It's more than halfway over!
The Bears were pretty good for nearly a half. Is that anything?



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The Bears were back in their element this week, playing at noon, with a fourth tier broadcast team, where they can mostly shield their incompetence from the rest of the nation.
But it started really well. As is his new custom, Bears’ pre-interim head coach1 Matt Eberflus won the toss and took the ball.
I’m all for that. The only teams that should defer when they win the toss are:
a) the ones with a dominant defense (not the Bears) who feel like they’ll force a punt on the opposition’s first possession and then get better field position for theirs (not the Bears) plus the bonus of getting the ball first to start the second half, and
b) Teams with good offenses (not the Bears) who think they can take advantage of it by scoring to end the first half and then to start the second (again, not the Bears).
It was the third start for our hero, Tyson Bagent, and he took the Bears right down the field scoring on nine plays over 75 yards in just 3:35, and capping it off with an 18 yard TD pass on which Cole Kmet made a beautiful catch. I know, I couldn’t believe it either.
The defense forced a punt and Bagent had the Bears moving again.
Hey, this shit’s easy!
CBS analyst Matt Ryan had lauded Bagent’s TD pass, and then on the replay Tiki Barber said it was “ill advised” because Kmet had to literally steal the ball from the defender.
Screw you, Tiki. What do you know?
And then on the second possession we found out. Bagent forced a pass somewhere near DJ Moore that would only have not been intercepted if the FOUR Saints surrounding DJ had knocked the ball away from each other. They didn’t.
Oh, so maybe that’s what Tiki meant.
The Saints turned that into a Derek Carr TD pass to Chris Olave to tie the game.
Bagent was undeterred by his awful interception and he had the Bears on the march again. In just four plays the Bears were deep in Saints territory. On third and two Lucas Patrick was penalized for holding (he’s fucking terrible) and so the Bears had to kick a field go…, wait, no.
Saints coach Dennis Allen decided he’d rather put the Bears in third and 12 at the 21 than fourth and two at the 11. Has he ever seen their short yardage offense? And Tyson made them pay, eventually.
He scrambled and turned up the sidelines and dove for the first down marker. The initial spot was awful, and two yards short, but then the refs conferred and moved the ball up two yards, but even though it looked like a first down they said it was short. So The Flus had to challenge. And challenged spots never work, so Cairo Santos trotted out onto the field so that when the call was upheld he could give the Bears a 10-7 lead. But what do you know? They Bears WON the challenge and got a first down. On the next play Bagent threw another touchdown pass to Cole Kmet to put the Bears up 14-7!
And then, just like in the Super Bowl a few years ago, the Superdome lost power and the rest of the game was cancelled.
Hey, great game. The Bears are now 3-6 and hosting the hapless Panthers on Thursday night, and…what?
Oh, the power didn’t go out?
Well, that’s a shame.