CHICAGO — The football sat perilously on the turf like a symbolic opportunity to avoid disaster.
So, of course in this season of great whiffs, the Giants came up empty-handed.
Nate Solder allowed a sack and couldn’t pick up the resulting Daniel Jones fumble that the Bears cashed into a touchdown, putting the Giants offense in an insurmountable second-half hole during a 19-14 loss at Soldier Field.
“When you look at our team, and see how much talent we have and the great coaches we have, you wouldn’t expect us to be 2-9,” Saquon Barkley said after rushing for 59 yards on 17 carries. “I don’t know why. For some reason, things just don’t go our way in games.”
A Sunday that began with a report the Giants might be interested in Cowboys coach Jason Garrett to replace Pat Shurmur ended with the first seven-game losing streak since 2014.
After the seventh straight loss that season, co-owner John Mara considered firing everyone, but calmed down and stuck with two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom Coughlin for one more season. The Giants (2-9) last lost more than seven in a row (nine) in a single season in 1976.
“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us, so don’t feel sorry for yourself,” safety Jabrill Peppers said. “It sucks, but I’m not going to hold my head. We don’t have the numbers in the win column, but the guys in here take it personally.”
The Giants squandered good fortune in the first half, coming away with just seven points despite an average starting field position of 5 yards from midfield on their first six possessions. Two missed field goals — of 42 and 43 yards — aggravated by a poor snap capped their halftime lead at 7-3.
The Bears (5-6) scored the last of their 19 straight points after Khalil Mack burst around the edge on Solder and strip-sacked Jones, who has lost a fumble in five straight games and seen three of those returned for a touchdown. Solder could have fallen on the ball at the 3-yard line, but it slipped through his fingers.
“I really just whiffed it,” Solder said. “That was hard to swallow. It was laying there … and I straight up missed it — and that was the difference. That was terrible.”
Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky looked every bit like a worst-case scenario third-year bust about to be benched as the Bears failed to score on their first six possessions.
Trubisky threw an end-zone interception to Alec Ogletree only a few plays after uncovered tight end Ben Braunecker dropped a would-be touchdown by letting the ball hit him in his face mask. The Bears also had a 60-yard gain negated by penalty.
The comedy of errors gave way to a legitimate game plan when Trubisky zeroed in on the Giants young secondary, particularly rookie slot cornerback Corey Ballentine. Trubisky finished with 278 passing yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
Ballentine got twisted in the slot and allowed a 32-yard go-ahead touchdown reception to Allen Robinson. On the next series, Ballentine allowed three straight completions covering 84 total yards.
“They hit us on a couple big plays and we didn’t get the ball down like we should have,” Ogletree said. “If you play complementary football, you tend to win a lot of games. We haven’t been able to do that. One week we are playing good on defense, one week we are not. And vice versa [on offense].”
Jones threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns, including a fourth-and-18 prayer answered with a 23-yard touchdown by Golden Tate. Jones made a strong throw with defenders wrapped around his legs and Tate got his feet down in the back of the end zone.
Shurmur used all three timeouts on defense with more than 3:30 remaining, an unusual strategy he favors.
“There’s data,” Shurmur said, “but there’s also gut.”
Facing fourth-and-2 from their own 33-yard line, the Bears deceivingly kept the offense on the field for a moment — before running on the punt unit.
The Giants were caught flat-footed with defense on the field and no experienced returner because Peppers (hip) was sidelined. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins dropped back and let the ball bounce over his head as he tried to block the gunner who saved the ball from a touchback
“I didn’t want to field it because I didn’t want to make a mistake,” Jenkins said. “I could’ve done a better job of getting more body on him. That’s something we practice.”
Needing to go 94 yards, the Giants’ inability to sustain drives (1 of 12 on third downs) showed up. They never advanced past their own 35-yard line.
“We had one scoring drive in the first half, one in the second,” Shurmur said. “That’s not good enough.”
For more on the Giants, listen to the latest episode of the “Blue Rush” podcast: