Chicago Bears’ DJ Moore weighs in on crucial turnover in week 8 loss to Washington

Chicago Bears’ DJ Moore weighs in on the fumble by Doug Kramer at the goal line.

After a stunning and heartbreaking loss, filled with mental miscues, questionable play calling and poor play execution, Chicago’s star wide receiver DJ Moore weighs in on a key play that led to a turnover at the goal line.

Just days after the Chicago Bears released fullback Khari Blasigname, the Bears called upon center Doug Kramer to fill in at fullback and try to punch the ball across the goal line for what should have been an easy score… should have been.  Instead, the ball was mishandled from Caleb Williams to Kramer which led to the fumble and the Commanders were there to scoop it up, subsequently ending the go ahead scoring drive for the Chicago Bears.

Here is what DJ Moore said on the Mully & Haugh Show Monday morning.

DJ Moore on Bears’ fumbled handoff to Doug Kramer: “I don’t know the reason behind the play call. It’s been up for a few weeks, but I didn’t think we were actually going to get it called in a game like this.”

Moore was in the medical tent so he didn’t see most of the play.

— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) October 28, 2024

DJ Moore was not on the field when the play was called, but certainly had an opinion about the play and why it shouldn’t have had a place on the call sheet.  It’s clear Matt Eberflus was trying to pull some tricks from his sleeve, a smoke and mirrors act that horrendously backfired.

Doug Kramer taking a handoff in a situation like that is tough. The Bears should never put him in that situation either if we are being honest.

Instead of utilizing any of their other capable guys, like a bigger runningback or tight end, or heck, even keeping Blasigname for another week just so you could run that play would’ve made much more sense.  Eberflus doubled down when asked and insisted that it was “not a bad play call” yet we all watched as it derailed.

And that was DJ Moore’s point in the interview.

Still, Eberflus stood by it even after hearing the comments from DJ Moore on Monday morning.

Now, with the power of hindsight, had that play actually worked the Washington Commanders would not have been in the position to walk it off with the Hail Mary had the rest of the game gone the way it did.  Matt Eberflus’ play calling, and lack of leadership ultimately lost this game for the Chicago Bears.

Without Eberflus at the helm I think the Bears had absolutely every reason to win this week.  The Chicago Bears defense did performed almost perfectly the entire game holding Washington to only scoring on field goals until the last second.  The offense did their best, but ultimately it was the play calling that put the final nail in the coffin.  The long run from D’Andre Swift was great to boost the morale late in the game, but it was not enough to compensate for the turnovers and missed opportunities.

We knew going up against Washington was going to be tough, but it should never have ended the way that it did.  Hopefully, going into week 9 against Arizona goes differently, if the Bears are able to take the lead early on and keep mental mistakes and turnovers to a minimum we can move on from this abysmal loss.

The comments by DJ Moore however, may indicate that there could be a disconnect somewhere between coaches and the players?