The Bears’ errors were many during a 26-18 loss to the Saints on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Although the Bears racked up a season-high 434 yards, the offensive struggles flustered head coach Marc Trestman. And a microcosm of the issues occurred on the final play before halftime.

After New Orleans had taken a 20-7 lead with 25 seconds left in the second quarter, the Bears got the ball back at their own 31 following the kickoff. Quarterback Jay Cutler promptly completed an 11-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery and a 14-yarder to Martellus Bennett, setting the Bears up for one final shot at the end zone -- from the Saints 44 with 2 seconds left.

What happened next? Trestman sent Eben Britton into the game as a sixth offensive lineman and used running back Matt Forte for additional protection initially. The Saints came with just a three-man rush with defensive end Cam Jordan and outside linebacker Junior Galette coming off the line and inside linebacker Curtis Lofton bringing pressure around the left side of the Bears’ formation.

Somehow, the Bears still couldn’t buy Cutler enough time. He rolled right but was flushed back when Lofton looped around Britton. Receivers Brandon Marshall and Earl Bennett were in the end zone for a potential "Hail Mary."

Instead, Cutler fired a pass to Alshon Jeffery, whose route had him nowhere near the end zone and whose catch at the Saints 19 did nothing but provide stat padding on a day when he finished with a franchise-record 218 receiving yards.

Cutler and Trestman were asked Monday at Halas Hall about throwing that final first-half pass underneath instead of taking the shot into the end zone.

“We had a play called for it,” Cutler said. “The (Saints) had everyone down there. I was just trying to kind of buy some time and got flushed out of there. I didn’t really have a good feel for where their guys are and saw Alshon in my view. Just thought I’d get it to him. Maybe if he’d bust a tackle and catch a block he’d get in.”

And the coach’s view?

“Jay looked down the field and made the decision not to throw it out there,” Trestman said. “The (Saints) had three guys wrapped around each of our receivers. ... He just made the decision not to throw it. If he had to do it over again, you ask him, he may have said, 'I should have thrown it up there.' Bu it’s a decision that he made. And I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it.”

Odd play design. Mediocre blocking. Questionable decision by the quarterback. Yep, that about sums up the Bears’ loss Sunday.

dwiederer@tribune.com

Twitter @danwiederer