Bears’ scramble falls short in 21-13 loss to Packers, virtually ending playoff hopes

The Bears dropped to 7-7 and are on the brink of mathematical elimination from the playoffs.

GREEN BAY, Wis. — In a reflection of their season, the Bears tried everything they could think of and charged hard at the end Sunday before falling 21-13 to the Packers at Lambeau Field.

The loss puts them on the edge of playoff elimination, which could come by the end of the day.

The Bears looked frozen in place as the Packers rolled up a 21-3 lead going into the fourth quarter. As desperation set in, they opened the fourth quarter with a field goal, and Mitch Trubisky got them within 21-13 on a gutsy, 67-yard touchdown drive.

Trubisky looked done as he slipped on a drop-back on third-and-15 at midfield, but he ducked and spun on a scramble for 8 yards, and the Bears picked up a first down on a Green Bay penalty. He closed it with an effortless 2-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller with 8:09 left.

Trubisky’s heroics ended there, despite the defense dominating with three highly efficient three-and-outs. With 6:40 left and a chance to tie the game, he threw an interception at the line of scrimmage to Packers defensive end Dean Lowry.

Trubisky walked to sideline in disbelief as left tackle Charles Leno tried to shake him out of it.

The defense bailed Trubisky out by forcing the Packers to punt despite them starting at the Bears’ 33-yard line thanks to a huge sack by linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski to drag them out of field-goal range.

But the best Trubisky and the offense could do with that opportunity was a heave from midfield on fourth down with 1:42 remaining. The Bears got the ball again with 51 seconds on the clock and made ran a wild trick play that reached the Green Bay 5 before the Packers wrestled the ball away.

At 7-7, the Bears were not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by their loss, but it’s a virtual certainty. A win by either the Rams or Vikings on Sunday would make it official. Even if those teams lose, the Bears would need an incredibly improbable sequence over the final two weeks to make it.

So this is how it ends. But what exactly ended?

It’s been such a long, dreary season that people forget how it all started. The Bears arrived in Bourbonnais talking Super Bowl and a dynasty as they settled into their dorms. Turns out that’s a lot easier to talk about than to do.

This team’s goal was never to sneak into the playoffs. That’s not what they sold you all offseason. Sure, it’d be an admirable achievement based on where they sat in October, but anything truly meaningful was already lost by then.

It’s like promising your kids a trip to Six Flags, then losing all track of time and hoping they’ll accept going to the merry-go-round at the mall as a reasonable substitute. Hey, it’s better than sitting home.

Meanwhile, general manager Ryan Pace was on the team-run radio pre-game show addressing the topic of whether Matt Nagy is actually doing a better job this season than when he went 12-4 and won Coach of the Year.

What are the chances Pace would get a question like that in an actual press conference?

“Anything in life, when adversity hits you, that’s when your leadership shines through,” he said. “Matt’s handled every single moment with class, passion and confidence. It all trickles down from him. I know I say this a lot, but we’re fortunate to have him as our head coach.”

That’s a lovely quote and certainly Nagy deserves credit for keeping the locker room intact, but it’s not as if everything that’s gone wrong for the Bears has happened to him as opposed to because of him. He has played his part in this.

Trubisky has looked better lately, but why did it take until December to turn him loose as a runner? And why all the regression in general after Nagy, a quarterback specialist, said all summer he was on track for a big season?

With the Bears on track for one of their weakest rushing seasons in the modern era, Nagy has four games with 18 or fewer attempts. Only five other teams can say that, and they’re all bad.

It’s natural, too, to look back at games that got away and wonder if a play or there would’ve changed it. The 17-16 home loss to the Chargers towers over them all, and Nagy completely mismanaged the final field-goal attempt.

As Nagy would say, though, it wasn’t just one thing.

And that’s where the Bears need to be realistic and admit to themselves that this team isn’t bits and pieces away from being a contender. Their defense remains one of the best in the league, but their offense is among the worst. It’ll take significant renovation to change that in 2020.