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It was a brief moment of confusion, disorder, unusual slamming on the part of the Bears defense. Late in Sunday's game against Hard Rock Stadium, Dolphin receiver Albert Wilson took the simplest route: out of the slot and win 4 yards at half speed. Wilson stopped to the left of the line of 29 dolphins and turned around.
Quarterback Brock Osweiler made the simplest throw, dragging himself in the pocket and yielding to Wilson as a cautious hangman as a cautious father playing ball in the backyard with his 5-year-old son. That should not have been the game that ultimately defined the Bears' overwhelming defeat 31-28 in overtime, the inexplicable failure that ended a series of hope-filled victories.
But that was. A touchdown of 75 yards. A player to play that puts the game together. A time of 16 seconds that the Bears will have to relive in all its awful details during the film review in the days to come.
After the break, cornerback Bryce Callahan, who was playing zone blanket, pointed Wilson and left him in the middle of the field. Rookie linebacker Roquan Smith got caught up with forward Nick O'Leary and reacted late. Danny Trevathan, rushing to the left of the defense, charged too fast.
Wilson picked up speed but was still 70 meters from the end zone. Yet when he turned the corner near the Bears sideline, a usually solid defense will collapse.
Trevathan, Smith and Callahan were not determined enough to rally the ball. Security Adrian Amos detached his man and dived towards Wilson. But the receiver's left leg escaped from Amos's hand.
Eddie Jackson overtook Wilson and missed a tackle himself.
Kyle Fuller could not get hold of Dolphins catcher Kenny Stills. Cornerback Kevin Toliver continued to retreat.
Wilson scored and a delusional game had one of his wildest moments. For a normally reliable defense, it is perhaps also the most inexplicable slide of the afternoon.
"He broke in. He caught it. And he ran, "said Callahan. "As simple as that."
Smith added, "I'll have to watch. We just did not play enough.
It was bad enough that the Bears allowed Wilson to break out earlier in the quarter for a 43-yard touchdown, another tackle-packed crash. But the 75-yard score with just over 3 minutes to play came in the close, with a defense that was celebrated for its September success seeking to finish the Dolphins. The malfunction only came a few minutes after Mitch Trubisky threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller, which seemed to be one of the winning times this young and developing team has been enjoying recently. The Bears were ahead 28-21 and were flying high.
But the excitement has been so short. Sixteen seconds. And then came this critical blackout during a day in which the defense gave away 541 yards to a Dolphins team led by Brock Osweiler.
Amos said: "Personally, I missed a few tackles that I do 100% of the time. … There are probably one, two or three pieces that we could have created and it would be a different story.
Osweiler has amassed 380 rushing yards in addition to three goals. Frank Gore has passed 100 yards on the ground. Wilson had 155 yards on six catches, none more devastating for the Bears than 75 yards to tie the game late.
Just like that, the Bears slipped to 3-2 with the Patriots visiting Chicago next week. Just like that, a team that had been away for 35 days since the defeat, was left in the locker room visiting Hard Rock Stadium with a feeling of restlessness and tingling for the one who had escaped.
"We fought," said Eddie Jackson. "Especially on the defensive side of the ball. It was not the defense at the Chicago Bears that we usually play. We made a lot of mistakes, man.
Twitter @danwiederer
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