Bears lose to Cowboys, but they fought hard the whole game
No matter how dire the circumstances, no matter how deep the hole, no matter how horrendously they are playing, there is one undeniable fact about Matt Eberflus' Chicago Bears: They never quit.
We saw that in the season opener when they came back to beat the Niners. We saw it the next week when they frustrated Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay despite falling behind 24-7 at halftime.
We saw it against the Giants in Week 4 and again at Minnesota in Week 5 as the defense locked down and gave the offense chances down the stretch.
Sunday in Dallas looked to be a totally different story as the Cowboys scored on their first four possessions and jetted out to a 28-7 lead with 6:52 to go in the first half.
At that point, you're thinking 56-20, 52-14 or even 63-13 is in play.
But no.
The Bears displayed their moxie once again and made Dallas sweat by getting within 5 points early in the third quarter.
In the end, the uber-talented Cowboys (6-2) kept pounding away, took advantage of a David Montgomery fumble and walked off with a 49-29 victory.
Still, progress was made for a Bears (3-5) team that was without two starting offensive lineman and the just-traded Robert Quinn.
"No matter what the score is - it could be 50-0 - and we're still gonna go out there and play our hardest. We're not gonna give up," quarterback Justin Fields said on WBBM 780-AM. "We're gonna keep playing hard until the clock hits zero.
"I was definitely proud of the guys, the way they played (and) the way they fought. ... As an offense we responded well."
For sure they did, but the defense was MIA until Eddie Jackson picked off a Dak Prescott pass late in the first half.
"We've just got to do better on defense," said Eberflus, who watched Prescott complete 16 of his first 19 passes for 180 yards.
Offensively, the Bears shredded one of the league's best defenses, amassing a whopping 240 yards on the ground. Khalil Herbert (16 carries for 99 yards) ripped off a 36-yarder and scored a TD; Fields picked up 60 yards on 8 carries; and Montgomery churned out 53 yards on 15 attempts.
The Bears have now run for 200-plus yards in three straight games, the first time that's happened since 1968.
"We took another step in the right direction," Fields said.
Imagine how many steps they'd take if someone like Dallas' Cee Dee Lamb, Las Vegas' Davante Adams or Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase were running free in the secondary.
A scary thought, right? But that's for another day.
The only disappointing thing from Sunday was the on-field reaction to Micah Parsons' recovery of Montgomery's third-quarter fumble. Since Day 1, Eberflus has preached, "finish, finish finish." Play until you hear the whistle. Period.
Well, that's not what happened here.
Fields had a chance to touch Parsons down but instead leapt over the Dallas linebacker. Fields took the blame, saying: "Just got to be aware in that situation and tackle him."
After that, Teven Jenkins and Braxton Jones took terrible angles and missed a chance to stop Parsons. Wide receiver N'Keal Harry also pulled up and gave up on the play.
Seconds later, Parsons scored to give Dallas a 42-23 lead.
"We show that all the time in our situations tape on Fridays," Eberflus said. "We talk about it - got (to touch) guys down. ... We can help coach that on the sideline (too). That was on our sideline. ... But the guys know that and we've got to get that done."
It was a rough moment, but one Eberflus figures to correct going forward.
Now comes a pivotal part of the Bears' schedule: home dates against Miami (5-3) and Detroit (1-6), then winnable road games against Atlanta (4-4) and the Jets (5-3).
If the defense improves and the offense keeps taking strides, the Bears could easily win three of those games. That would set up an interesting home contest against the reeling Packers on Dec. 4.
And who would have predicted that just 10 days ago?
"I think that the guys are starting to really gel," Eberflus said. "We've implemented some things that are enhancing the skill levels of our players. It's starting to open up some things for us."