When you get beaten by a Hail Mary on a play that featured one of your defensive backs jawing with the crowd rather than covering the guy who eventually caught the touchdown, it makes sense that most of the focus is on what went wrong at the end of the game.
Bears tight end Cole Kmet took a little bit of a longer view of what helped lead to Sunday’s 18-15 loss to the Commanders. Kmet referenced cornerback Tyrique Stevenson’s lapse in judgment by saying you always need to play until the clock strikes zero and he said it was also a reminder of the work that has to be put in all week.
“I think it’s a really good lesson for everybody to learn from in terms of how to respect the game,” Kmet said in a videoconference on Monday. “I think we had examples of that throughout the game and, quite frankly, throughout the week of practice this past week. There’s moments where maybe some guys lay off here and there and those are the types of things that can happen when you do that for just a split-second. It doesn’t always come to bite you in the butt, but, when it does, it hurts. That’s the unfortunate and, I would also say, beauty of this game, if you disrespect it in a certain way and it’ll come to haunt you in some form or fashion. I think it’s a learning experience for everybody.”
Kmet said his comments were “more of a general thing” than a specific critique of anything that went on last week, but reiterated his view that “if you relentlessly respect the game, you’ll get the results that you want.”