The Chicago Bears were hoping to go into the locker room at halftime of their Week 9 game vs. the Arizona Cardinals with a 14-9 deficit, hoping they could find their stride and reverse their deficit in the final 30 minutes. But just before halftime, when it appeared the Cardinals were content to run out the clock, they gave up a brutal 53-yard TD run with just four seconds left on the clock.
That play allowed the Cardinals to turn a 5-point lead into a 12-point margin. It drained much of the energy and momentum the Bears hoped to retain, and Chicago ended up dropping a 29-9 decision to the Cardinals in the desert.
The end-of-half touchdown came on the heels of last week's brutal 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders. In that game, the Bears gave up a Hail Mary touchdown on the final play of the game. It appeared that the Bears were ill-prepared for that play and they also did not seem to understand how to defend the scoring run by Ennis DeMercado.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus has been under fire for the loss to the Commanders, and he said he had his defense in the wrong formation for the DeMarco run. He admitted to CBS sideline reporter Evan Washburn that he thought the Cardinals would throw a pass on that play.
“I called a pass pressure and that’s on me, I gotta do a better job there,” he said.
Bears unable to respond in the second half
Chicago had little response in the second half and the Bears suffered a 29-9 defeat. The loss dropped the Bears' record to 4-4 and they are in last place in the highly competitive NFC North.
Eberflus and his team appeared to be going in the right direction during a three-game winning streak that included victories over the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars.
The winning streak would have reached four games if they had not given up the Hail Mary touchdown to the Commanders.
The Bears had been hoping they could turn things back in their favor against the Cardinals, but Arizona was able to dictate the pace of the game by scoring touchdowns when the Bears had to settle for field goals. Trey Benson's 1-yard touchdown run with 3:14 remaining gave the Cardinals a 14-6 lead, but the Bears cut into the lead with a Cairo Santos 53-yard field goal.
That appeared to give the Bears some momentum, but the Demercado touchdown drained much of the life from the Bears. They were outscored 8-0 in the second half and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams was under pressure from the Arizona defense throughout. He was sacked 6 times for 45 yards in losses throughout the game.
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