The Last Hope of the North goes South
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What happened?
Nick Foles, that’s what happened.
Maybe that’s a bit of an oversimplification. Let’s recap shall we? The first quarter ended with the Eagles providing the only score by way of a field goal. The Bears struggled to get anything going offensively, settling for short passes that were mostly contained by what’s been a suspect Eagles secondary for most of the year. However, the Bears continued to look strong defensively, with the Bears consistently stuffing the run and keeping the Eagles out of the end zone. The quarter ended with Roquan Smith picking off Nick Foles, again highlighting the strength of the Bears defense.
The second quarter began with a field goal on the first Bears possession, tying the game at 3-3. The Eagles would finally start to move down the field on the next drive, only for Adrian Amos to pick off Foles in the end zone. After a few punts from both teams, the Bears would have one final drive of the half, which ended in a Cody Parkey field goal. (The only half of this game to end with a Cody Parkey field goal).
Both offenses would start to open up in the second half. The Bears couldn’t capitalize on their first possession of the quarter, but the Eagles were able to score the game’s first touchdown. How did this come to pass? Well, the Bears committed no penalties in the entire first half, but had three penalties on the Eagles first drive of the second half. In a drive that started at their own 17 yard line, the Bears committed 52 yards worth of penalties. This drive would end with a ten yard pass from Foles to Dallas Goedert. The quarter would end with the Eagles leading 10-6.
The Bears would open the scoring in the final quarter with a field goal, making the score 10-9. They accomplished this by driving down the field with a big pass from Trubisky to Allen Robinson II. Finally the Bears offense was able to exploit some holes in the defense. Following an Eagles punt, Mitchell Trubisky was able to find Robinson II again down the sideline to make the game 10-15. After bringing in Khalil Mack as a decoy to go for two points, they failed to get into the end zone. After a stop by each defense, a poor punt from Bears punter Pat O’ Donnell gave the Eagles the ball at their own 40. In what has become expected from Nick Foles, he drove the Eagles down the field and put the Eagles ahead 16-15. (They would also fail to convert).
And now the ending that caps the Bears entire season; Tarik Cohen would return the ensuing kickoff to their own 42 yard line with 48 seconds remaining in the game. Trubisky would complete another big pass to Robinson II, then another to bring the Bears to the Eagles’ 25 yard line. With 10 seconds left, Cody Parkey nailed the chip shot field goal. And that’s how the game would end.
Except Doug Peterson called a timeout to ice Parkey.
Which proved successful, as Parkey then hit the left upright to send his team home. The defending champs beat the top defense in the league, and that is the end of the NFC North for the year.