Column: The Chicago Bears have no identity
CHICAGO (WGN) — After Sunday’s deflating loss against the Arizona Cardinals, it’s clear the Chicago Bears have no identity, and the “culture” staff and players keep lauding in front of microphones won’t be enough to keep them afloat.
Long have the hallmarks of football teams stationed at Soldier Field been playing stout defense and running the football, but those tenets were nowhere to be seen Sunday as the Bears floundered aimlessly in their second consecutive prime-time game.
Last Week: The curse of the Chicago quarterback is still alive and well
Let’s take a look back at how we arrived at this moment in time when it comes to Chicago’s NFL team, shall we?
The hype surrounding the Bears heading into the 2024 regular season was unrelenting and reached new heights with each passing move General Manager Ryan Poles set in motion last offseason.
First, it was how well Chicago fleeced the Carolina Panthers for last year’s No. 1 pick, and how that trade set up the frenzy of expectations that preluded another flurry of moves.
The Panthers got Bryce Young, but the Bears walked away with what turned out to be DJ Moore, Caleb Williams, Darnell Wright, Tyrique Stevenson, Tory Taylor and a 2025 second-round draft pick.
After parting ways with Luke Getsy at offensive coordinator, Chicago brought in Shane Waldron to replace him, who was lauded for his work helping revive the career of journeyman quarterback Geno Smith with the Seattle Seahawks.
Throw in the trade for Keenan Allen and the free agency acquisitions of D’Andre Swift and Gerald Everett — on top of returning a defense that features the likes of Jaylon Johnson, Montez Sweat, TJ Edwards and more — and any reasonable football mind was looking at the Bears as a palace of promise that oozed talent on both sides of the ball.
Hard Knocks even came in and put the team in the national spotlight when they chose the Bears as their team to cover during training camp.
All they needed to do was formulate a plan that cultivates the abilities of their young talents while galvanizing the overall roster into one, big cohesive unit that plays complimentary football from top to bottom.
Easier said than done, I suppose.
The culmination of what was once believed to be an embarrassment of riches on offense, has felt more like a slow descent into a chaotic midlife crisis — the sudden collection of new, high tech toys that Waldron has no idea how to properly use — than a shining transformation into a modern NFL offense over the last couple of weeks.
After averaging 31.7 points per game from Weeks 4 through 7, Waldron and Chicago’s offense have turned in back-to-back duds in marquee matchups against teams that feature potent offenses, but also defenses that are pedestrian or border-on being atrocious.
“Full responsibility. Full responsibility for that,” said Eberflus, when asked about accountability for their lack of performance on offense. “We’ll work with the offensive staff tomorrow morning as we watch this tape tonight and find answers — find answers for running the ball first, making sure [we] do that, and setting everything off of that.”
As of Monday, the Cardinals defense ranked 26th in the NFL in rush yards (140.9) and pass yards (235.6) allowed per game, 27th in total yards (376.5) and opponent completion percentage allowed (69.1%), 30th in rush yards allowed per attempt (5.1) and 31st in opponent’s third down conversion percentage (48.18%).
On Sunday, the Bears ran the ball 23 times for 69 yards (3.0 YPC) while Williams completed 22 of 41 passes (53.7%) for 172 passing yards. They had 241 yards in total, and converted 3 of 14 third down attempts (21.4%).
Arizona also registered six sacks, compared to Chicago’s three. Heading into the contest, the Cardinals had 15 sacks in eight games and six sacks total over their last five.
“The pressure was there,” Eberflus said. “We got to make sure we’re good with flipping those things and making sure our protection is clean too because when you protect your quarterback — and our quarterback’s a good quarterback — he can get the ball down the field and do a good job there.”
The erratic offense and pressure took their toll as the game went on too, though if there were a situation worthy of throwing the injury card Sunday, it’s the condition of the Bears’ offensive line.
Interior offensive lineman Ryan Bates didn’t see the field as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury that’s knocked him out since Week 1, while Chicago was also down their top two left tackles, Braxton Jones (knee) and Kiran Amegadjie (calf), heading into the game.
They also lost their starting right tackle, Darnell Wright (knee), to injury in the fourth quarter.
The end result? According to ESPN’s Next Gen Stats, 16 different Arizona defenders got a pressure against the Bears Sunday, which was the most individual players to get a pressure for a defense since 2018.
That included the final play of the game, where Williams was left in and came up limp after being rolled by the Cardinals’ Julian Okwara following an incomplete pass intended for Allen.
Williams said he was okay in his postgame press conference, but it wasn’t his decision on whether or not he stayed in a game that was over long before the final buzzer struck zeroes.
“You fight to the end of the game if you’re in the game,” Williams said. “If not, coach makes a decision like that, you have to deal with it and figure out the next steps, but [it was] not my decision.”
As lost as Chicago looked on offense, the defense also took a step in the wrong direction.
Arizona took a page out of the Bears’ playbook of old and established the run, hammering a unit that was the NFL’s No. 1-ranked run defense just a year ago.
The Cardinals racked up 213 yards on the ground behind 15 carries and 107 yards from lead back James Conner, but their rushing performance was inflated thanks to a pair of massive mistakes at the end of the first half.
Gervon Dexter Sr, who leads Chicago in sacks (4.0) playing the three-tech during his sophomore season, was flagged for trying to use the snapper as leverage with just under four minutes to go.
The penalty wiped out a 32-yard field goal for Arizona and gave them a fresh set of downs inside the 10-yard line, which turned into a 1-yard Trey Benson TD run three plays later, swinging the score from 10-6 to 14-6.
After Cairo Santos notched his third field goal of the first half, the Bears defense was gashed for a 53-yard TD run by Emari Demercado with four seconds to go in the second quarter, all but sealing Chicago’s fate on Sunday.
Eberflus went on to take responsibility for the play call at that moment, saying “that’s on me” because he called a pass pressure when the Cardinals ended up running the ball.
“I can make a better call there. That’s on me,” Eberflus said. “I do believe that our run defense needs to shore up … again, when you have a big run like that, obviously the numbers go up. ut again, we know how to do it. We’ve done it in the past. It’s important we shore that up and make sure we do a better job, starting with the coaches and the players after that.”
The Bears head coach also emphasized the message that the season essentially breaks down into two smaller seasons, where they need to turn their focus inward and “circle the wagons” heading into next weekend’s matchup against the New England Patriots.
Williams said the team was receptive to Eberflus’s message after the game, with several team leaders stepping up to reinforce his message, but if he and Waldron don’t work to re-establish the team’s identity on offense, it won’t matter what the team’s culture has to say about their performances moving forward.
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