Andy Dalton throws against the Cardinals on Sunday. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Andy Dalton’s first interception — only three plays into Sunday’s game into a joyless exercise. His second one, thrown later in the first quarter, sealed the game.
Andy Dalton’s first interception — only three plays into Sunday’s 33-22 loss to the Cardinals — turned the game into a joyless exercise. His second one, thrown later in the first quarter, sealed the game.
Cruelly, there were two-and-a-half hours of football left to play. Those sitting in the freezing rain at Soldier Field had to know that. Those that didn’t leave at halftime certainly started walking out before Dalton’s fourth interception set up another Cardinals score halfway through the fourth quarter.
Unlike the Bears’ last home game, there was no overwhelming chorus of chants calling for coach Matt Nagy’s job. By the final gun, maybe one out of every 10 fans that walked into Soldier Field for the opening kickoff was still in their seats.
The soggy, angry Bears fans have entered the apathy phase. That’s the bad news.
Now the worse news: there’s nothing to be apathetic about next week, when the Bears have a real chance to lose to the rival Packers in prime time by 30 points.
Whether Dalton will be the quarterback then is immaterial. His performance Sunday didn’t matter — not in the big picture, at least. He’s got five games left on his Bears contract, and was left to throw to returners Jakeem Grant, Damiere Byrd and Rodney Adams, among others.
What does matter is whether the Bears can assemble a game plan to not get embarrassed next time. Sunday’s approach amounted to trying to win a rugby scrum in the rain, leaning on short passes and handoffs to the tireless David Montgomery.
Trailing by 14 early, though, made that task impossible. On third-and-6 78 seconds into the game, Dalton threw a crossing pattern pass too high for the Lilliputian Grant. Primarily a return man, Grant batted the ball into the air — and into the arms of safety Jalen Thompson.
Three minutes later, the Bears were down seven.
With about four minutes left in the first quarter, tight end Cole Kmet ran a route, turned and appeared to catch the ball — only to fumble the ball into the air as he fell to the ground. Star safety Budda Baker — whom the Cardinals drafted in 2017 with a draft pick the Bears traded them — plucked the ball out of the air and returned it 77 yards. About two minutes later, the Bears were down 14.
Excitement was hard to find the rest of the way. In the third quarter, Dalton lined up at receiver, caught a lateral, ducked a tackle and threw a 34-yard completion to Grant in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, a roughing the kicker penalty gave the Bears the ball back — and Dalton threw an interception on the next play.
All along, the Cardinals offense made scoring seem so easy — and the Bears made it seem like the study of quantum physics.Their three touchdown drives came on 12, 13 and 13 plays, the Cardinals content to make Dalton scratch out three yards at a time.
He finished with four interceptions, completing 26-of-41 passes for 229 yards and two interceptions for a 54.9 passer rating.
