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Bears News

Bears’ Colston Loveland, Darnell Wright analyze explosive play from Week 10 win

2 months agoNicholas Moreano

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — In the Chicago Bears’ 24-20 win over the New York Giants last Sunday at Soldier Field, Colston Loveland‘s 20-yard reception on third-and-10 with 5:29 left in the fourth quarter created plenty of reasons for Bears fans to be excited.

It started with Darnell Wright stopping Brian Burns, the NFL’s leading sack rusher, with one arm and throwing him into the Soldier Field grass.

Caleb Williams then avoided edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux off his blind side. Williams rolled left, looked downfield, and fired a ball in between the left hashes and numbers to his rookie tight end. The pass was slightly behind the 6-foot-6, 240-pound pass catcher, but he extended his arms to make the reception.

Four plays after the explosive reception, the Bears scored a much-needed touchdown with Rome Odunze‘s 2-yard catch in the middle of the end zone to make it a 20-17 game with 3:56 left in the game. The Bears forced a three-and-out on their next defensive possession, and Williams scored the game-deciding touchdown with his 17-yard run.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson shared his thoughts on what he saw from Wright and Loveland on that key play in the fourth quarter.

“So on that particular play, it’s just a great instance of how strong he (Wright) is as an individual,” Johnson said. “He caught Burns in a spin and was able to capitalize on it, so that was great. And then Colston, you talk about a heater coming at him, Caleb running to his left and absolutely flings that ball and Colston was able to haul it in. It’s a huge play in the moment, and certainly one that we needed to keep that drive going.”

As Johnson said, it was a “huge play in the moment.” To get a better perspective on how the Bears executed that third-down reception, watch Loveland and Wright provide their expert analysis on the play in this week’s film breakdown.

“At the end of the day, I think it’s just find space, get in phase with your quarterback, make sure he can deliver you a friendly ball, come back friendly if you got someone near you,” Loveland said. “But really, shout-out to Caleb for seeing it.”

Loveland ended the game with four receptions on four targets for 55 yards. In the last two games, Loveland has 10 catches for 173 yards and two touchdowns.

Wright broke down his matchup with Burns and how he executed his one-handed block against the Giants’ pass rusher.

Although Wright won his rep against Burns on this specific play, the Bears’ left tackle wasn’t too pleased with his overall performance.

“When I was watching, I don’t think I played well this game,” Wright said. “In my personal, up to my standards of how I want to play. I think one positive I did have in the game, a lot of times when it gets, when I have a few bad reps in a game or something, I can either go like one or two ways. Usually, I start like getting into my head, thinking about this, thinking like that spin move probably would have got me again, but I think I did a good job of rallying in the fourth quarter, and I think my best plays were in the fourth quarter. So that is something that I have definitely improved on, so I’m happy about that, but other than that, I don’t think I played up to what I think is my standard.”