Chicago Bears: With the Sky Falling, Team Needs to Right Things Quickly

During their two-game losing streak, the Chicago Bears are suffering a collapse. If they don’t right the ship quickly, they may have a worse season than last year.

Things are very bad for the Chicago Bears over the past two weeks. In Week 7, the offense could not reach the end zone and the defense outscored it. Also, the defense played undisciplined football. Last week, the offense improved but suffered an implosion that made it difficult for them to hold onto their lead.

This week, the injury bug and injuries hit the team. Backup quarterback, a player that many fans want to return to the starting lineup, suffered a shoulder injury on the lone play he ran last week. The team announced he won’t need surgery but he’s listed as week-to-week. Third-string quarterback, Tyler Bray, may not be available himself because of the team’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Speaking of COVID-19, the Bears got good news when they activated offensive lineman Germain Ifedi. His availability was also in doubt because of the virus but he tested negative so he’s ready to go. With him back, the offensive line has only two linemen who started the season. Guard James Daniels suffered a torn pectoral muscle and is out for the season. Center Cody Whitehair missed last week’s game because of a calf muscle strain, and he recently became the third offensive lineman who tested positive for the virus (tackle Jason Spriggs was the first player to test positive). Bobby Massie suffered a leg injury when some players rolled up on it. The Bears placed him on injured reserve and he must sit out at least three weeks. Finally, Sam Mustipher, who replaced Whitehair at center, may miss this week’s game because of an undisclosed injury.

Things look bad at the moment

It seems like the sky is falling for the Chicago Bears. The offensive line was already struggling before the injuries and the virus hit. Now we don’t know what happens with all the shuffling. These problems are just off-the-field struggles the team dealt with this week. There is still the on-field struggles. Quarterback Nick Foles is struggling to get the ball moving. Running back David Montgomery is the Bears’ only true running back on the roster. The coaching staff keeps wanting to use Cordarrelle Patterson as a backup but that experiment is completely failing. They have Artavis Pierce and Lamar Miller, but the coaches still don’t feel comfortable using them, for some unknown reason.

The Bears need to right the ship and do it quickly before the downward spiral continues to threaten the season. Because of their two-game losing streak, they went from the top seed in the NFC to out of the playoff picture altogether. Their loss to the Los Angeles Rams gives them the tie-breaker. They need some help to get back into the playoffs.

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Doing that may be difficult. They go on the road to face the Tennessee Titans this week. Then they have to face the Green Bay Packers twice in the following seven weeks. They do face the failing Minnesota Vikings twice, and the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars and the more competitive Detroit Lions (who nearly beat the Bears earlier this season). Those are winnable games, but how winnable are they considering the troubles they face at the moment?

If the Bears can stop the bleeding quickly and play good enough to win enough to make the playoffs that should be good. If not, this will be a long and painful end to the season with the team ending up worse than they were in 2019. That makes for a long offseason.