When zooming out on the Chicago Bears’ 2024 season, people will have plenty of reasons to list for why things went so wrong. One was choosing to retain head coach Matt Eberflus despite clear red flags from the previous year. Another was Hiring Shane Waldron as the new offensive coordinator over other options. Not investing more resources in the offensive line was right near the top as well. However, wide receiver DJ Moore had a different perspective.
While many believe the Bears have been exposed as pretenders, in reality, it came down to two key events. He revealed what they are on 670 The Score with Mully & Haugh.
“It comes down to us having that early bye week and then going to Washington and losing like we did. It was just a trickle-down effect.”
Many haven’t talked about this. The Bears’ bye week arrived in week seven after they reached 4-2 with a win in London over the Jaguars. Momentum was clearly on their side. It appears some inside the building, including Moore, feel that break may have cooled them off at the worst possible time. For it to be immediately followed by the Hail Mary disaster in Washington? It appears all the wind was taken out of their sails.
There have been several instances where a team started strong, only for a brutal moment in a loss to completely mess with their psyche. A great example is the 1986 Raiders. They’d battled back from a 0-3 start to reach 8-4. Then, as they were driving towards a winning score in overtime, Marcus Allen fumbled. Philadelphia recovered and scored the winning touchdown shortly after. L.A. lost their final three games after that to finish 8-8, admitting later how that fumble completely broke their spirits.
It feels like the Hail Mary was that moment for the Bears, and one can understand why. They had the game in hand after Caleb Williams had just led a go-ahead touchdown. Just 25 seconds stood between them at 5-2. Then, a baffling series of defensive calls followed by a knucklehead moment from Tyrique Stevenson ruined everything. While DJ Moore and others didn’t admit it right away, there were clear indications everybody in the locker room never got over that loss.
