BALTIMORE, Md. (WGN) — As it is often said, the NFL is a week-to-week league. And after five weeks of building positive momentum, the Chicago Bears took a step back in a loss at the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Game Recap
A familiar first quarter played out for the Bears. Their offense found an early rhythm, only for poor red-zone execution to derail drives, while the defense held up its end of the bargain.
Chicago possessed the football for 12:41 in the first quarter and had two 10-plus play, 60-plus yard drives, but walked away with only two Cairo Santos field goals.
Their first drive of the game went 13 plays for 64 yards and chewed up 8:10 of clock, but after a D’Andre Swift 3-yard run got them to the Ravens’ 3-yard line, Kyle Monangai was dropped for a 2-yard loss, and Caleb Williams was sacked by Mike Green to knock them back another nine yards.
42 seconds later, a 32-yarder from Santos flew through the uprights for an early 3-0 lead.
After the defense forced a Baltimore three-and-out, Chicago ran 11 plays for 61 yards that took up 4:31, but back-to-back incompletions on second and third down just outside the Ravens’ red zone led to Santos hitting a 39-yard field goal to put the Bears up 6-0.
Baltimore’s offense, led by backup Tyler Huntley, shook off its first-quarter rust and went on a 12-play, 62-yard drive of their own that ended with a 2-yard Derrick Henry touchdown run to take the lead, 7-6.
The touchdown run was Henry’s 111th of his career, which moved him ahead of Chicago sports icon Walter Payton for fifth all-time in NFL history.
The Ravens added a 42-yard field goal from Tyler Loop, and a fire-drill 58-yard field goal attempt from Santos fell short as time expired to give Baltimore a 10-6 advantage heading into halftime.
Huntley completed 11 of 12 passes for 110 yards, while Williams found receivers on 12 of 17 passes for 114 yards in the first half, with the primary difference being that the Ravens converted a red zone opportunity into a touchdown, while the Bears settled for field goals.
Baltimore took a page out of Chicago’s first-quarter playbook in the third. They scored two field goals at the end of time-consuming drives that were sandwiched around a Bears drive that ended with a punt after four plays.
Down 16-6, Chicago got within three after Swift found the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown run that capped an 11-play, 83-yard drive that bridged the end of the third quarter with the beginning of the fourth.
That was as close as the Bears would get for the rest of the ballgame.
Williams was intercepted by Nate Wiggins on the second play of their following drive. Wiggins returned the pick to Chicago’s 9-yard line, and Huntley found tight end Charlie Kolar for a 10-yard touchdown pass two plays later to take a 23-13 lead.
Santos booted a 47-yard field goal with just over five minutes left in the game to make it 23-16, but a 9-play, 66-yard touchdown drive on the Ravens’ next possession all but sealed a Baltimore victory.
Henry punched in his second touchdown run of the day on a 2-yard run he bounced to the outside to help the Ravens take a 30-16 lead, which ended up being the final score.
Up Next
The Chicago Bears will travel to Paycor Stadium to take on the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday. Kickoff is scheduled for noon CT.