CHICAGO – It’s difficult to say what was more frustrating for the Bears Sunday at Soldier Field, not moving the ball in the first half or giving it away with alarmingly regularity in the second.
Either way, the offense’s inept performance was most responsible for a frustrating 17-14 defeat to the Washington Redskins that sent the Bears (4-3) reeling into their bye week having lost two straight games and three of four since a promising 3-0 start.
Leading 14-10 at halftime, the Bears turned the ball over on their first five possessions of the second half and on six of their seven total drives in the final two quarters. Jay Cutler threw four interceptions and lost a fumble at the goal-line, and Matt Forte also lost a fumble after an 11-yard reception.
“You can’t turn the ball over that many times,” said coach Lovie Smith. “It’s kind of as simple as that.”
Cutler entered the game with just three interceptions in five starts this season. But he was picked off four times—all by cornerback DeAngelo Hall—in a span of 21 minutes 16 seconds in the second half. Hall became the first player in NFL history to intercept four passes in a game against the Bears.
“When you have that many turnovers, of course there is a problem,” Smith said. “I can’t say [who was at fault]. I know Jay was trying to win the football game as much as anyone out there.”
Cutler accepted blame for all four interceptions, even though receiver Johnny Knox appeared to cut off his route on a slant pattern on one of the picks. On another, Hall snatched a jump ball away from Knox with one hand and raced 92 yards for the go-ahead TD late in the third quarter.
“I’ll take them all,” Cutler said. “Obviously, it’s very discouraging right now. We let a game get away from us. The defense has every right to be mad at us. We blew that game offensively, and most of that falls on my shoulders.”
The defense had given the Bears a 7-0 lead as D.J. Moore returned a Donovan McNabb interception 54 yards for a TD midway through the first quarter. Moore blitzed on the play, but McNabb slipped out of his grasp. The veteran quarterback’s pass was then deflected into the air by Israel Idonije and caught by Moore, who dashed untouched into the end zone for his first NFL touchdown.
The Redskins rallied, however, to take a 10-7 lead on McNabb’s 24-yard TD pass to Santana Moss and Graham Gano’s 46-yard field goal.
The Bears offense, meanwhile, was stuck in neutral early, mustering just 25 yards and one first down on 19 plays on its first six possessions of the game, five of which were three-and-outs.
The unit finally awoke from its slumber late in the second quarter, producing a seven-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. Cutler completed 7 of 7 passes for 59 yards including a nine-yard TD to Knox in the left corner of the end zone, giving the Bears a 14-10 lead with :24 left in the half.
After completing a 48-yard pass to Earl Bennett to the Washington 1 on the first possession of the third quarter, Cutler lost a fumble on the next play when he tried to reach the ball over the goal line on a quarterback sneak.
“I extended the ball forward, then Albert [Haynesworth] was in there and pushed me back,” said Cutler, who completed 26 of 40 passes for 281 yards and a 54.3 passer rating. “I started to go backwards. The middle linebacker [London Fletcher] came flying over the top and knocked it out. I felt like I was going backwards.”
It appeared the Bears had extended their lead three plays later when Moore returned a second McNabb interception for a TD, this time an eight-yarder. But an official had blown the play dead before the snap because the play clock had expired—a Redskins penalty that ended up hurting the Bears.
“Everyone was excited,” Moore said, “but I saw the flag.”
It was that type of day for the Bears, who will now attempt to regroup during their bye week before traveling to Toronto to face the winless Buffalo Bills (0-6) on Nov. 7.
"Offensively, we need to make some steps," said Cutler, who was sacked four times in Sunday's loss. "We need to keep going. It's very devastating right now, very disappointing.
"There are some [good] things that happened out there that we haven't done in the past. We hit some throws, we hit some runs, we hit some stuff that the details of this offense have been lacking in the past, which is a good thing.
"Then we go back and we have four picks and a couple fumbles, and that's the difference in the ballgame. That can't happen. The defense has just got to keep doing what they're doing. They're the reason we have four wins. The offense has got to get up to their level."
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