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Cassie goes 1-on-1 with Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore
The Bears’ offense has struggled to find consistency this year, but has also shown moments of success. Cassie Carlson goes one-on-one with Bears star receiver DJ Moore, a key part of that success.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Hindsight is always a 20/20 view, and the Chicago Bears found themselves in the past after losing on a Hail Mary throw to Washington last week.
One of those plays that deserved extra attention was the fourth-and-1 handoff to backup center Doug Kramer.
On Thursday, Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron expressed no regrets about that play call.
“I was confident,” Waldron said, “I was confident.”
The play was objectively a disaster.
Kramer couldn’t get a grip on football. The ball flowed out and bounced forward, where a Washington Commanders defensive lineman recovered the loose ball. At the one-yard line, it was a moment that would have changed the game for the Bears.
Instead of trailing 12-7 and needing a defensive stop, the Bears would have been up 13-12 had they scored a touchdown. It was the first of two consecutive drives the Bears had that also went to the Commanders’ one-yard line.
The play was widely criticized in the hours and days after the loss. Still, given the circumstances, Waldron would do it again.
“I felt confident at that moment on the call, but it didn’t work,” Waldron said. “It wasn’t a clean handoff.”
The Bears franchise is also no stranger to big guys scoring a touchdown.
Defensive tackle William “The Fridge” Perry caught touchdowns and scored on handoffs during the 1985 season, propelling Perry to fame. Former Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks also scored on a handoff from the one-yard line during a game against the Giants in 2018.
However, those were two different situations. This was a moment in the fourth quarter that the Bears needed.
This wasn’t the first play call Waldron was called in a goal-line situation that didn’t work out. Against the Colts in Week 3, Waldron called a speed option running play that was immediately blown up and lost 12 yards.
Waldron had made that decision after the 21-16 loss to Indianapolis, where a touchdown would have changed the game there as well.
However, it is different when the criticism comes from within. Earlier this week, Bears receiver DJ Moore was critical of the call on the Mully and Haugh radio show.
“I don’t know the reasoning behind the play call,” Moore said. “It’s been going on for a few weeks now, but I didn’t think we’d actually get it in a game like this.”
On Wednesday, Moore did not apologize for what he said, but said the criticism would be kept internal next time.
However, Waldron is never one to shy away from criticism.
“I think there’s always valid criticism when things don’t work out,” Waldron said.
The best example was the offensive leadership discussing play calling after the Week 3 loss to the Colts. That led to a three-game winning streak and consecutive games in which the Bears scored 30 points.
In retrospect, it’s easy to say the Bears would have benefited from a different play call. If Kramer had held the football and scored, the conversation would have been very different. The outcome of the game could also have been different.
But Waldron wouldn’t regret a play call the team practiced leading up to Sunday.
“Those guys looked at it and went off,” Waldron said. “We look forward to cleaning it up.”