Chicago Bears: Another Week, Another Frustrating Loss

The Chicago Bears took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road and gave another frustrating performance, resulting in another loss.

The Chicago Bears had another frustrating and embarrassing loss last week to the Green Bay Packers. As a result, they spent the entire week having to deal with tough questions and the fans’ ire.

The team needed a victory to calm the fans’ nerves and bring back their hope for the team to take a step forward in the rebuild. Instead, they suffered another loss. This time it was to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 27-17.

Things seemed great when the Bears marched 75 yards on six plays. Quarterback Justin Fields found wide receiver  D.J. Moore on two of those plays for 64 yards. That was notable because last week he targeted Moore two times in the entire game.

Things reverted back after that, however. After that initial drive, Fields and Moore hooked up three times for six yards. It was not until the middle of the fourth quarter that he found Moore downfield.

The Bears had another touchdown drive. This one was for 90 yards. Fields found Moore twice on the drive for 34 yards. In total, Moore had 6 receptions for 104 yards.

Moore showed that he is exactly the wide receiver Fields and the offense needed. Even though he did not have a touchdown, his catches set up the two touchdowns the Bears had.

While those two drives were nice to see, they were basically the only highlights for the Bears. Fields again struggled to find open receivers downfield. His habit of holding onto the ball really hurt him in this game. He turned possible big plays into incompletions, or worse yet, sacks.

Despite struggles, Bears had a chance

After the Bears’ second touchdown, it seemed as if they could mount a comeback. The touchdown made the score 20-17. The defense actually made a stop and the Bears had the ball with less than three minutes left in the game.

The Bears got the ball inside their 10. They had to go a long way, but they had that chance.

However, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy again decided to go for the short yardage passes. Fields dropped back to throw a screen up the middle. He was under pressure, though and threw the pass right into Tampa’s defender Shaq Barrett. He caught the ball and rumbled into the end zone. That was game, set, and match for Chicago.

Just for good measure, Fields threw another interception on the next drive.

We continually see this from the Bears. When it seems they have a shot at tying or taking a lead late in the game they make a critical mistake that costs them that shot.

It just adds to the frustrations the fans feel over this team.

The offensive line struggled again, but it wasn’t all the unit’s fault

The offensive line allowed more sacks than they did last week (four in Week 1 and six in Week 2). However, Fields’ indecision was responsible for a few of them.

What was more concerning was Braxton Jones‘ performance. After committing four penalties (three accepted) last week, he committed two more on Sunday (one accepted). That means he already has six penalties, four of them accepted. The accepted penalties are already half of the number of penalties he committed all of last season.

Jones has to get better. He is getting beaten early and his footwork isn’t as good as it was last season. As a result, he is out of position and he needs to hold to keep the pass rusher from killing Fields.

The line was without guard Nate Davis. He suffered a death in the family so he missed the game. It turns out that some of the time he missed during training camp was because of his family member being sick.

The defense struggled even with Eberflus leading the unit

Defensively, the Bears looked the same. That is to say, they were bad. The defense gave up 437 yards of offense. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield had 317 passing yards and a touchdown. His favorite receiver was Mike Evans. Evans had 6 catches for 171 yards and a touchdown.

The defense was without coordinator Alan Williams. He missed the game due to personal reasons. Head coach Matt Eberflus called the plays for the defense.

Williams received criticism for not making the proper adjustments to what opposing offenses did. Opponents usually beat down the Chicago Bears defense with the same plays over and over again.

Of course, there was more to be concerned with than just the coordinator. Last week, cornerback Kyler Gordon suffered a possible broken hand. The team placed him on injured reserve so he will miss at least four games.

Then his backup, Josh Blackwell, hurt his hamstring. He was ruled out for the game.

Then, during the game, the Bears lost both of their starting safeties. Eddie Jackson left due to a foot injury and Jaquan Brisker left because of an illness.

Jackson went down with a non-contact injury on the same foot he suffered a Lisfranc injury that shut down his season last year. Eberflus said the team was cautiously optimistic but wouldn’t rule out that Jackson might have suffered a setback on that injury.

After watching this game, the fans are likely as sick as Brisker was feeling.

The team will face more anger and questions this upcoming week

With another frustrating loss, the Chicago Bears will face a lot more scrutiny. If some of the players felt that last week was a shocker, they might be even more shocked at what happens this coming week.

The Bears are stuck in mediocrity and cannot seem to get out. After an offseason in which general manager Ryan Poles overhauled the roster, many felt the team could take a step in the right direction. So far, however, that step seems far away.

There is certainly plenty of time ahead for things to change. It won’t happen right away, however. The Bears travel again in Week 3. This time they face the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. In addition to facing the champs, the question of why the Bears passed on quarterback Patrick Mahomes for Mitchell Trubisky will pop up again. The fans will be thinking of what could have been all over again.

Place your seats in its upright position and put on your seat belts, folks. This will be a bumpy ride of a season and it just started.