Chicago Bears: 2 Studs and 2 duds from Week 8 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers

Dud: The entire defense

We saw the defense play well for the past month or so. They have drastically improved in both pass and rushing defense. The rushing defense was especially good. Over the past four games, they gave up a total of 114 yards.

That continued on Sunday but that was a "good news-bad news" situation. The defense gave up just 54 rushing yards at 2.2 yards per carry. That was impressive. However, part of the reason for that was that the Chargers were killing the Bears defense through the air.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was 31/40 for 298 yards and 3 touchdowns. He completed his first 15 passes attempted. The Chargers were not really concerned with how the running game went. Unlike the Bears, they effectively used the screen pass like their version of a run play.

Once again, the Bears were unable to get to Herbert. Their pass rush has been nearly nonexistent this season and that continued on Sunday. Herbert was able to stand in the pocket without pressure and find open receivers. He took advantage of the Bears' deep zone by taking what they gave him -- the passes underneath. He threw the short and intermediate passes and his receivers took advantage of poor tackling on the part of the Bears defenders to break free and make big gains.

After showing a big improvement in the past month, Chicago's defense took a step back on Sunday. Hopefully, that isn't a bad sign that the defense is regressing.