Bears Grades: Defensive Decline Makes for a Balanced Team

The Bears talked about staying together and they finally are as the defense showed it can be just as flawed as their offense

Bears coach Matt Nagy spent last week preaching how everyone on the team is sticking together.

They then lost 34-30 Sunday to the Detroit Lions and Bilal Nichols was saying the same thing afterward.

"We're gonna stick together regardless," Nichols said.

Mitchell Trubisky agreed.

"My job is to continue to make sure this team is sticking together, make sure these leaders are sticking together and we will continue to uplift our teammates and the people in our building," Trubisky said.

It seems to be working. 

They truly are all together now.

First only the offense stunk. Now the defense stinks, too.

If only kick Cairo Santos would quit making field goals, then this would be a complete team.

The Bears have been declining precipitously on defense over the course of their losing streak. They've slipped to 13th in passer rating against now after ranking in the top three through the first half of the year.

This week's report card reflects the decline of a defense worn down by a season of carrying their offense, and an offense capable of making mistakes big enough to offset any improvement they themselves have made..

Passing Game: B

The 108.3 passer rating Mitchell Trubisky put up would be enough to win most games. However, they don't count lost fumbles in passer rating. A nice job of everyone involved at getting Cole Kmet involved with a career-high five receptions, including an 11-yard bootleg pass for a touchdown. They made use of almost all the receivers and Javon Wims didn't punch anyone. One whose name was absent from the stat sheet in terms of catches was Jimmy Graham. He was shut out for the second time in three games. It's not even easy to blame the offensive line much despite the strip-sack allowed of Trubisky. They gave up two sacks and that shouldn't be too much to overcome.

Running Game: B

They piled up yardage in the first half and then went away from it at times in the second half. Penalties cropped up and forced them into second-half passing situations. Still, David Montgomery and Cordarrelle Patterson helped them gain more yards (140) than any game since the opener. The problem was, only 34 of those came in the second half when they really needed it and Montgomery couldn't get the one big yard they needed at the end.

Run Defense: B

The 60 yards rushing on 22 carries was their best effort this year and best dating back to Oct. 27 against the Chargers last year, but one key 5-yard TD run by Adrian Peterson through the tackle attempts of Roquan Smith and Jaylon Johnson kept it from topping out at an A performance. Having Akiem Hicks back obviously helped against the run.

Pass Defense: F

Stafford was a hall of famer based on Sunday's effort. The 402 passing yards was ridiculous, as were 6 of 11 on third down and 3-for-3 on red-zone trips. All signs the defense has been wearing down. It wasn't just their pass coverage where the decay was present. Neither Khalil Mack nor Robert Quinn showed up on the stat sheet and Akiem Hicks only did with two tackles. The Big 3 in the Bears pass rush got blanked, not a quarterback hit to be found let a lone a sack. Fortunately, Nichols and Barkevious Mingo had their only sacks and Nichols the big defensive play, an interception.

Special Teams: C+

DeAndre Carter as the punt returner is working out about like Ted Ginn did. He let the ball hit twice and it nearly struck Bears blockers on the return, and he had one other misadventure on a punt return. The Lions went to pooch kicks to negate Cordarrelle Patterson after a game-opening 45-yard return, and it worked because J.P. Holtz insisted on running it back toward the crowd instead of plowing straight ahead when he fielded kicks. Cairo Santos hit another one as he remains possibly the most steady aspect of this team.

Coaching C-

Bill Lazor assembled a nice offensive plan to keep Detroit's defense off balance until the second half, although he couldn't find a way to get them in the end zone again in the third quarter. It was his best game calling plays to date. Maybe Chuck Pagano should do what Matt Nagy did and let someone else call the plays. He's struggling in terms of getting the most out of his talent.  

Overall: D+

The C- they deserve for this effort won't be realized because the opponent was a team with an interim coach in his first year, a team really among the league's dredges, and the Bears couldn't even hold a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against them.

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