Chicago Bears defense fails to live up to its reputation

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - The Chicago Bears went into Sunday's matchup with the Miami Dolphins riding high on a three-game winning streak and well rested after their off week, while the home team had lost in disappointing fashion each of the previous two weeks, following a 3-0 start.

So much for momentum and rest.

If Bears fans thought the Week 1 collapse in Green Bay was gut-wrenching, they experienced a whole new level of heartbreak with the 31-28 overtime loss to the Dolphins.

It dropped the Bears to 3-2 and was made much worse because it was their vaunted defense that was the biggest disappointment. But there was more than enough blame to go around - there was the goal-line fumble by Jordan Howard inches short of a score and a Mitch Trubisky end-zone interception.

But a defense that believes it's one of the top five in the NFL should, under no circumstances, ever allow a backup, journeyman quarterback like Brock Osweiler to throw for 380 yards and 3 touchdowns and for a middle-of-the-pack offense to accumulate 541 yards of offense.

Even though Osweiler, a last-minute replacement for starter Ryan Tannehill (right shoulder), threw 44 passes, he was not sacked even once by a Bears defense that came into the game leading the NFL in sack percentage. And no one will ever confuse the 6-foot-7, 240-pound Osweiler with Mike Vick.

The Bears' defense failed time after time to put a winnable game away, and the Dolphins improved to 4-2 when Jason Sanders' 47-yard field goal split the uprights on the final play of the 10-minute extra period. With 1:55 left in overtime, Bears kicker Cody Parkey was wide right on a 53-yard attempt that would have won it.

"It felt good off my foot, I just have to get it straighter," Parkey said. "Obviously it happens very fast, so I didn't get to see all of it, so I've just got to look at the film and go forward."

Curiously, normally aggressive Bears head coach Matt Nagy went conservative leading up to Parkey's miss, running the ball three straight times for a total of 6 yards and leaving his kicker with a tough opportunity.

"We could do that all day long," said Nagy of his play-calling, clearly perturbed by the loss among other things. "You go ahead, you throw it, and then you're up here asking me why you took a sack. So, you could go all day long with that kind of stuff."

Multiple times it appears the Bears had this game won, and multiple times the defense couldn't protect a lead.

"We beat ourselves, especially on the defensive side of the ball," said safety Eddie Jackson, who had one of the missed tackles on Albert Wilson's 75-yard touchdown after a short catch that tied the game at 28-28, just 16 seconds after the Bears took a seemingly safe lead with 3:17 remaining. "This wasn't the Chicago Bears' style of defense we're used to playing."

After the Bears took a 21-13 lead midway through the third quarter, the defense allowed Wilson to take another short flip and weave through the secondary for a 43-yard touchdown. Safety Adrian Amos had a missed tackle on that big play.

"We have to make the tackles when they come up," Amos said. "I personally missed a couple that I usually make 100 percent of the time. Just have to look at the film and move forward to next week."

The Bears had been poised to extend that 21-13 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Trubisky was intercepted by safety T.J. McDonald in the end zone, when he threw into double coverage looking for tight end Ben Braunecker.

Asked what he saw on that play, Nagy's terse answer was: "I saw an interception, and that's what I saw. They played coverage there, and the kid made a good play, and that's that."

The Bears did not appear refreshed from their break during an ugly and sloppy first half with the heat index close to 100 at steamy Hard Rock Stadium.

Multiple offensive players took a knee during an injury timeout early in the second quarter, appearing already to be affected by the weather, but Nagy dismissed the heat and humidity as a factor. He did admit that the outcome of the game was draining.

"It's exhausting," Nagy said. "It's mentally draining for the guys because they try so hard. But someone has got to win and someone has got to lose, unless you have a tie. They fought hard, and our coaches, our players, everyone pretty much gave everything that they had."

But on a day when the defense didn't live up to its reputation, it wasn't enough.

• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.