Vibe Check: Stunned Bears try to bring perspective to shocking loss to Commanders
LANDOVER, Md. – The Bears locker room was completely silent as media funneled into it following an 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders.
That was as fitting as it was predictable.
RELATED CONTENT:
- What Jaylon Johnson, Bears defenders said about decisive Hail Mary
- Instant analysis: Evaluating Bears performance in a loss to Washington Commanders
After losing on a last-second Hail Mary, there was some shock and awe about what just happened. The Bears squandered a go-ahead touchdown scored with 25 seconds remaining. They gave up two receptions to give Jayden Daniels a chance to heave it downfield, then broke down from an executions standpoint on a low-percentage that should always fall incomplete.
It didn’t. Noah Brown caught it in the end zone to complete a dramatic finish.
The Bears were somewhat stunned by the turn of events which dropped them to 4-3 and into last place in the NFC North.
“That was a hard loss,” defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker said, “probably the worst of my career.”
That sentiment was shared, in varying degrees, by many. Some were down about it. Jaylon Johnson was “pissed off.”
It was a first for Kevin Byard III, who’s in his ninth NFL season.
“I’ve never lost in that type of fashion,” he said.
It was stunning to many, but the Bears didn’t think it would take long to get over the loss.
“If anything, it just makes you want to get back out there,” Bears safety Elijah Hicks said. “I’ve already been talking to guys who can’t wait to put this feeling on somebody else.”
T.J. Edwards had extreme confidence one loss, even one like this, wouldn’t impact another game.
“I don’t think we have that group at all,” the linebacker said. “It’s so easy, especially where we’re at, to point fingers. That was a long game. They won on a Hail Mary, but there are so many other plays we have to learn from.
“We have such great leaders that we’ll find a way to get better from the tape and move on with a hunger and urgency to go get this next one.”
They’ll be leaning on leadership during the week. A loss like this is not something you get over but it’s something you get past. It was such a freak way to lose that it won’t destroy confidence of a team that is playing well and knows it must be better.
“A Hail Mary is a Hail Mary. It’s a prayer, you’re tossing up a prayer,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “I think, to get obsessed with that, with where we are right now, is probably a little immature and it’s important that we come back (Monday) and throughout the next week and look at the positives, look at the negatives for us offensively, how we started slow and get those things corrected. But to obsess over the result of what happened is a little immature.
“…It was a Hail Mary. It is what it is. The ball literally just fell their way today.”