When a game is lost and a season ends, disappointment eventually gives way to blame. And wide receiver DJ Moore was under scrutiny for his effort on the play that doomed the Bears in their 20-17 overtime loss Sunday to the Rams in the NFC playoffs.
With the Bears just past midfield and needing only a field goal to win, quarterback Caleb Williams threw downfield for Moore toward the right sideline. The throw was well short of where Moore was headed, and Rams safety Kam Curl dived to intercept it. The Rams then drove for the winning field goal to book a spot in the NFC Championship Game.
Perhaps a different player would have been given more of a benefit of the doubt. But for all the impact Moore has made with the Bears, he also has displayed a lot of bad body language. So when he gave even the appearance of taking his foot off the gas, he was a popular target.
Whether he was offering a legitimate defense or covering for a teammate, Williams backed Moore on Monday as players cleaned out their lockers. He said the disconnect was simply ‘‘just a miscommunication’’ or misunderstanding between the two.
Williams wanted Moore to ‘‘flatten’’ his route and run underneath Curl into the open space between him and fellow Rams safety Darious Williams. Moore, however, had open space leading to the end zone and continued on the original route.
‘‘His route is to go deep and attack that angle, which he did,’’ Williams said. ‘‘[I] thought we were going to go under the safety at that point. It didn’t happen that way.’’
On replay, Moore appeared to hesitate once he recognized Williams was throwing underneath, which is a more likely explanation than a veteran with a reputation as a hard worker loafing in a critical moment.
Regardless, Williams said the lesson is that he and his receivers need to work harder at ‘‘being on the same page’’ in advance of such plays. Chemistry is crucial when adjusting on the fly.
Coach Ben Johnson didn’t have a concrete diagnosis Sunday and won’t be available to reporters again until later this week. All he said after the game was, ‘‘I did see space,’’ without specifying whether he meant in front of Curl or behind him, and, ‘‘I did think as the play was going on, ‘Oh, crap, we’ve got something [good].’ But great play by [Curl].’’
Moore was not available in the locker room after the game or during locker cleanout. Normally one of the most accessible players on the Bears, he also didn’t talk with reporters last week leading up to the game against the Rams.
Health might have been a factor in the breakdown on that interception and in not being available to reporters Sunday or Monday. Moore had been working through a knee injury for weeks and was checked for a concussion Sunday after taking a hard hit to the head from Curl in the third quarter.
Moore finished the game with five catches for 52 yards and a touchdown and made a great catch behind him on a pass to the end zone that had been deflected by Rams linebacker Omar Speights.
Moore hasn’t missed a game in three seasons with the Bears and was their leading receiver in 2023 and 2024, earning him a contract extension that made him their highest-paid player this season. He caught 50 passes for 682 yards and six touchdowns and ran 15 times for 79 yards and a touchdown during the regular season, then added 12 catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns in the playoffs.
