The Chicago Bears offense had a rough outing against the Cleveland Browns, where they totaled just 10 points, had eight three-and-outs and couldn’t find a rhythm.
The Bears did score 10 of their 17 points in the third quarter — but it wasn’t all because of the offense. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds intercepted Browns quarterback Joe Flacco and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown to give Chicago a 14-7 lead.
On the offense’s only points of the third quarter, they drove 47 yards on nine plays only to stall on the Cleveland 23-yard line and settled for a Cairo Santos field goal.
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney admitted after the game that he didn’t like how the offense got “too comfortable” after the team jumped out to a 17-7 lead.
“I didn’t like how we felt comfortable in the third quarter,” Mooney said, via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “Just lackadaisical and just conservative. Everybody just happy that we were winning and just got to be aggressive and continue to put their foot on the pedal and just go out there and punch ‘em. Can’t get too comfortable in the third quarter. That’s what kind of bit us. Tried to switch gears in the fourth quarter once they scored. It’s hard to do that.”
Wide receiver DJ Moore agreed.
“I mean, yeah, it was kind of a lull in the third quarter,” Moore said, via Cronin. “We didn’t really have no explosive plays. I don’t even think we had more than four first downs. It was like a little lull and we can’t be like that going against a defense like that.”
After the Bears jumped out to that 17-7 lead, the Browns scored 10 unanswered points en route to their comeback victory. It was the third time this season that Chicago has blown a 10-plus point lead in the fourth quarter.
While the offense surely has confidence in their defense, which has been a dominant force in the past few weeks, there’s no excuse for them to let off the pedal against a team with a playoff spot on the line.
And, when you do, good teams tend to take advantage of that complacency.