CHICAGO — Someday what Daniel Jones did on one magnificent play late in the fourth quarter Sunday might actually mean something. Might actually be hailed as the reason why the Giants won a game, rather than a nondescript footnote in another loss on another dreary afternoon.
What the Giants and their punch-drunk fans now have is only glimpses of the good overwhelmed by the tsunami of the bad. What Jones did late in the fourth quarter, staying cool with things heating up around him, risking bodily harm as he stood tall and fired a 23-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate, could not prevent the Giants from doing what they do best, which is walk off the field with fewer points than the other team.
So the seven points Jones put on the board with a “wow’’ play only brought up more acid reflux moments for a franchise that is going where no Giants team has gone before. The only real hope now is someday in the future — not too-distant future, for the sake of Pat Shurmur’s coaching security — all involved can look back on the way Jones is navigating through an eventful rookie year and see the seeds planted in this rotting garden have bloomed into something worth seeing and preserving.
The 19-14 loss at Soldier Field in a game the Bears probably lose to 25 opponents other than the moribund Giants means any gains Jones can muster must again be discovered amid losing. It is his rookie season mantra: I learned, I lost.
“I think I can try to look specifically at certain things to feel progression or feel improvement,’’ a weary-looking Jones said. “There’s opportunities to learn from specific plays and specific instances in the game.’’
Jones had a small bandage on the first two knuckles of a right hand he kept stuffed into his pocket and he broke down his seventh consecutive loss after embarking on his NFL career by winning his first two starts. Jones has now lost more games as a rookie than Eli Manning did in 2004. Manning took over for Kurt Warner and lost his first six starts — most in far worse fashion than Jones — before finally winning in the season finale.
Jones is a part of something never before experienced by this franchise, as the Giants (2-9) have gone the months of October and November winless for the first time. They face the Dolphins (2-9) and Redskins (2-9) in December, and if the Giants go another month without winning a game, there is no way ownership can sell bringing back Shurmur and will have to engage in some creative salesmanship to justify how general manager Dave Gettleman has this team headed in the right direction.
The Bears have a rugged defense and Jones looked sluggish and stuck in neutral for long stretches. He was given only marginal support from Saquon Barkley, who did not help the cause when he dropped a pass in his hands on third-and-3 in the first quarter, a play that would have gone for a long gain and put the Giants in Bears territory.
“That drop, it sucked,’’ Barkley said. “Probably had an opportunity to do something with it if I had caught it. I lacked focus there.’’
Jones cannot do anything about the two missed field goals by Aldrick Rosas — that is six points in a game the Giants lost by five, if you are scoring at home. Jones could not do much to avoid the strip-sack by Khalil Mack — Jones’ 10th lost fumble of the season — to give the Bears the ball on the Giants’ 3-yard line to set up their second touchdown. It would have helpful if left tackle Nate Solder, the closest player to the loose ball, recovered it.
“I really just whiffed it,’’ Solder said. “That was really hard to swallow because it was laying there and I just missed it. That was the difference so that was terrible. I felt really bad about that.’’
On a day when he was bland, Jones did manage one flavorful moment. It was fourth-and-18 from the Bears 23-yard line and the pocket was gone almost immediately. Jones did not panic. He sidestepped away from the initial pressure, planted his foot and kept his eyes down the field, never lowering his field of vision to gauge the Mack truck wearing No. 52 in dark navy blue storming toward him. The ball was off and Jones was decked by Mack. In the end zone, Tate was leaping to make a touchdown catch that Jones never saw from his position nearly plastered to the Soldier Field grass.
“Yeah, I felt the rush there and stepped up,’’ Jones said. “Heck of a play by him.’’
Heck of a play by Jones, as well. It is all the Giants have now, a few rays of sunshine from their rookie quarterback sneaking through the perennially darkened skies.
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