That thump, thump, thump you were hearing Sunday afternoon was a heartbeat, something that had been missing and presumed dead for weeks. The Bears were getting the better of the hated Packers and, more importantly, appeared to be in the process of solving some of the serious problems that had led to a three-game losing streak.
Then a thud.
That was the sound of a football hitting the hand of Packers defensive tackle Karl Brooks, who blocked what was supposed to be Cairo Santos’ 46-yard, game-winning field goal with no time left on the clock. And that was the sound of coach Matt Eberflus’ told-you-so moment being snuffed out.
From a racing heartbeat to heartbreak in a split second. The Packers danced around like children on the Soldier Field grass after the 20-19 victory. They’re used to beating the Bears, just not so abruptly, so you can understand the delirium.
How many different ways can the Packers insult the Bears? After Sunday’s ending, you’d have to say everything is on the table going forward.
How about a seance that scares up the ghost of Bart Starr, who leads the Packers to a last-gasp touchdown next season? Sounds reasonable.
How about a ball that deflects off four defenders into the waiting hands of a Packer just released from the hospital after double knee-replacement surgery? I don’t see why not.
A blocked field-goal attempt as the clock breathes its last is just the latest pin in the voodoo doll.
“That’s crazy stuff,’’ Bears running back D’Andre Swift said.
He’s new around here.
“It’s football,’’ Santos said. “There was another team trying to beat us.’’
Not to belabor the point, but it wasn’t just another team. It was the team.
Life is cruel when you’re playing the franchise from north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border. The Packers have won 11 straight games in this “rivalry’’ since Matt LaFleur became their coach. Since 2009, the Bears are 4-28 against Green Bay. It’s not a rivalry if the other side treats you like something that can be flossed out of its teeth.
Wasted was a very good performance by Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and freshly minted offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, in his first game in place of the jettisoned Shane Waldron. Williams did a much better job of getting rid of the ball quickly Sunday. He made some pinpoint throws, too, especially during a three-play stretch on the final drive. The first, on third-and-19 from his own 21-yard-line, saw Williams avoid pressure and find fellow rookie Rome Odunze for a 16-yard gain, keeping hope alive. It was a beautiful reminder of just how dynamic the kid is and can be.
When nothing was there Sunday, he took off, picking up 70 yards on nine carries. That had been missing under Waldron’s guidance.
“I saw a few lanes,’’ Williams said.
That would suggest blocking by the offensive line. So would three sacks, a significant improvement from the nine times he was sacked the week before.
Even with all the positives, it’s fair to ask if Sunday’s performance by the Bears was an indictment of Eberflus for not doing something about the offensive’s poor play much earlier. Williams had been holding onto the ball too long well before the three-game losing streak that cost Waldron his job. Question: It took Brown getting the OC job for someone to realize that having the speedy quarterback run the ball more was a good idea? Answer: Really?
“You lose a game like this, it’s a bad taste, but there’s also some good things,’’ Eberflus said, sounding very much like a guy hoping to convince the governor to give him a reprieve.
There were good things, but they were heavily outshadowed by a 296-pound defensive lineman crashing through two Bears to get to Santos’ kick.
In the days before and after he canned Waldron, Eberflus insisted that the answers to whatever was ailing his team were already in the locker room and in the coaches’ room. He wasn’t listening to the “noise and the critics,’’ he said, as if that, and not the awful football, were the root of the Bears’ issues.
He was at it again Sunday.
“Tough times don’t last, but tough people do,’’ he said, digging up one of the oldest cliches known to coaches.
On any other day, with any other team, I’d guarantee that a man with a 14-30 career record was not going to last much longer in his job. But, you know: The Bears.