Chicago Bears: The Good, Bad, And Ugly From Week 16 Loss

The Chicago Bears lost to the Buffalo Bills in Week 16, their eighth game in a row. Here is a list of the good, bad, and ugly from the game.

The losses continue to pile up for the Chicago Bears. They hosted the Buffalo Bills in a Week 16 matchup in the bitter cold. They ended up losing 35-13. It was their eighth loss in a row and their 11th in their last 12.

The Bears looked ineffective in the face of the weather. It did not affect the Bills too much, however. They were able to run and throw their way to an easy victory.

The Bears once again got out of the gate pretty well. Velus Jones, who has had trouble in the return game, had a nice 29-yard return that got the offense started at the 36. Justin Fields then led the unit 64 yards in 8 plays. The drive culminated in a Fields touchdown pass to Dante Pettis.

The Bears struggled to move the ball the rest of the way. Despite that, they had a 10-6 lead at halftime.

Then things completely fell apart. The Bills outscored the Bears 29-3 in the second half as they were able to run over Bears defenders and Josh Allen was able to complete passes almost at will.

Here are the takes from this game:

The Good — The defense causes turnovers

Yes, the defense took it on the chin. The Bears allowed 426 total yards to the Bills and 254 of them on the ground. The injuries to the unit started to take their toll. With a growing number of rookies and backups to backups playing, it was rough.

One thing that was impressive, however, was the turnovers. The Bears’ defense forced three turnovers.

It is a great thing to see the defense force turnovers again. Chicago now has six turnovers forced in their last two games. That comes after forcing just two in their previous five games. What makes it more impressive is that it came against two of the top offenses in the NFL.

While the result was the same, it is nice to see the defense swarm to the ball and force turnovers. This was the staple of the Indianapolis Colts’ defense under Matt Eberflus. While he is now a head coach, he wants the same type of defense. Doing it against two great offenses gives hope for when the defense gets better players and is healthy.

The Bad — Third down conversions

One of the impressive aspects of the Chicago Bears this season was their third-down conversions. After struggling in that category for years, this year’s offense is in the top ten.

That changed against the Bills.

Chicago’s offense was just 2/12 on third downs for the game. What’s worse is that they went 0/6 in the second half. Because of the weather and the deficit, the Bears went for it on fourth down four times but converted just once.

This is what we’ve seen in past Chicago Bears offenses. They could not sustain drives and the defense had to spend too much time on the field. Hopefully, this was just a blip and the offense continues to succeed on third down.

The Ugly — Second-half play

That second half was one of the ugliest the Chicago Bears offense had this season. It seems that they just decided that they wanted to stay on the sideline and by the heater. While the Bills marched up and down the field (except when they turned the ball over) the Bears could barely get a first down.

The Bills completely locked Chicago down in the second half. The Bears had just 11 first downs for the game. In the second half, though, they had just four.

In the first half, the Bears had 121 total yards on offense nut had just 88 total yards in the second half.

Entering the game as the league’s best rushing team, many thought the weather would help the Bears. It did not, however. They had just 80 rushing yards for the game. It was horrible in the second half. The Bears rushed for just nine yards. Fields, who is in the top ten in rushing this season (and became only the third quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards), was shut down. He had 11 yards on 7 carries.

The Bills have a fast defense and it showed. They did not overpursue and were able to get to Fields quickly. Fields was not able to break free.

David Montgomery was the Bears’ leading rusher with 62 yards. He had another nice game, adding 22 receiving yards. He has looked good in the past few games, likely showing good film for other teams. In the offseason he becomes a free agent so he may not return to Chicago next season.

Khalil Herbert, who missed four games while on injured reserve, returned. Maybe that was not a good idea. The Bills swarmed all over him and he just could not find any holes. He finished the game with just seven yards on six carries. Hopefully, things get better this week. They face the Detroit Lions at their indoor stadium. They won’t have to worry about wind, snow, or cold. Let’s see if they play better.