Many NFL players will head off on a tropical or ritzy vacation when they get a break, but Bears receiver Darnell Mooney has always been unique. When the team got last weekend off between a Thursday night game against the Commanders and this Sunday’s game against the Vikings, he jetted to New York City.
But it’s not the kind of New York trip you’re imagining.
He got a room at the swanky Times Square Edition but spent most of the weekend alone in his suite, deep in thought, trying to answer a question many fans have been asking: Where has Mooney been?
He skyrocketed as a rookie and followed with 1,050 yards in 2021 but hasn’t gotten back there. He managed 40 catches for 493 yards and two touchdowns last season before an ankle injury. In five games this season, he has just eight catches, 104 yards and one touchdown.
“For me, it’s taking accountability for everything,” Mooney told the Sun-Times. “Literally, if the ball’s in the air, just find a way. My biggest thing right now is just finding a way to make things work.
“I got away, just talking to myself, like, ‘Hey, bro, find a way. Just find some sort of way to get your swag back and just be you again.’ ”
That doesn’t sound like a vacation, but Mooney called it refreshing. He’s an introvert and needed to get lost in his mind. New York is an odd choice for alone time, but he wanted to feel far away.
If he gets back to his best, it will boost not only the Bears’ offense but also his bank account. The team needs other weapons to emerge after DJ Moore’s landmark performance against the Commanders — 230 yards and three touchdowns — and Mooney is in a contract year. Everyone’s goals are aligned.
Moore’s surge creates space for Mooney, and if Mooney resumes racking up numbers, defenses can’t zero in exclusively on Moore.
“We’re still hopeful we’re going to see those things, and we’re going to,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “We’re gonna take the shots to [Mooney]. He’s gonna get his looks.”
When quarterback Justin Fields got peppered with questions two weeks ago about why he wasn’t throwing to Moore often enough, he preemptively complained that reporters eventually would start asking about Mooney and tight end Cole Kmet not getting targets.
That’s not where this is headed. Moore is the priority to get the ball, and Mooney readily acknowledges that’s how it should be. But multiple threats would benefit everyone.
“The routes he’s been catching, I’m the second option on some of those,” Mooney said. “If they take him away, then the ball comes to me. If they don’t, then he’s gonna continue to catch those balls.”
Either way, Mooney wants to fit in. He’ll adapt. That’s a key difference between him and Chase Claypool, whom the Bears unloaded. Mooney has been determined to do everything right since the Bears drafted him. He wants to put up bigger numbers, but wins are the priority. He wants a big contract, but he’s not preoccupied by it. That’ll come, he said. His eagerness to produce is rooted in his desire to contribute.
“If we stay on the path that we seem to be on — getting the ball down the field, giving the receivers opportunities to make plays — that’s gonna work for everybody,” he said. “If we’re able to do that, I’ll be productive in the way that I’ve been in past years.
“There’s some things I did in 2021 that we’re starting to do, so hopefully we can do those plays and I can shine again. I’m trying to find a way where I can make plays.”
