Despite a win, the Chicago Bears' special teams faltered. Coordinator Richard Hightower vows an intense effort to fix critical errors and secure future victories.
The Chicago Bears scraped by on Sunday with a 47-42 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but there were some concerning errors that were made, particularly on special teams.
It all started with a 98-yard return for the touchdown on the opening kickoff by Bengals return specialist Charlie Jones to give Cincinnati a 7-0 lead.
Then, there was a blocked field goal just before halftime that would have made Chicago's lead 23-17 going into the break.
Arguably, the worst of all was the onside kick that Cincinnati recovered with under two minutes to go, which ultimately allowed them to retake the lead.
After recovering the onside kick, Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco drove down the field in six plays for a nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Andrei Iosivas to make it 42-41 with 54 seconds to go.
Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower was at the podium and took full responsibility for his unit's mistakes on Sunday, vowing to work hard until they were fixed.
"Nobody in that room wants to get it corrected more than the players," Hightower said. "We are going to work night and day to get it all cleaned up. I can promise you that. I will bust my a— and they will too, alright, to get it cleaned up."
Hightower has been in charge of Chicago's special teams since 2022. He's had stints with the San Francisco 49ers (2017-2021) and Cleveland Browns (2014) in various assistant roles. This is his second stop with Chicago, as he was the team's assistant special teams coach in 2016.
On top of the kicking and onside recovery woes, the main problem should be fixing the amount of return yards that Chicago is allowing this season. The Bears are second in the NFL for most return yards allowed this season, with 1,301. The only team with more is the Los Angeles Chargers, who have 1,401.
Hightower was the only assistant that was retained by head coach Ben Johnson from Matt Eberflus' staff after Chicago parted ways with him after the Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions.
While Chicago was able to escape Cincinnati with a win, it can't keep expecting to make these kinds of mistakes and continue winning that way in the NFL. Hopefully, the special teams errors will eventually be cleaned up as the Bears have some crucial divisional games coming up later in the season.
Chicago looks ahead to the New York Giants on Sunday at noon CT on Fox.