Chicago Bears embarrassed by Rams in primetime proving ground

The Chicago Bears questions on offense are growing louder after a blowout loss to the Rams.

The Chicago Bears felt good about themselves on their way to a 5-1 start to the 2020 NFL season. The media, however, wasn’t convinced on the whole. They had questions about the Bears offense since it hasn’t looked very good with either Mitchell Trubisky or Nick Foles leading it. They continued to win, so it didn’t matter.

Now it seems the offensive woes really matter.

The Bears again faced a very good defense in the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football. If they could come away with a win or just look good against this defense, then those questions can start to subside and they could start to truly prove themselves. Well, none of those things happened.

Chicago not only lost but lost big and got embarrassed. The final score was 24-10 but the game was basically over when the game was 7-0 because the offense didn’t even score a touchdown (they scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery taken to the house by Eddie Jackson).

Head coach Matt Nagy has talked about getting the details right throughout the season. The lack of attention to detail and undisciplined play really hurt the Bears.

Penalties really hurt the team in the game. They committed six penalties, which aren’t a lot, but when they committed them really hurt. They had a nice drive to open up the game until Germain Ifedi committed a holding penalty that killed the drive. Later on, the Bears had a fourth-and-1 and were going for it. Rashaad Coward committed a false start, however, and Chicago had to punt the ball.

Surprisingly, the undisciplined play by defensive lineman Akiem Hicks really hurt the defense. He committed four penalties, and the officials missed another one that was pretty clear. His penalties extended drives and allowed the Rams to score touchdowns.

While the Monday Night Football announcers heralded his abilities, he had a bad game. You can’t have one of your best players continually commit penalties that really hurt you and expect to win games, especially with a struggling offense.

Offensive line continues to struggle

Another point of concern is the play of the offensive line. The unit has struggled through most of the season and basically didn’t show up in this game. Foles was sacked four times but even that doesn’t tell the whole story. He constantly had to get rid of the ball quicker than he needed to, a lot of times not being able to step into throws. Doing that he couldn’t hit on key throws.

On their first drive of the third quarter, rookie wide receiver Darnell Mooney made a beautiful move on All-World cornerback Jalen Ramsey and was wide open. If the pass is completed, it’s a 95-yard touchdown pass.

Foles was under pressure, however, and had to get rid of the ball quickly, overthrowing Mooney. In fact, Mooney could have had an incredible game. There were three times in the game in which Foles and Mooney couldn’t connect. Again, the pressure on Foles prevented him from properly getting the throw off. Foles had two interceptions in the game.

Something has to be done with this offensive line. The trade deadline is looming so maybe there is a deal to be made. Trading for an offensive lineman is difficult, though, since teams all around the league also have needs at offensive line.

Coward is struggling as much at right tackle as he did at left guard last season. What is wrong with Alex Bars? Yes, he struggled when he came in against the Tampa Bay Bucs in Week 5, but he was just thrown in without any preparation after James Daniels went down. He did adjust and settled down late in the game.

After a few drives, he hasn’t been seen. Let’s see what he can do with a full week of preparation.

Chicago Bears need to pick up the pieces and get back on track

I don’t want to seem like an alarmist but this is an important short week for the Bears. They went from the NFC’s top seed (after the Seattle Seahawks lost on Sunday night) to the No. 5 seed (facing the Philadelphia Eagles on the road). They face the New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers in three of their next four games. They need to do what they did after the Indianapolis Colts debacle and come away with a big victory on a short week.

The Bears need to avoid what happened last season. They started 3-1 before they lost four consecutive games. They came back to win four of their next five but, by that point, they were barely holding on in the playoff race and ultimately failed to get in.

The NFC is bunched up this season. The Bears cannot afford a losing streak. If that happens, they can find themselves out of the playoffs again. They need to forget this game and prepare to stay on track.

Next up for the Bears is the Saints at Soldier Field. They still have a good offense but aren’t as explosive as they have been in recent years. They are a top-ten scoring team, though, ranking seventh. However, their defense is really struggling, ranking 24th in the league, giving up 29 points per game. This could be a get straight game for the offense, but we’ve said that before. Let’s see if they look better.