Muristek
Bears running back David Montgomery is tackled Sunday.
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — This was ugly.
The Bears were without quarterback Justin Fields and their top two rookies before the opening kickoff. In the second quarter, they lost safety Eddie Jackson to a foot injury. In the third, receiver Darnell Mooney limped to the locker room with an ankle problem.
What remained of the Bears was left to get run over by a Jets offense that seven days earlier went into DEFCON-1 when they managed two second-half yards. Earlier this week, the Jets benched quarterback Zach Wilson for Mike White, whose soft landing was getting to face the Bears. He led them to four touchdowns in a 31-10 win.
Bears quarterback Trevor Siemian began the game hot after being named the starter during warmups, only to feel pain in his oblique. The Bears scored a field goal on his first drive and a touchdown on their second when Byron Pringle caught a four-yard pass. That gave the Bears a 10-7 lead; the Jets then scored 24 in a row.
Take away a kneeldown at the end of the first half and the Bears punted to end five consecutive drives before throwing a fourth-down incompletion four minutes into the fourth quarter.
Siemian finished 14 of 25 for 179 yards, one touchdown and one interception — and a passer rating of 75.2.
Jets receiver Garrett Wilson caught an eight-yard touchdown about five minutes into the game and a 54-yarder in the second quarter, during which Jackson fell to the ground, untouched, with a foot injury. Kicker Greg Zuerlein nailed a 57-yarder in the final seconds of the first half. The Jets added two third-quarter touchdowns against an undermanned Bears defense.
The Bears had lost their previous three games by a combined seven points. They’d been blown out only twice all year — by the Cowboys on Oct. 30 and the Packers on Sept. 19.
The Bears figure to limp into next week’s rivalry game against the same Packers. Fields’ timeline to return is uncertain — he warmed up briefly before the game and did not appear to be in obvious pain.
Jackson and Mooney appear to have serious injuries. Right tackle Riley Reiff left in the first quarter with a shoulder injury; his replacement, Larry Borom, limped off in the fourth.