for loss) were particularly impressive down the stretch.

Still, it's the little things that come back to bite you in the NFL.

A lesson the 5-3 Bears learned the hard way on Sunday.