Bears nearly pull off miraculous comeback against Packers with crazy laterals on final play
The Chicago Bears know how to make losing exciting. With the team trailing by eight points with just one second left against the Green Bay Packers, the Bears did what any team would do: They drew up a crazy play dependent on laterals and hoped for the best.
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It almost worked, too. But the Bears fumbled it away with just a few yards to go.
The play started at the Packers’ 34-yard line. Just after the snap, Mitchell Trubisky hit running back Tarik Cohen with a 13-yard pass. Cohen rumbled up the field and pitched it back to Trubisky. After a 5-yard gain, Trubisky hit tight end Jesper Horsted with a lateral.
That’s when disaster struck. With the Bears just seven yards away from the score, Horsted fumbled while trying to make one more lateral. Packers cornerback Tramon Williams recovered the ball on the 7-yard line, ending the Bears’ comeback attempt. The Packers won the contest 21-13.
The loss all but eliminates the Bears from playoff contention. Chicago is still technically alive in the NFC at 7-7, but can be eliminated from the playoffs if either the Minnesota Vikings or Los Angeles Rams win in Week 15.
If that happens, it would end an incredibly disappointing season for the Bears and their fans. After winning the NFC North last season, Chicago entered 2019 with massive expectations. The offense was supposed to get better in Matt Nagy’s second year. Trubisky was expected to take a step forward and rookie David Montgomery was going to be the missing piece the team needed last season.
Neither of those things happened. Trubisky was inconsistent throughout the year, often looking worse than he did during 2018. Montgomery got a ton of praise in training camp, and then failed to live up to that hype in the regular season. For as much as Nagy was praised for his offense in Year 1, his worst play-calling tendencies emerged in Year 2.
The Packers, on the other hand, are flying high after the win. At 11-3, the team can clinch a playoff spot Sunday if the Rams lose to the Dallas Cowboys.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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