Player two: Ihmir Smith Marsette
There is a good chance that the Chicago Bears cut Ihmir Smith Marsette after his performance against his former team. Yes, he is a young player that made a couple of mistakes, but those mistakes were unacceptable and very avoidable.
Before we get into the fumble, we should discuss the block in the back that negated an epic scramble from Justin Fields that would have been a touchdown to put the Bears up four instead of one early in the fourth quarter. It might have been a questionable call, but Smith-Marsette should have not tried to make the block if that was the only angle he could get.
Obviously, this game will be more remembered for Smith-Marsette’s fumble on the last drive of the game for the Bears. Fields was moving the team down the field in the two-minute drill, including some excellent improvising after a bad fumble that was luckily recovered by the offense.
Fields gets the ball to an open Smith-Marsette, who makes a great play to avoid a tackle but instead of going out of bounds as he should have, he tried to take on about four Vikings to get more yards. Vikings cornerback Cameron Dantzler came from behind and just bullied Smith-Marsette like they were on a playground and took the football right out of his hands. That was the dagger that sealed what could have been an unbelievable win for the Bears.
The situational awareness was not there from the young receiver, and it cost the Bears a chance at a key divisional win. A number of plays contributed to the loss, the Ihmir Smith-Marsette made terrible mistakes today that should result in either being cut or a severe loss of playing time.