There are all sorts of reasons the wheels came off in the fourth quarter for Cal against Miami on Saturday night.

And just as many ways the Bears could have averted letting a 25-point lead turn into a 39-38 nightmare defeat.

One more first down at some point in the fourth quarter might have taken another couple minutes off the clock and dented the Miami rally. Avoiding a catastrophic blown coverage on the Hurricanes’ 77-yard pass play on the final drive would almost certainly have changed the outcome.

And that doesn’t address what everyone seems to agree was an egregious non-call on the targeting play against Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza late in the game.

None of it excuses squandering leads of 35-10 in the third quarter and 38-18 in the fourth, even against a talented and explosive Hurricanes’ offense.

Hidden amongst the wreckage of the night is one undeniable shortcoming: The Bears cannot run the ball.

Think about it, the coaching staff has worked for a couple years at developing a big-play offense. Mendoza had four pass completions in excess of 50 yards against Miami — something Cal hasn’t accomplished in at least a dozen seasons.

Even the prolific Bears of Jared Goff under coach Sonny Dykes never had four plays of at least 50 yards in a game, although they did have three of them against Arizona State in 2015 plus two more that went 49 yards.

Mendoza, who has passed for 588 yards in defeats the past two games, is among six ACC quarterbacks named on Monday to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Top-25 watch list.

His four big plays against Miami added up to 230 yards. On their other 45 offensive snaps, the Bears totaled just 140 yards.

The key number there was the Bears’ total plays — 49, including the four big ones. Miami ran 86 plays — 37 more snaps than Cal managed. Coach Justin Wilcox talks about that discrepancy in the video above.

The most glaring numbers are in the run game. Cal had 73 net rushing yards on 25 attempts, but those include eight rushes (or sacks) credited to Mendoza and backup QB Chandler Rogers (who played well) and a creative 20-yard end-around by wide receiver Jonathan Brady.

So what did the Cal running backs get done? Not much. Certainly not enough.

They ran the ball just 15 times and netted 23 yards. That’s 1.5 yards per attempt by the running backs. Nine of those 15 tries went for 1 yard or less. Ouch.

Preseason All-America candidate Jaydn Ott, who has been hobbled by an ankle injury, was healthy enough to score on a 66-yard screen pass play down the right sideline. And he had a 5-yard touchdown run. His other six running plays netted minus-3 yards, leaving him with a career-low 2 rushing yards.

Backup Jaivian Thomas had a 19-yard run, but totaled 1 yard on his other six rushes. 

It’s important to remember Cal was ahead on the scoreboard most of the game — way ahead for a long time. That’s when teams will run the ball to milk the clock. The Bears didn’t run it, probably because they know they can’t.

The offensive line is not the whole problem but it is part of it. Cal allowed 13 sacks the two previous games and couldn’t get its ground game going in this one against a Miami defense that gave up 206 rushing yards to Virginia Tech in its previous outing.

This actually has been an issue since the Bears’ opening game against UC Davis, when Cal’s backs carried 28 times for 88 yards — just 3.1 yards per attempt — against an FCS opponent.

Things were worse still at Auburn, where Cal backs rushed 26 times for 75 yards, an average of 2.9 per try. But Cal won the game, so it went largely unnoticed.

The Bears appeared to remedy the issue a week later in an easy win over San Diego State, even with Ott shelved by his ankle injury Thomas had a career-best 169 rushing yards and Cal’s backs carried the ball 29 times for 267 yards — a whopping 9.2 yards per attempt.

Then, in a 14-9 loss at Florida State, Ott returned and contributed to the Cal backs gaining 99 yards on 23 rushes, a suitable 4.3 yards per try.

It didn’t help Saturday that Cal again played without starting guard Sioape Vatikani, their most experienced O-lineman. He missed the first three games with a foot injury, then sat out the Miami game while recovering from  a neck or head injury at FSU. His status for Saturday’s game at No. 22 Pitt is unknown.

One thing that’s clear is that for the Bears to end their two-game losing skid and regain their early-season momentum, they’re going to have to find a running game.

