Tears flowed when Josh McCown hugged coach Lovie Smith’s wife MaryAnne on the way to his post-game press conference, which he had to stop several times to compose himself.
“One and eight,” McCown said. “One and eight and, uh, one and eight. You want to give your teammates and the coaches and the fans and your family and everybody here better than that. It just hurts. It hurts.”
McCown had played well enough to win most of the game, but a pair of late interceptions undermined that effort.
“It doesn’t matter [how I played]. We lost,” McCown said. “We lost. As a quarterback, it starts with me. I’ve got to be better. It’s disappointing.
“This game, man, you go and prepare with guys ever week, and coaches, and they grind you. Everbody puts their time in and works so hard. You lay it out there for each other, and when you walk off and come up short week in and week out, it hurts. That’s what hurts.
“And you realize the fans, they come to this game, and whatever else is going on in their life, they want to come be in this stadium to watch us win football games and bring them joy. So all of that emcompassing, man, to not be able to do that, to not be able to give that to ourselves, our teammates, our coaches, our fans, it just hurts. It just hurts man.”
