Bears' Young perplexed by late penalty

Fun Willie Young strutted his signature fisherman celebration after each of his sacks. But the real reeling was about the one that got away.

Jacksonville's late rally on Sunday at Soldier Field was almost October Cubs-like. It had the Bears, who were up 13-0 after three quarters, reeling.

The Bears, on their home field, couldn't put away a one-win Jaguars team in the fourth quarter and lost 17-16.

Really.

"We have to finish," safety Harold Jones-Quartey said. "We have to put a whole game together on offense, defense, special teams."

"At the end of the day," Young said, "(Jacksonville) was the better team."

If the loss was hard to figure, equally perplexing for Young was his roughing-the-passer penalty on quarterback Blake Bortles late in the third quarter. On third-and-7 from the Bears 47, Young, while engaged with an offensive lineman, whacked Bortles in the helmet with his right hand.

Three snaps after the 15-yard penalty, on the second play of the fourth quarter, Jacksonville was on the board when Chris Ivory plowed into the end zone from 1 yard out.

"I was (shocked)," Young said of the flag he drew. "I really thought it was holding on the tackle. It was tough. I went to swipe the ball. (Bortles) saw me and he cringed. His helmet was just right on top of the ball."

Young's strip and sack on the Jaguars' next series gave the momentum back to the Bears. With a lunge and overhand swipe of the right arm from the 6-foot-4 outside linebacker, he jarred the ball loose from Bortles. Akiem Hicks recovered for the Bears at the Jacksonville 28.

It was Young's second sack of the day, fifth in two games and team-leading sixth of the season in six games. It led to Connor Barth's third field goal of the day from short range and a 16-7 advantage for the home team.

The Jaguars answered with Jason Myers' field goal and went ahead on their next possession. This time, former Illinois wide receiver Arrelious Benn reeled in a 51-yard TD pass. Both Benn and cornerback Tracy Porter slipped on the grass around the 35. Benn caught the ball as the two players fell nearly simultaneously, bounced back to his feet faster than Porter and won a race to the end zone with 2:49 left.

"When I came out of my break, I knew he had slid a little bit, and I had to get down and catch the ball," Benn said of his only reception of the day. "I got up and knew he was behind me. I knew he didn't touch me."

Up 10-0 at halftime, the Bears had blanked an opponent in the opening half of a game for the first time in nearly four years (64 games). But it was just a footnote after their final-quarter slip-up, so to speak, dropped them to 1-5.

Another footnote: Porter's end-zone interception in the first quarter.

"Defense, we're playing lights out," inside linebacker Danny Trevathan said. "I was proud. I mean, we gave away a couple of plays, but all in all, we're getting better every week."

The Bears need to get better fast, as they visit Green Bay on Thursday night.

"Honestly, I won't even watch this film," Young said. "It's already time to get ready for Green Bay."