Chicago Bears WR Darnell Mooney on Hail Mary that wasn’t: ‘Just a difficult catch, it didn’t work out’

CLEVELAND – For an instant, Darnell Mooney had the football in his hands. Then it was momentarily nestled on his stomach. Then it was in the air again, escaping his grasp, bouncing off his foot and landing in the arms of Cleveland Browns cornerback D’Anthony Bell.

The Bears were oh so close to beating the Browns on a last-second Hail Mary on Sunday. Mooney had the ball, right there in his hands.

“The only thing I felt was when I’m falling and I tipped it up and then I thought I was able to grab it, and then I hit the ground,” Mooney said. “Just a difficult catch, it didn’t work out.”

Mooney already was falling down, his momentum carrying him backward, when the ball came his way. It would’ve been a miraculous catch. Instead, the Browns won, 20-17, erasing a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit.

After back-to-back wins, the Bears are back to that all-too-familiar feeling. They blew another fourth-quarter lead. The defense played fantastic football for three and a half quarters, creating three takeaways [including a touchdown].

There was a lot on the line, too. The Bears were playing for their playoff lives. They aren’t technically eliminated yet, but the odds now are about as slim as they can get. With the loss, the Bears dropped to 5-9 on the season.

“It comes down to the fundamentals, when you watch the tape and look at it,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “And it’ll be about playmaking. We’ve got to make plays down the stretch. That’s what it’s always going to be about. Last week, we had fundamentals and we finished down the stretch.”

It comes down to the fundamentals, when you watch the tape and look at it, and it’ll be about playmaking. We’ve got to make plays down the stretch.”

—  Matt Eberflus, Bears head coach

The feel-good vibes created by last week’s thrashing of the Detroit Lions are gone. Quarterback Justin Fields and the offense struggled all afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Fields completed 19-of-40 passes for 166 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions (which came on Hail Marys at the end of each half).

The Bears’ only touchdown drive of the game went for a grand total of one yard after safety Eddie Jackson returned an interception to the 1-yard line. The other touchdown came on a 45-yard Tremaine Edmunds interception return.

The defense, which had four sacks in addition to the three interceptions, fell apart in the final minutes. Browns receiver Amari Cooper broke free for a 51-yard touchdown to tie the game, 17-17, with three minutes to go. Then a failed blitz and defensive breakdown allowed tight end David Njoku to pull the Browns within field goal range to take the lead.

That left the Bears with the ball, 75 yards from the end zone, and only 32 seconds to try and tie or win the game.

Rookie receiver Tyler Scott dropped a pass on first down, but knew he could make up for it. Fields threw his direction on the following play, and Scott broke free for a 30-yard gain as he tiptoed the sideline.

“[I] turned around and saw a lot of open field,” Scott said. “I knew they were going to expect me to go out of bounds, knowing we had no timeouts. So I think it was [cornerback Denzel] Ward, he kind of just stepped out of bounds to maybe force me to go back in and he kind of did it passively. I knew my momentum was either going to have them push me out or keep me going downfield and that ended up happening.”

That brought the Bears to the Cleveland 45-yard line. Fields’ next two pass attempts fell incomplete. With the ball still outside field goal range, the Hail Mary was their only option.

Fields rolled out to his left and unleashed a bomb of a pass. He couldn’t quite see what was happening, but he heard the emotions on the Bears’ sideline.

For a moment, there was a burst of excitement – then it stopped dead in its tracks.

“It’s unfortunate,” Mooney said. “It shouldn’t have to come down to those things. Just throw the ball up in the air. It’s an unfortunate thing that I wasn’t able to hold onto it.”