Grading the Bears

If a team is to be blown out, better it come in the final quarter in order to give the impression of competitiveness.

The Bears managed to do this on Saturday. They fooled everyone for a half and then by the middle of the third quarter had fallen behind 21-10.

The expected rout against a Super Bowl contender began.

"It was a spirited game for sure, but at the end of the day I just told the guys in the locker room, really two things: owning the line of scrimmage. Obviously we didn't do a good enough job with that," coach Matt Eberflus said. "They had the ability to run the ball, and we did not run the ball as well as we wanted to."

Those two seem like one in the same, but whatever.

A week earlier, they stayed with a Super Bowl contender and injured the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback. They had their best cornerback in that game, but not Saturday. Nor did they have their best offensive lineman or second best offensive lineman and for a portion of the game they were without one of those players' subs. The Dieter Eiselen era at guard began with Michael Schofield's hand injury, but then ended quickly when Schofield returned.

The Bears are not to be taken seriously as a team. That is to say, their lack of talent now is even worse than ever due to injuries. Any success they achieve must be attributed to lack of serious execution by the opponent.

If a defense does what Buffalo did to Justin Fields, forces him to hand off on RPO plays and sits on his planned runs around end, then it's up to others to gain yards running. They didn't do it.

Certainly they're not doing it passing-wise because 119 yards throwing beats no one, and there is no Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown and Chase Claypool to make the yardage total better.

"In the third quarter they went touchdown, touchdown, fumble," Eberflus said. "We went fumble, punt, punt. It wasn't good enough there in the third quarter.

"Situational football also we need to be better at. I think we were 2 of 12 and they were 6 of 11 on third down. Red zone, the same thing, it was lopsided that way."

The Bears know what needs to be done, they just lack people who can do them.

Some they do have but many watch from a distance on injured reserve. Others are going to enter free agency and escape from other teams to come to Chicago when free agency begins in March.

Considering the handicap the Bears operate under, the grades for the Bills game need to be a bit lenient.

Besides, it's Christmas. No sense being upset on this day above all others, especially when they still have the second pick in the draft and they managed to escape successive games against Super Bowl contenders without getting Justin Fields injured.

Well, OK, he did just get whacked on the shoulder and his foot was stepped on, but he's a tough guy says Eberflus.

Running Game: D-

They get Christmas leniency. It's D- instead of an F. It's the season of hope. Gaining 9 yards rushing on 12 runs in the second half does give them hope they'll get better. It would be hard to get worse.

Passing Game: D

Getting Velus Jones Jr. involved on two receptions for 52 yards and completing a 6-yard pass for a TD to Dante Pettis amounted to the passing attack. Besides the 44-yard pass to Jones and 25 yards thrown for by Nate Peterman in relief after Fields' foot injury, the Bears had only 19 yards passing in the second half.

Run Defense: F

Sure, it's Christmas, but a team would need to just about be frozen in place to give up 254 yards rushing and 8.1 yards a carry. And they gave up 8.9 yards per carry to the running backs. It was only the second-worst run defense they've had in a game, which shows how porous they've actually been against the run over the full year.

Pass Defense: B-

This one could have been an A if they had a little better pass rush, were better on third down and if Jaylon Jones had picked off a dangerous cross-field lob thrown up by Jason Allen. Safety Jaquan Brisker made a sack, and padded his team-leading total to 4.0, which explains a lot about their defense.

Special Teams: B

This time it was the opponent missing an extra point, and also a shorter field goal try. Velus Jones returned four kicks for an outstanding 28.3-yard average and punter Trenton Gill put one dead inside the 5 on a season's best 68-yard effort.

Coaching: C

Not one of their better days calling plays. Usually it's considered a positive to keep running in the face of adversity on the ground. This time Luke Getsy should have abandoned the run earlier and started passing because 9 yards rushing in a half on 12 carries isn't doing it for anyone. The Bills defense dominated against the run and the Bears needed to realize it sooner. On the other hand, they had a solid understanding of how to force Allen into throwing the ball up for grabs.

Overall: D+

Only two more of these exhibitions to endure until the real Bears season begins at 11 a.m. on March 13, with the start of the legalized tampering period for free agency.

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