The bruised and bloodied Chicago Bears have shown a lot of fight in their last few games, but they once again came up short on Saturday in a 41-21 loss to Washington in the team's home finale.
Matt Barkley, who turned heads with his play in his first few starts with the Bears, crashed back to Earth with a mighty thud in this one as he threw five interceptions. He did have touchdown passes to Cameron Meredith and Deonte Thompson, but it wasn't enough as the Bears wrapped up their home schedule on a down note.
The visitors got the game started with their offense clicking into an early rhythm thanks to DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon. After Jackson got Washington within the red zone, Chris Thompson got a wide open lane up the middle and cruised into the end zone for an easy touchdown and a 7-0 lead for his squad.
Connor Barth had a field goal blocked at the other end of the field, and Washington engineered a lengthy scoring drive. A 57-yard catch by Jackson really got things moving, and Thompson hauled in a screen pass and maneuvered his way through heavy traffic to hit paydirt and put the Bears behind 14-0.
Matt Barkley threw an interception into triple coverage early in the second quarter, and once again Washington cruised down the field. Ultimately the Bears’ defense was able to hold, but not before they surrendered a short field goal to make it 17-0.
Finally, the Bears’ offense got going and put points on the board as the second quarter dragged on. Cameron Meredith made a nice catch over the middle to get the drive going, and although he was stopped at the 1-yard line, Jeremy Langford made sure that the drive didn’t go to waste as he punched it in to trim Washington’s lead to 17-7.
Another long Jackson reception and a Kirk Cousins touchdown run made it a 24-7 game, but the Bears weren’t done yet. The Bears covered over 70 yards in one minute on offense, and Barkley found an open Meredith in the corner of the end zone to send the game to halftime at 24-14.
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The third quarter was a sad one for Barkley, as he threw two interceptions and allowed Washington to extend their lead. Deiondre’ Hall made a pair of rookie mistakes as he was called for hands to the face on two separate occasions in four snaps, and Cousins made him pay as he picked up his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon to give his team a 31-14 edge.
Washington did add a field goal in the fourth quarter, but the Bears once again wouldn't go down without a fight. Barkley completed a couple of quality passes on the drive, and Thompson snared a short touchdown pass on a slant route to make it a 34-21 game.
Unfortunately, Washington had one more trick up their sleeves, as they got a long touchdown run from Mack Brown in the closing minutes to inflate their commanding lead.