The Dallas Cowboys improved to 3-2 with Sunday night’s upset victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. It may seem odd to say this about a team that’s won 60% of its games this year, but this win is the first one that’s really offered reason for hope about the remainder of the season. Given the opponent and other circumstances, it’s the first 2024 victory that forced Dallas to dig deep for success.

In Week 1, the Cleveland Browns were little more than a sparring partner. While they did boast an elite defense last season, it hasn’t been nearly as good this year. And thanks to offensive line injuries and the continued struggles of QB DeShaun Watson, Dallas was able to bully an opponent that couldn’t even get its gloves up.

The win over the New York Giants wasn’t so one-sided, but that’s only because it was a contest of who could play worse. Dallas barely put down their NFC East rivals thanks mainly to Dak Prescott, who wasn’t even in top form, being a better quarterback than Daniel Jones. Barely beating the Giants was hardly cause for celebration.

While Pittsburgh has its issues, they presented a far more respectable opponent. They entered Sunday night with a 3-1 record, home-field advantage, and expectations to win by an overwhelming majority of analysts. When the game was delayed an hour due to weather, it felt like certain doom for a Cowboys team whose mental toughness has been rightfully questioned this year. The field conditions would also have seemed to lend itself to the Steelers’ style of play.

Then came the injuries for Dallas. Already missing Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Caelen Carson, the Cowboys’ defense lost Marshawn Kneeland early in the game. With Brandin Cooks missing his first game since going to IR, Dallas also saw Tyler Guyton go down and Zack Martin go out for a portion of time.

We knew the Cowboys were in an uphill battle going into the game, and the climb only got steeper with the various circumstances. When Dallas allowed turnovers and a blocked field goal to rob them of points on three different drives, it felt like they’d shot themselves in both feet. We just kept waiting for the Steelers to finally take advantage.

But they didn’t. In spite of everything, including themselves, the Cowboys just kept fighting. Mike Zimmer kept finding ways to MacGyver a capable defense out of limited resources. After a month of tough sledding and limited opportunities, Rico Dowdle was in attack mode on every touch. Jalen Tolbert fought through obvious pain to get back on the field for the game-winning touchdown. And despite his own mistakes and brotherly friction with his star receiver, Dak Prescott stepped up on that final drive to seal the deal for his team.

We haven’t said this often lately, but give Mike McCarthy credit for the heart his team showed. We still saw some classic McCarthy booboos with dumb decisions on when to challenge and not challenge calls, or not taking a shot at the endzone on 3rd-and-long when you’re already well within Brandon Aubrey’s range. But watching Dallas show little fight in the losses to New Orleans and Baltimore (until very late), and this one having plenty of reason to go the same way, we saw a different personality in the team’s performance.

Does it mean anything going forward? It might; it’s amazing how much teams respond to renewed confidence or the perception that the outside world doesn’t believe in them. Dallas has both going for them this week, still seen as the underdog ahead of a big NFC showdown with the Detroit Lions. But if they build on what they did in Pittsburgh, especially in the run game, then the Cowboys may finally find the balance they need to be consistently competitive.

Tony Bradley most recently played in the NBA during the 2022-23 season when he was with the Chicago Bulls.

That year, he averaged 1.6 points per contest in 12 games.

On Monday, the Atlanta Hawks announced that they have signed Bradley (h/t Kevin Chouinard).

Via The Hawks: “The Atlanta Hawks have signed center Ton Bradley, the team announced today. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.”

Bradley was the 28th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft out of UNC.

He has spent time with the Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers (and Bulls) over six seasons.

His career averages are 4.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per contest while shooting 63.1% from the field in 179 games.

The 26-year-old has also appeared in nine NBA playoff games with Utah and Chicago.

Bradley spent last year playing in the G League.

He averaged 15.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.9 blocks per contest while shooting 65.3% from the field in 13 regular season games (six starts).

Via NBA G League on December 30: “26 PTS 👏 15 REB 👏 5 AST 👏 4 BLK

Former NBA first round pick Tony Bradley STUFFED the stat sheet to lead the @TexasLegends to victory! He posted season-highs across the board and did it in only 27 MIN.”

The Hawks will play their first preseason game on Tuesday when they host the Indiana Pacers.

On October 23, they will play the Brooklyn Nets (in Atlanta) for their first regular season game.