The expectation for Sunday’s game between the Bears and Ravens was for Baltimore to prevail, and there weren’t many that would argue against it.
But that changed when Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was inactive as he battled an illness, which made way for Tyler Huntley to make his first NFL start.
Suddenly, the Bears were dealt a huge break and a game that was once considered a difficult win became easier. Until kickoff.
While things were ugly early for the Bears, the same was true for the Ravens, and Chicago’s defense was able to feast. Bears outside linebacker Robert Quinn dominated in Sunday’s loss to the Ravens, where he had a career-high 3.5 sacks, 5 tackles, including 3 for a loss, and 4 QB hits.
With that kind of defensive effort, coupled with Roquan Smith’s impressive outing and Andy Dalton’s two touchdowns off the bench, you’d figure the Bears would’ve found a way to win the game despite some ugliness along the way.
But that wasn’t the case.
Even after quarterback Dalton threw what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown to receiver Marquise Goodwin, the Bears defense couldn’t hang on and allowed the Ravens to boot the game-winning field goal in a 16-13 loss for Chicago.
Quinn called the loss “sickening” and “a punch to the gut,” which appeared to be written all over Quinn’s face as described by one Bears beat writer.
Robert Quinn on the loss: "Sickening. I'll just put it that way. A punch to the gut."
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) November 21, 2021
The Bears have now dropped to 3-7 after their fifth consecutive loss of the season, the second year in a row that Chicago has lost five straight. And even with the Lions on the horizon, there’s a chance the Bears could hand Detroit their first win of the season on Thanksgiving, especially if this continues.
Perhaps losing six straight games — including to the winless Lions on Thanksgiving — for the second consecutive season would be enough to end the Matt Nagy era once and for all.
