❚ The Bears look far from elite,
CHICAGO – There’s no fixing these Chicago Bears.
Oh, coach Matt Nagy and his players talked a good game after their abysmal showing in a 3625 loss to the New Orleans Saints Oct. 20 – a loss that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates. They talked about how good they’ve been in practice and what a tight-knit group they are and how much they care. Mitchell Trubisky even said he still thinks the Bears are “close.”
The reality is, this isn’t a good team. It’s not even a mediocre team. It’s a fundamentally flawed team, and Bears management has some very hard choices to make in the coming months unless it wants to let this championship-caliber defense go to waste.
After weeks – months, really, going all the way back to training camp – of the Bears seeing themselves through rose-colored glasses, the worst loss in the Nagy Era laid bare every one of Chicago’s shortcomings.
This was a game the Bears should have won easily. New Orleans was severely shorthanded, playing without future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara and Jared Cook. Chicago was at home, having had last week off, and it had Trubisky and Taylor Gabriel back.
Instead, the Bears got humiliated. They managed all of 252 yards, the bulk of which came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of hand. Of Chicago’s seven running plays, two were fumbles. Trubisky was only an interception away from filling up his bad quarterback bingo card – skipping the ball into the dirt, overthrowing his receivers and getting sacked after holding the ball too long.
Fans were already booing after the first series. The only reason they weren’t at the end of the game, too, was because Soldier Field was close to empty.
“I talk about horse blinders and earmuffs. Don’t listen to anything outside because right now it’s not going to be good,” Nagy said. “People from outside try to pull you down, and the last thing that anybody is going to do, whether it’s you guys or anybody else outside, you’re not pulling us down.
“We’re going to be positive, and we’re going to fight through it because that’s what winning teams do.”
But the Bears aren’t a winning team. They’re a 3-3 team with one quality win, against Minnesota. And the schedule only gets tougher, with games against the Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs looming, as well as two against NFC North rival Detroit and one each against Green Bay and Minnesota.
“Right now, we have no identity,” Trubisky said. “We’re just searching.”
Trubisky’s woes can’t be blamed on the injury to his nonthrowing shoulder that kept him out of the loss to the Oakland Raiders in London two weeks ago. He simply is overmatched, and the mistakes he’s making are the same ones he was making last year. There has been no sign of growth, no indication he can be the franchise quarterback the Bears envisioned when they traded up to take him with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft.
But this is not all on Trubisky’s shoulders. The newly departed Kyle Long was clearly not the only thing wrong with the offensive line. While the Saints gave Teddy Bridgewater so much time to throw he could have run to the concession stand for a hot dog, Trubisky doesn’t get nearly the same window.
(Granted, when he does, he squanders it. But still …)
Nagy isn’t doing his offense any favors with his game plan, either. This is the NFL, not the WAC, and a run game is a necessity.
Running the ball, especially on first down, keeps defenses honest and eventually opens things up for the passing game. It also would take some of the pressure off Trubisky. Nagy acknowledges this, and promised once again Sunday night that he will find balance.
Yet week after week, Tarik Cohen, Mike Davis and David Montgomery might as well be on milk cartons for as much as they’re seen.
And Nagy’s explanation for why that was the case yet again against the Saints made no sense. He pointed to the Bears getting 3 yards from their first three run plays and said he went away from the run because they were having more luck throwing the ball.
“It’s really simple math,” Nagy said. “The objective is to get first downs. I don’t care if I have to throw the ball 60 times a game if that’s what’s going to help us win a game.”
Except the Bears weren’t faring much better throwing the ball. They had all of four first downs in the first half. Plus, the three plays Nagy referred to were in Chicago’s first two drives. If Sean Payton had used that same logic, Latavius Murray wouldn’t have touched the ball again after gaining 3 yards on his first run and none on the second.
But Payton knows you have to commit to the run for more than a series or two. Lo and behold, Murray finished with 119 yards rushing.
At one point in the third quarter, he had 86 yards rushing – 3 more than the entire Bears’ offense.
“The run game has to get going,” Nagy said. “It’s as simple as that. It just has to get going. You can’t run for 17 yards in the NFL and think you’re going to win a game.”
Perhaps he should talk to the guy calling the plays.
Oh. Right.
The Bears have one of the nastiest defenses in the NFL. But relying on Khalil Mack and Company to bail out the offense each week, through either points or turnovers, is not a sustainable plan. Just how fragile it is was evident Sunday, when Chicago clearly felt the absence of Akiem Hicks.
The 36 points allowed were the most by the Bears this season and second most in the Nagy Era. The 11-point loss was the worst in Nagy’s two seasons as a head coach.
“These guys care, and that’s why these losses hurt so bad, because we put so much hard work and effort and time into this during the week,” Trubisky said.
“But why it’s not translating, I don’t have a theory.”
The Bears began the season full of hype and bluster. It turns out they were off the mark on that, too.