The Bears almost gave the game away with bad decisions from John Fox and poor execution by players. But despite blowing an 11-point fourth quarter lead on a day when the Ravens threw two picks and no touchdowns, Mitchell Trubisky was able to do just enough to get the Bears a 27-24 win in overtime.
Mitchell Trubisky may have saved John Fox’s job with Bears’ OT win over Ravens
The Bears blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter, but won in overtime.
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Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
Trubisky completed 8 of 16 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, saving his heroics for the extra frame.
Chicago had a 24-13 lead in the fourth quarter, but watched it slip away. A Justin Tucker field goal got the Ravens within eight. Michael Campanaro’s touchdown and a successful two-point conversion tied it with less than two minutes to play in regulation.
As time was winding down in regulation and the Bears were looking toward overtime, Jordan Howard ran out of bounds on third-and-20 with 31 seconds left. It stopped the clock, and forced the Bears to punt the ball back to the Ravens with 23 seconds left.
It would have made more sense for Trubisky to just take a knee to let time expire. Clock management has never been John Fox’s strong suit. After the game, Howard called it a “bone-headed mistake” on his part, but Fox shouldn’t have called a run play.
That still wasn’t enough for the Ravens and Joe Flacco, so the game went to overtime.
The Bears won the toss and got the ball first in overtime. Both teams had drives fizzle out at the start of overtime. Howard made up for his earlier mistake on Chicago’s second possession in overtime when he broke off a 53-yard run to put his team at the Ravens’ 40-yard line.
Trubisky came up big on third-and-11 with an 18-yard completion to Kendall Wright that got the Bears inside of field goal range, which was just what Chicago needed.
A 40-yard Connor Barth field goal gave the Bears a 27-24 win.
It wasn’t just Trubisky’s first NFL win. It was the Bears’ first road win since 2015. And while Trubisky’s stats look underwhelming, he did just enough to get his team the victory, and may have saved John Fox’s job in the process.
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