Inside the 'free play' touchdown pass to DJ Moore that propelled Bears to victory
How many times over the last handful of years have the Bears tried to draw an opponent offsides? It's that classic move. Fourth down. Keep the offense on the field. Quarterback barks out orders and tries to get the defense to jump offsides.
The defense rarely jumps. It's the type of play that seemed to work countless times against the Bears back when Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback up north.
It's the type of play that never works for the Bears. Whether it was Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky or Matt Eberflus and Justin Fields, the Bears never catch those breaks.
Until Sunday.
On a fourth-and-13 late in the third quarter, Fields yelled out instructions when Lions defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson jumped into the neutral zone. Center Lucas Patrick snapped the ball quickly. Fields dropped back and unleashed a deep ball for receiver DJ Moore, who caught it in stride for a 38-yard touchdown.
The home crowd of 62,185 fans at Soldier Field erupted. The score broke a tie game and felt like the defining moment in a 28-13 win on Sunday on the lakefront.
The ironic part of it all was that the Bears never intended to snap the football unless the Lions jumped offsides.
"It was supposed to be a freeze play," Moore said. "I seen the dude on the other side jump and, shoot, I took off on my side."
There's no perfect way to work on those moments in practice. It's a situation that can't really be fabricated because of the way it catches the defense off guard. That's why Moore so easily found himself a step ahead of the defensive back.
The best way to practice it is to do it when it happens naturally in practice. When a defender jumps offsides in practice, the offense tries to take advantage of the free play. According to Patrick, the center, those situations arose several times in practice this week.
"We probably had, just in different situations, probably had three or four free plays [in practice]," Patrick told Shaw Local. "Justin was ripping 'em, receivers ran a good route, we're blocking. It's just understanding the situation, where we're at in the game and executing."
Added Fields: "It happens every week, and the guys are ready for it, and we executed it."
Just before that play, Fields dumped off a short pass on first down to fullback Khari Blasingame, which lost 3 yards. Fields ran for no gain on second down and threw an incompletion on third down.
Eberflus kept the offense on the field on fourth-and-13. The quarterback was yelling out dummy instructions. Even the other players were giving each other fake signals.
"Usually, it doesn't work," tight end Cole Kmet said. "I gave some weird sign, and Mooney looked at me like, 'What the heck?' I just knocked my head. They made a call or whatever. I can't believe they jumped, but they did, and we took advantage of it."
Eberflus credited Fields for using his cadence to get Hutchinson to jump. That's what NFL teams call those signals when the QB is barking out orders at the line of scrimmage.
"It's Justin," Eberflus said. "It's the hard count. He did a really good job of hard counting and just a really good job there, and they got them to jump. His use of cadence."
Three weeks ago, the Bears blew a 12-point, fourth-quarter lead against these same Lions. This time, the Bears found a way to close out a victory.
Moore and Fields both scored rushing touchdowns in the game. Fields threw for 223 yards and one touchdown on 19-of-33 passing. He did not turn the ball over. Defensively, the Bears had three takeaways to stifle the Lions' high-powered offense.
At 5-8 on the season, the Bears kept their slim playoff hopes alive, at least mathematically. They likely have to win out if they want to keep it going.