If you’re Matt Eberflus and you had to deal with the embarrassment of losing last week on a hail mary, how would you prepare your team? It was seemingly a must win against the Arizona Cardinals yet the Bears suffered an demoralizing 29-9 loss that dropped their record to 4-4. This was a game of poor coaching and poor execution by the players.
Offensively the Bears looked lost throughout the entire afternoon as they had only 2 drives of 35 yards or more. They were unable to sustain drives due to going 3 for 14 on third down plays. They could not establish the run game all afternoon. The team rushed the ball 23 times for 69 yards. That’s a 3.0 yards per carry. The pass game was equally worthless and Caleb Williams had a terrible day at QB. There were plenty of overthrows. He was not in sync with his receivers during the game. It didn’t help he was sacked 6 times and looked like he was running for his life. Caleb also has to understand that he can’t keep running around trying to find the big play. He has to get rid of the ball. Cole Kmet not getting one target is a dereliction of duty on the part of the coaching staff.
Defensively the Bears’ run defense was fully exposed today. The Cardinals racked up 213 yards on the ground for a 6.3 yards per carry average. James Conner had a monster game with 18 carries for 107 yards. At one point in the 3rd quarter the Cards were averaging 9.6 yards per carry. Kyler Murray didn’t need to do much because the run game was so dominant. Sure, the Bears were missing Jaquan Brisker(concussion), Kyler Gordon and Montez Sweat but that shouldn’t explain how they kept getting gashed with the run game. The execution from the players was poor, the tackling was poor and the play calling didn’t put the players in a place to be successful.
🌟🌟 Stars of the Game 🌟🌟
- James Conner, Arizona – 18 rushes, 107 yards; 3 catches, 12 yards
- Emari Demercado, Arizona – 4 rushes, 59 yards, 1 TD; 2 catches, 21 yards
- Zaven Collins, Arizona – 6 tackles, 3 QB hits, 1 TFL, 2 sacks
- Xavier Thomas, Arizona – 3 tackles, 2 QB hits, 1 TFL, 1.5 sacks
- Rome Odunze, Chicago – 5 catches, 104 yards
- Kevin Byard, Chicago – 7 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery
Grading The Bears
Offense: The offensive line gave up 6 sacks and 12 QB hits. At moments it looked like Caleb Williams was running for his life. Speaking of Caleb, he struggled mightily for the 2nd straight week as he finished 22 for 41 for 217 yards and a 68.9 QB rating. The run game averaged 3.0 yards per carry. The Cardinals were giving up 132 yards per game on the ground heading into today’s game. The Bears only rushed for 69 yards. There were several dropped passes and overthrows by Williams. Pre-snap penalties cost the Bears dearly in this game. There was no rhythm or pace to this offense at all. Grade: D-
Defense: The defense did generate 3 sacks and force 2 turnovers but the run defense was fully exposed today. Allowing 213 yards on the ground is inexcusable as was the poor tackling and inability to close running lanes. The Cardinals had no problems running in between the tackles all afternoon for big yardage. Three Arizona RBs averaged 4.5 yards or more per carry. That can’t happen. Despite the injuries to Sweat, Gordon and Brisker the team got beat up in the trenches and allowed nearly 70 yards more on the ground than what the Cards have averaged. Giving up a 70 yard TD drive in 22 seconds is unforgivable. Grade: D-
Special Teams: A mixed bag for the special teams today. Cairo Santos went 3 for 3 in FGs. Tory Taylor averaged 54.5 yards per punt but a crucial special teams penalty kept a Cardinals drive alive that led to a TD. DeAndre Carter was a non-factor in the punt return game. Grade: C-
Coaching: The defensive coverage call that allowed Emari Demercado to walk in 53 yards for a TD before the end of the 1st half is the type of decision making that gets coaches fired. Once again the Bears couldn’t put points on the board in the 1st quarter. They didn’t make any adjustments for the blitzing schemes Arizona had and they didn’t make adjustments to try and stop the run. The team had 6 penalties today at critical moments that either killed drives or kept the opponents’ drives alive. Either the team is undisciplined or they have stopped listening to the coaching staff. Grade: F
What’s Next:
The Bears are now at the halfway point of the season and the rest of the season looks really tough. The Bears have the 5th toughest schedule remaining and they have yet to win a road game this year. Matt Eberflus is now 3-18 on the road and the Bears have road games in Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota and San Francisco. At the moment those look like 4 more road losses. Their playoff chances took another hit as now they do not own the tie breaker against the Commanders and the Cardinals.
ESPN Chicago’s Jonathan Hood offered his thoughts on today and what’s next for the team:
The Bears will have another chance to right the ship as the 2-7 New England Patriots visit Soldier Field. After that game, the Bears will play only 1 sub .500 team the rest of the way. If the Bears don’t make the playoffs, fans & critics alike will look to these back to back losses as reasons why – and Matt Eberflus will need to look for another job.
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