The Tyson Bagent era took a bad turn last night in Los Angeles as the Chargers routed the Bears 30-13 on national TV. It was the Bears’ 7 consecutive loss on Sunday Night and their record this season slid to 2-6. This game was embarrassment on all fronts as all three phases of the game struggled mightily throughout the night.
Offensively much was made of QB Tyson Bagent heading into the game(more on that later) but Bagent and the offense just couldn’t get anything going. Bagent didn’t have the success he had last week against the Raiders as he finished 25 of 37 for 235 yards and 2 INTs. He did have a 1-yd TD run on a QB sneak but that was when the game was well out of hand. On the team’s 1st possession, Bagent found Darnell Mooney on a 41-yard strike but the drive fizzled three plays later. While Bagent was able to find 9 different receivers he was also inaccurate on the deep ball. His receivers didn’t help him out as Velus Jones dropped what should’ve been a TD pass and Mooney couldn’t hold on to a ball that lead to one of Bagent’s 2 interceptions. Penalties also helped to kill drives during the 1st half. The run game was inept as the Bears rushed for just 73 yards on a 2.9 yards per rush average. All of these shortcomings spelled doom for the young QB as he clearly looked like a backup QB.
Defensively, the Bears were awful. The Chargers scored on their 1st 5 drives with little resistance. The Bears got an up close look at a franchise QB as Justin Herbert dismantled the defense to the tune of 31 of 40 for 298 yards & 3 TDs. The most egregious of the TD drives came right before the end of the 1st half as Herbert calmly led the Chargers on a 75-yard drive in just 1:43 to take a 24-7 lead into halftime. Game. Set. Match. Poor tackling, defensive miscues and the inability to get pressure with the front four made life miserable for Bears fans.
Grading The Bears
Offense: The run game was non-existent and Bagent looked like every bit the backup he is. That’s not a knock but the overhyping of his skills put a ton of pressure on him. Bagent had 2 INTs & it could’ve been 4 if not for a couple of drops. A couple of penalties on the OL also hampered drives. The fact the Bears couldn’t take advantage of the worst pass defense in the NFL is inexcusable. DJ Moore only getting one target in the 2nd half is also inexcusable. Grade: D
Defense: The Bears were shredded through the air as Herbert found 8 different receivers in a variety of ways. Undisciplined play and poor tackling aided in the efforts against the defense last night. They didn’t have an answer for Austin Ekeler as he had 123 yards from scrimmage and a TD. Once again the front four couldn’t get pressure and the team didn’t record a sack. The Bears are stuck on 10 sacks for the season. Grade: F
Special Teams: 2 FGs for Cairo Santos were offset by key mistakes from Velus Jones. Jones decided to take a kickoff out of the endzone only to get to the 17 yard line. On another play a 15-yard penalty by Jones gave the Chargers good field position that led to a scoring drive. Grade: D
Coaching: Matt Eberflus’ defense schemes proved laughable against Justin Herbert. The same can be said of Luke Getsy and his strategies against the worst pass defense in the league. I’m sure coaching will point to lack of execution by the players and there is some truth to that but everything about Eberflus’ HITS principle were definitely not on display Sunday night. Grade: F
The Good, Bad, Ugly
The Good: Nothing good about getting blown out on national TV.
The Bad: Undisciplined play, turnovers and a lack of pressure all reared its head on Sunday night. You can’t play the way the Bears played and expect to try and keep up with an elite QB like Justin Herbert. You have to play almost perfect especially when you have a young rookie at QB like Tyson Bagent.
The Ugly: You know what’s ugly – the way the Bears fed information to the NBC announce crew about Tyson Bagent & Justin Fields. The comments made by Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth bordered on insanity. Here were a couple of comments made by Collinsworth during the broadcast:
Collingworth bus tossing Justin Fields is the worst kind of announcing. You can hype up Bagent without having to bury Fields but the NBC crew wouldn’t have made these type of clownish comments without getting talking points from the Bears. If there was ever a moment when you can say the Bears were never all in on Justin Fields then Sunday night was the crystalizing moment for you. It’s apparent Eberflus & Getsy don’t want to coach Fields and it may be apparent that GM Ryan Poles also never wanted Fields because how else do you explain those comments by Collinsworth.
670 The Score’s Dan Bernstein & Laurence Holmes offered their thoughts as well:
Bernstein & Holmes hit the nail right on the head. That’s dirty politics from the Bears. That’s the type of nonsense that makes this organization the dysfunctional mess that they are. They are basically saying they’re too inept to develop and coach to players’ talents. It’s time for Ryan Poles to make a choice because it’s clear the coaching staff and Justin Fields can’t co-exist… but then again do you really expect Poles to make the right call?
Head coach Matt Eberflus took to the podium after another blowout loss:
Up Next: The Bears travel to The Big Easy to take on the 3-4 Saints. Good luck…
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