Chicago Bears: Coaching decisions are baffling

The Chicago Bears got embarrassed in Week 4 by the Green Bay Packers, and a lot of the blame lies at the feet of the coaching staff.

The Chicago Bears got it handed to them by the Green Bay Packers in Week 4, dropping the primetime game 35-14. If you watched the game, you realize that it wasn’t even as close or competitive as the final score might indicate.

Head coach John Fox said after the game that the team got outcoached, and it was clear that they did. Yes, the Packers have Aaron Rodgers, but despite missing both starting offensive tackles, their top two running backs, and their best defensive lineman, the Packers had no trouble on either side of the ball.

It was a very confusing game to watch if you were a Bears fan, because some of the decisions by the coaching staff were baffling. Let’s run down some of the biggest head-scratching moves made by the Bears in Week 4.

On the first offensive snap, the Bears decided to call a seven-step drop and throw the ball. The question is, why? One week after the team runs for over 200 yards, why put the ball in Mike Glennon’s hands? The play, as you know, resulted in a strip-sack and a Packers fumble recovery at the Bears 3-yard line.

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With the game well out of hand in the fourth quarter (35-7 deficit), Jordan Howard was still in the game. This is the same player who had battled a shoulder injury the past two weeks and had to leave Thursday’s game briefly with the same injury. Howard is the Bears most important piece on offense (outside of Mitchell Trubisky), so why expose him in a game that was already lost?

Oh, that’s right, it gets worse with Howard. With two minutes left in the game and the team facing a fourth-and-1 (still down 35-7), Howard was back out there! It was maddening to watch, and Fox and company are lucky he didn’t get hurt again.

The same thing can be said about Kyle Long. It looked like Long was hobbling around early in the second half, yet the coaching staff kept him in the game until the last whistle. Long is coming off major ankle surgery, and just got his first game action four days prior to Thursday’s game. Long should have finished the game on the sideline with a baseball hat on.

Meanwhile, the Bears decided to run the ball on nearly every play in the fourth quarter. Yet, after the two-minute warning, the team started throwing the ball around again. Pick a lane and stay in it. Do you want to simply run the clock out, or do you want to see Glennon run the offense a little more? It seemed like the Bears could not decide.

And as a final aside: In a blowout, Adam Shaheen can’t get more than eight snaps? All of these decisions, coupled with the obvious quarterback issue, leaves fans scratching their heads. It was a horrible game for the Bears, and the sooner the team can turn the page the better.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Week 5

All of the momentum the team had after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers got thrown out the window, and the team now has more questions than answers. If the Bears don’t turn to Mitchell Trubisky in Week 5, chaos will ensue in Chicago’s streets and it will be another baffling decision by a coaching staff that seems to be skating on thin ice.