Even with No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams, the Chicago Bears find themselves in a familiar spot heading into November: last place in the NFC North.
Unlike the rest of the league's cellar dwellers, the Bears are still above .500 at 4-3 following one of the biggest gaffes in a last-gasp loss in league history.
The Bears, however, have the league's toughest remaining schedule, which includes all six games against division opponents — who are a combined 17-5 — and games against the 49ers, Cardinals and Seahawks, all of whom are tied atop the NFC West at 4-4.
The Bears were primed for their fourth consecutive victory when they took a 15-12 lead over the Commanders on Roschon Johnson's 1-yard TD run and a 2-point conversion with just 25 seconds remaining in their game Sunday at Washington.
Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels, drafted one spot behind Williams and playing through sore ribs, found Zach Ertz for an 11-yard gain and Terry McLaurin for 13 to get the Commanders to midfield and set up a Hail Mary.
Video posted on social media showed Chicago cornerback Tyrique Stevenson pointing toward the stands and raising his arms in the air with his back to the play — he said because he was cheering with Bears fans — when the ball was snapped with 2 seconds left.
When he realized what was happening, Stevenson sprinted toward the middle of the field. Bears coach Matt Eberflus said Stevenson was supposed to block out Noah Brown.
And with Daniels scrambling around for nearly 13 seconds while avoiding the three-man rush, Stevenson had plenty of time to recover from his goof-up and complete his assignment.
Instead, Stevenson went up for the pass, which got tipped to Brown wide open in the end zone behind the scrum.
The 52-yard heave was the longest Hail Mary by a rookie quarterback this century and handed the Bears a gut-wrenching 18-15 loss that they may look back on with deepening regret.
Stevenson posted an apology following the game on social media, saying: “To Chicago and teammates my apologies for lack of awareness and focus …. The game ain’t over until zeros hit the clock. Can’t take anything for granted. Notes taken, improvement will happen.”
He apologized to his teammates Monday and promised he had learned his lesson: “I let the moment get too big and it’s something that can never happen again and won’t ever happen again,” Stevenson said.
The blunder may end up haunting the Bears, who haven't made the playoffs since 2019. Their only remaining game against a losing opponent is New England (2-6) in two weeks.
The Patriots knocked off the New York Jets 25-22 Sunday, sending Aaron Rodgers tumbling to his fifth consecutive loss — and the worst start of his 20-year NFL career at 2-6.
As ESPN analyst and former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky noted, teams who score 20 or more points without a turnover while holding their opponent to 250 yards or less are 750-1 in NFL history.
That one loss was by the Jets on Sunday.
Interim Jets coach Jeff Ulbrich, who fell to 0-3 since taking over when Robert Saleh was fired, called the latest loss “a moment of darkness,” and Rodgers agreed.
“I’ve been in the darkness,” said Rodgers, who famously went on a four-day darkness retreat in 2023 to contemplate his NFL future. “You’ve got to go in there, make peace with it.”
Only one other time has Rodgers lost five consecutive starts, in 2022, his last season in Green Bay before joining the Jets and blowing out an Achilles tendon on just his fourth snap last year. Because he started, Rodgers actually was credited with the win in that game even though Zach Wilson went in and did all the heavy lifting in a 22-16 win over Buffalo that proved the highlight of New York's season.
So, generously, Rodgers' record in New York is 3-6 for a .333 winning percentage after he posted a 158-85-1 mark for a .650 winning percentage with the Packers.
Peyton Manning actually was better in Denver (50-15), where his .770 winning percentage bettered his .660 mark in Indy (150-77).
Brady went 37-20 in Tampa (.649) after going 219-64 (.768) in New England, but, like Manning, he won a Super Bowl on his second NFL stop, and in his first year apart from Bill Belichick.
Russell Wilson is 13-19 (.406) since leaving Seattle, where he was 113-60-1 (.654). He's 2-0 in Pittsburgh after leading the Steelers past the Giants 26-18 Monday night to cap a wild Week 8.
___
With contributions from AP Sports Writers Stephen Whyno in Landover, Md., and Andrew Seligman in Chicago.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL