The Bears somehow found a way to reach a new low Sunday. Again.
After leading by 21 with 15 seconds to play in the third quarter, the Bears watched the winless Broncos score 24 straight points to win, 31-28, at Soldier Field. The loss was the Bears’ 14th in a row, a franchise record.
The Bears have never in their history blown a lead larger than 21 points.
They are now one of two winless teams left in the NFL, with a game at Washington looming Thursday. The Broncos had allowed 70 points a week earlier.
Quarterback Justin Fields, who had posted the best passing stats of his NFL career, threw an interception to Broncos safety Kareem Jackson with 37 seconds to play to seal the loss. Despite his gaudy numbers — Fields threw for career highs of four touchdowns, 335 yards and a 132.7 passer rating against the league’s worst defense — his fumble helped the hapless Broncos rally back.
In a tied game, the Bears went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Broncos’ 18 with 2:57 to play. Fields took a shotgun snap and handed off to Khalil Herbert, who was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. The Broncos wasted no time, as Russell Wilson threw down the right sideline to Marvin Mims for a 48-yard completion on first down.
With 7:05 to play and the ball at the Broncos 48, Fields was hit and fumbled the ball backward, where it was scooped by Jonathan Cooper at the Bears’ 35. He ran all the way in for a touchdown to tie the game.
The Bears’ defense allowed three-straight touchdowns — a 4-yard catch by Brandon Johnson followed by a 13-yard Courtland Sutton catch five minutes later.
The Bears led the Broncos 21-7 at halftime behind Fields’ perfect 158.3 passer rating. Until he threw an incompletion on a Hail Mary as the clock expired. Fields has completed all 16 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns.
A 51-yard Wil Lutz field goal with 1:51 gave the Broncos a three-point lead. Fields converted a third down with a 14-yard pass to DJ Moore with about a minute to play. He was then whistled for intentional grounding when trying to throw the ball away while falling to the ground, forcing the Bears to use their final timeout. He threw an 8-yard pass to Cole Kmet on second-and-21, and the tight end got out of bounds. On third down, though, he was picked by Jackson when looking deep down the field for Kmet.
