Doug Kramer: Not reporting as eligible unacceptable, 100 percent on me

Mental errors have had a big hand in the Bears’ current eight-game losing streak and they added another entry to the list in Minnesota on Monday night.

Offensive lineman Doug Kramer failed to report as eligible when he came into the game as a fullback and a D’Andre Swift touchdown run that would have made the score 13-7 in the third quarter was taken off the board as a result. The Bears settled for a field goal and the Vikings continued on their way to a 30-12 win.

After the loss, Kramer said that the blunder was “100 percent on me.”

“Forgot to report,” Kramer said, via Kevin Fishbain of TheAthletic.com. “Ran on the field, clock was running down, got in the huddle and ran the play. It’s an unacceptable mistake. Obviously I apologized to all my teammates, everyone on the offense. Things like that can’t happen.”

The 2024 Bears have allowed Hail Marys and blocked field goals on the final plays of losses and they saw former head coach Matt Eberflus melt down in the final moments of a Thanksgiving loss to the Lions. They have not been good enough on the field to overcome those kinds of mistakes and the next Bears head coach is going to have to clean up that part of the game for the future to be brighter in Chicago.