Arkush: The Bears came to play - but what were they playing?
CHICAGO - Well, it took 45 years on the job but it's finally happened.
I have absolutely no idea what to say.
It's not that I'm afraid of being right or wrong, positive or negative, controversial or milquetoast.
It's just that I watched the entirety of what was supposed to be an NFL game at Soldier Field Monday night, another loss for the Chicago Bears, this time 17-9 to the Minnesota Vikings, and I have no idea what I saw.
Minnesota came into the game second in the NFL protecting Kirk Cousins - and with the Bears' Akiem Hicks returning to the lineup with a vengeance and Robert Quinn doing what he does all night long, each sacking Cousins twice while the Bears' COVID-ravaged defense owned the line of scrimmage with Roquan Smith seemingly flying everywhere behind them.
The Bears seriously outplayed the Vikings almost all night long, and yet somehow were never really in the game.
So how does that happen?
It starts with a string of ridiculous penalties, some on out-of-control youngsters like Trevis Gipson and Teven Jenkins who have to know better if they're going to play at this level, and others on officials who, if I didn't know better (I think), I'd say were hallucinating their way through the game.
It is not why the Bears lost, but it was possibly the worst-officiated game I've ever seen, and the Bears bore the brunt of it.
The Vikings didn't need the help from the officials though; the Bears were determined to lose this one on their own.
Another fumble by Justin Fields on the second possession of the game at the Vikings 46 was just not protecting the football.
On their next possession, trailing 10-0, Fields led them 55 yards on seven plays before David Montgomery fumbled at the Vikings' 10, battling too hard in the scrum and getting the ball ripped out by Sheldon Richardson - and on the second play of the fourth quarter, with Jakeem Grant out with a concussion, Damiere Byrd muffed a punt, giving the ball back to the Vikings at the Bears 37.
On the two most bizarre plays of the game, though, nobody in the building seemed to know what had happened.
On 3rd and 4 with 2:47 left in the third period, Cousins scrambled 3 yards to the Bears' 13 to set up 4th and 1. But an official signaled 1st down and the chains moved.
While the Vikings lined up to run the next play, a livid Matt Nagy struggled to get a challenge called. The officials finally stopped the play, moved the chains back without a challenge, and had the Vikings punt with no explanation.
Things got even stranger a few minutes later when, after another change of possessions, the Bears took over at their own 10 and, on 1st down, Fields took a snap under center, dropped three steps and inexplicably took a knee, got up and then was driven back to the ground by James Lynch.
Lynch was called for roughing, taking the ball out to the Bears' 18, but no one in the press box had any clue why Fields was taking a knee.
At that point, it had just become theater of the absurd.
Going in, if you had known the Bears with 14 players on the COVID list would outgain the Vikings 370-193 and manage 24 first downs to the Vikings' 13, would you have assumed they went home with a win?
Beyond the unexplainable, there were a few very disturbing things to help explain the problem.
The Bears were once again just 2-of-12 on 3rd down, and this time 2-of-5 on 4th down. Justin Fields was sacked 3 times for 30 yards, all three of which he ran his way into.
None of them were on the O-line and the 30 yards were amassed with him running backward, seemingly without a clue what he was doing.
All in all, it was just an incredibly disturbing performance from a team that competed beyond our imagination but, at the same time, seemed to have no idea what they were doing a good part of the evening.
@Hub_Arkush