The Bears defense ends another half in hideous fashion, giving up the 53-yard touchdown to Cardinals RB Emari Demercado

The Chicago Bears defense apparently still hasn't recovered from last week's botched Hail Mary.

The Bears' defense completely collapsed in the final seconds before halftime of their game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon, allowing a touchdown. With that, the Cardinals, who were well out of field goal range before the game was scored, went into the locker room with a 21-9 lead at State Farm Stadium.

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray handed the ball off to running back Emari Demercado on a third down with just 12 seconds left in the second quarter. They were still on their own side of the field and expected at most a long field goal attempt before halftime.

But somehow Demercado broke through the line and ran 53 yards, almost completely untouched, for a touchdown.

That was their second touchdown of the quarter, following a 1-yard touchdown run by Noah Swell less than three minutes earlier.

The blown play marked the second straight half in which the Bears stumbled. The Washington Commanders stunned the Bears last week with a last-second Hail Mary on a perfect throw from Jayden Daniels to Noah Brown. The play, which will go down as one of the best Hail Mary passes in modern NFL history, got even worse for Chicago after cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was seen taunting Commanders fans before completely letting his guard down .

As a result, Stevenson was also left out of the starting lineup on Sunday. He also reportedly didn't respond to the news long before the game, as he briefly withdrew from training on Wednesday to “compose himself.”

The second half didn't go any better for the Bears. The Cardinals cruised to a 29-9 victory, holding Chicago scoreless in the final 30 minutes. Chad Ryland made two field goals, and then the Cardinals actually scored a safety in the fourth quarter before completing the 20-point win.

Kyler Murray completed 13 of 20 for 154 yards in the win, and James Conner ran for 107 yards on 18 carries to lead the Cardinals, who now have a 5-4 record. Caleb Williams completed 22 of 41 yards for the Bears and D'Andrew Swift had 51 yards on the ground. Rome Odunze also had 104 yards on five catches.

The Bears entered Sunday's game with a record of 4-3. If they had stopped the Hail Mary last week, they would have also gone on a four-game winning streak. However, they have now suffered two straight losses and are back at .500 on the year. Matt Eberflus' defense seems to struggle when it matters most. We'll see if they can turn things around next weekend when they host the New England Patriots.