Micah Parsons’ fumble recovery touchdown stomps any momentum for Chicago Bears comeback

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Bears knew that Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons would be a problem. They probably didn’t guess that he’d be a problem with the ball in his hands.

Parsons ran back a 36-yard fumble recovery after the Bears failed to touch him down Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The touchdown essentially put the game out of reach. Dallas closed out a win, 49-29.

“Whoever’s right there in the scrum, you’ve got to touch him down,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said.

The Bears trailed by two possession early in the game and were forced to play catch up most of the way. Parsons’ touchdown put the Cowboys ahead, 42-23, late in the third quarter and Justin Fields and the Bears couldn’t find enough firepower to come back from that point.

Parsons’ score was a strange sequence of events. Fields connected with running back David Montgomery on a dump-off pass on third down. Montgomery nearly reached the first-down marker, but he lost his handle on the football and it scooted into open space.

Parsons was the first person to jump on the ball. Fields, trailing the play, hurdled over Parsons but never touched him. Several Cowboys players surrounded Parsons in celebration before realizing that the star linebacker was never touched. He ran 36 yards the other direction for a score.

“That’s my fault for just hopping over him,” Fields said after the game. “I should’ve tagged him, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I made a tackle. Just got to be aware in that situation and just tag him, make sure he’s down.”

Bears right guard Teven Jenkins saw the turnover developing and initially thought the play was dead. Then he saw right tackle Riley Reiff running toward Parsons.

“They were celebrating,” Jenkins said. “Once I realized Riley Rieff started chasing after him, it was like, ‘Oh, it’s an active play.’ So I had to try to maneuver and see where he was going.”

The play signaled a huge momentum shift, one that the Bears never recovered from. The Bears were certainly well aware of Parsons, who was selected one pick behind Fields in last year’s draft and who won AP Defensive Rookie of the Year honors last season. But nobody expected to have to tackle the 6-foot-3, 245-pound linebacker.

Montgomery was hard on himself for the fumble. It marked his first fumble lost of the season. He said he simply dropped the ball.

“Me personally, I’ve got to play better,” Montgomery said. “I’ve got to be better for the guys around me. Can’t drop the ball. That was unfortunate.”

The Bears (3-5) couldn’t stop quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys (6-2). Dallas totaled 442 yards of offense, and several Bears defenders called it “embarrassing.” The Cowboys were nearly unstoppable on third down, going 9-for-11.

The Bears started off slow, falling behind, 14-0, in the first quarter. Dallas scored touchdowns on each of its first four possessions and went into halftime with a 28-17 lead.

“It’s going to be fundamentals,” Eberflus said of his defense. “It’s going to be the coach and the players. We have to be able to execute better, together as a group.”

Between a surprise win over the New England Patriots on Monday, a trade that send star pass rusher Robert Quinn to Philadelphia, and Sunday’s loss, it was an emotional week for the Bears – with both highs and lows.

The NFL is relentless, and the Bears will have to flip the page quickly.

“Look at every performance as it stands alone by itself,” Eberflus said. “When you ride the wave of momentum like this, it can be a tricky thing for a football team. So you have to look at every performance for what it is.”