The Chicago Bears defense apparently still hasn’t recovered from the . The Bears defense completely fell apart in the final seconds before halftime of their matchup with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon and gave up a touchdown. That sent the Cardinals, who were well out of field goal range before the score, into the locker room with a 21-9 lead at State Farm Stadium.
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray handed the ball off to running back Emari Demercado on a third down with just 12 seconds left on the clock in the second quarter. They were still on their own side of the field, and were at best looking at a long field goal attempt before the break. But somehow, Demercado broke through the line and ran it in 53 yards almost completely untouched for the touchdown.
EMARI DEMERCADO 53-YARD TD! 📺: on CBS/Paramount+ 📱: — NFL (@NFL) That marked their second touchdown of the quarter, following a 1-yard touchdown run from Noah Swell not even three minutes earlier. The blown play was the second consecutive half where the Bears stumbled. The Washington Commanders stunned the Bears last week with a last-second Hail Mary on a perfect throw from Jayden Daniels to Noah Brown.
The play, which will go down as one of the best Hail Mary passes in modern NFL history, was made even worse for Chicago after cornerback . as a result, too. He reportedly didn’t respond to the news well ahead of the game, either, as he pulled himself out of practice briefly on Wednesday to “gather .