Furious Bears Comeback Falls Short in 27-21 Loss to Titans

The Chicago Bears mounted a serious comeback late in Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans, but they couldn't get a game-winning touchdown as they fell 27-21 at Soldier Field.

The Bears got down to the eight-yard line with less than a minute to go in the game, but four straight incompletions, started by a dropped touchdown catch by Joshua Bellamy, sent the Bears to their ninth defeat of the season and guaranteed a third straight losing season.

The Bears got the ball to start the game and they immediately went deep, as Matt Barkley's attempted pass to Marquess Wilson garnered a pass interference penalty on the Titans. The drive ended up stalling out at the end, as Logan Paulsen couldn't convert on a play-action pass on fourth down.

After the Bears' defense held on Tennessee's first drive, their offense came onto the field and capitalized. Wilson hauled in a long first down catch to get the Bears within striking distance, and tight end Daniel Brown did the rest as he gave Barkley his first career touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead for the Bears.

Unfortunately for the Bears, their lead didn't last as Tennessee executed a gorgeous scoring drive on their next possession. Delanie Walker had a huge drive, catching a very long pass from Marcus Mariota for a first down, and then he made an even bigger impact as he set a huge block for Derrick Henry as the rookie running back romped into end zone to tie things up at 7-7.

Tennessee continued its scoring ways as the second quarter got underway, and it was Walker again who did the damage. The big tight end hauled in a touchdown pass from Mariota to make it a 14-7 game.

The Titans intercepted Barkley on the Bears' next drive, and a deep pass from Mariota extended their lead out even more. Rishard Matthews, who the play before had barely missed a deep touchdown catch, did the job on third and long as he found paydirt to give the Titans a 21-7 halftime lead.

In the opening stages of the second half, the Titans got a pair of field goals from Ryan Succop, but the Bears didn't quit. They got back on the board in the fourth quarter as Cameron Meredith made a pair of quality catches, and then Wilson hauled in a nice touchdown reception to trim the Titans' advantage to 27-14.

Later in the game, the Bears got another quality drive going as Barkley continued to find open receivers, and they got within one score as Deonte Thompson converted on 4th-and-goal to make it a 27-21 game.

The Bears' defense made a huge stop just before the two-minute warning to give Chicago the football back, and Barkley made several completions to get the team down to the eight-yard line with less than a minute to go. Josh Bellamy dropped a surefire touchdown pass on the next play, and then Barkley threw three straight incompletions to turn the ball over and end the game.

The lowly Bears will face an even lowlier team next week as they welcome the San Francisco 49ers to Soldier Field for a battle of basement-dwelling teams.

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