Tashaun Gipson calls missed touch tackle on Van Jefferson the kind of play that ‘keeps you up at night’

The Bears were embarrassed in the team’s season opener against the Rams, where their defense was the biggest liability for Chicago.

There were mistakes aplenty from the Bears defense, including missed tackles and broken coverages. But perhaps the most egregious error occurred in the first quarter when quarterback Matthew Stafford found wide receiver Van Jefferson, who beat Eddie Jackson and Tashaun Gipson, for a deep completion.

Jefferson should’ve been down around the 11-yard line, but neither Jackson nor Gipson had the awareness to touch him and Jefferson got right up and sprinted into the end zone for what went down as a 67-yard score.

When Gipson met with the media Tuesday at Halas Hall, it was the first question he had to address. Gipson couldn’t believe they screwed it up and said it’s the kind of play that “keeps you up at night.”

“Too much football IQ between Eddie (Jackson) and me to let that happen,” he said. “It won’t happen again as long as I’m employed by the National Football League.”

But in a 34-14 blowout loss, there’s usually more than one error, as evidenced by the broken coverage on Cooper Kupp’s 56-yard touchdown pass on the opening series of the second half.

Marqui Christian, who was covering Kupp in the slot, didn’t go with his man, and neither did Jackson nor Gipson, which left Kupp streaking wide open for the easy score.

“It was a brain fart on the secondary, myself included,” Gipson said. “I take ownership on that play. We all got to be on the same page.”

When it was time for the defense to watch film from that brutal loss, the mood was exactly as you’d expect.

“Film session was hard, it was tough,” Gipson said. “There was a lot of ugly plays out there.”

The Bears defense will be looking to turn things around in Week 2, when they face Joe Burrows and a Bengals offense that found success against the Vikings in Week 1.