Game Recap: Sloppy play looms large in Bears' loss to Ravens

Tommy Gilligan - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 3 hours ago

BALTIMORE - There is no such thing as an easy game in the NFL, and the Chicago Bears (4-3) found that out first hand on Sunday when they took on the Baltimore Ravens (2-5). Entering the game riding a four-game winning streak, the Bears had an opportunity to remain within striking distance in the NFC North, as a fifth straight win would boost this team's confidence.

Throw in a struggling Ravens team, who was once again without Lamar Jackson, and things were aligning for the Bears to keep their success rolling as they looked to secure another win. As is the case more often than not, all good things must come to an end, as a lot of the Bears' past issues came full circle in this one, resulting in a 30-16 loss to the Ravens.

A big reason for this loss is the team's struggles in the Red Zone: the Bears went from one of the best in the Red Zone to begin the season to one of the worst over the past three weeks. Even with Rome Odunze coming out strong to open the game with three catches on the Bears' opening possession and four catches in the first quarter, Chicago was unable to find the endzone as it settled for a pair of Cairo Santos field goals to take a 6-0 lead.

Odunze had the hot hand most of the game, as he led all receivers with 114 yards receiving on seven catches to help jumpstart a struggling Bears passing game. With the Ravens' defense doing a great job of bending, but not breaking, early on, it was only a matter of time before their offense settled in, and you started to see that on their second possession of the game.

While Derrick Henry started things off with a couple of strong runs, it was the arm of Tyler Huntley that made the big play as he found Zay Flowers for a massive first down to move the ball into Chicago territory. That combo was just getting warmed up as Huntley hooked up with Rashaad Bateman for another first down before Henry capped off the drive with a historic touchdown run to put the Ravens on top for good, 7-6.

With that touchdown, Henry surpassed the Great Walter Payton for fifth all-time on the NFL rushing touchdown list as he notched his 111th career rushing touchdown. From that moment on, it was all Baltimore for the remainder of the first half as the Chicago offense held to under 50 yards after their first two possessions, while a late half field goal gave the Ravens a 10-6 lead. Chicago had a chance to pull closer as time expired, but Santos 57 57-yarder wound up just short as the Bears were down four at the half.

As if the Bears' finish to the first half wasn't bad enough, it was the passing game of the Ravens coming out strong to begin the second half as Huntley delivered a 36-yard strike to Bateman to push the ball into Chicago territory. From that point on, the Bears' defense did a great job of slowing down the Ravens' offense, but the damage was done by that big play, which led to another field goal and made it 13-6.

With the offense continuing to struggle after another three-and-out, the pressure was back on the Bears' defense, as it would come down to that side of the ball to keep them in this game. Unlike the previous scoring drives, where it was the passing game that set things up, this time it was the ground game as Keaton Mitchell ripped off 25 of his 43 yards on one carry, putting Chicago on their heels yet again.

Another massive run from Huntley moved the ball inside the Bears' 20, but once again, it was the Chicago defense coming through when they needed to most, holding Baltimore to another field goal as the Ravens extended their lead to 16-6. In desperate need of some offense, the rushing game finally started to get going after doing next to nothing through three quarters.

Entering the fourth with 28 yards on the ground, D'Andre Swift began to take over as he picked up 18 yards on two carries to begin the drive, including a 15-yard first-down scamper. Swift was just getting started as he hauled in a clutch 25-yard reception on third down to move the ball inside the Ravens' five.

That came after Odunze picked up a 27-yard strike earlier on the drive to keep things going as Swift muscled his way into the endzone a few players later to pull the Bears to within 16-13. This is when the game completely flipped on its head, as the Bears' defense forced a quick three-and-out from the Ravens' offense and, once again, put the ball into the hands of Williams and the offense.

Two plays later, it was the Ravens' turn to make a play on defense as Nate Wiggins jumped Odunze on a crossing route over the middle, resulting in a huge interception by Williams to set the Ravens offense up inside the 10. Two plays later, this was a 23-13 game as Huntley connected with Charlie Kolar for his first touchdown pass of the season, seemingly putting the game out of reach.

Not about to go down without a fight, the Bears were still in a great position to make things interesting, as this was going to come down to Williams and his arm to lead the Bears back. Six completions later, including a pair of first-down strikes to DJ Moore and Coleston Loveland, saw the Bears inching closer to the Ravens' Red Zone, only to have a series of incompletions kill the drive as Santos banged home his third field goal of the day to pull Chicago within 23-16.

In need of one more stop to give the offense another shot, Chicago was in the perfect position to do that, only to have DeAndre Hopkins come through with a massive 14-yard reception on third down for his only catch of the game. What looked like a great catch at first glance appeared to be offensive pass interference, as the Ravens may have gotten away with a call.

It only got worse from there for Chicago, with Mitchell getting outside for another 13-yard first down to keep the chains moving, with Henry finishing things off for his second touchdown of the day to push the Ravens' lead to 30-16. Chicago did come close to picking up a late-game score with Williams connecting for 62 of his 285 yards passing on the Bears' next possession, with 42 of those yards coming on an impressive one-handed catch from Moore, as he finished the day with 73 yards on four catches.

That is where the drive stalled out as the Bears had four chances to punch the ball in, only to come away empty-handed for a turnover on downs as the Ravens put an end to the Bears' winning streak with a 30-16 victory.

As tough as things have been for Williams the past few weeks, he did show signs of life in this one, but there are still several missed opportunities that he would love to have back. Chicago also saw both their rushing attack and defense take significant steps back this week as the Ravens looked like the Ravens of old in this one.