Chicago Bears tumble down ESPN's Week 9 NFL Power Rankings

ESPN released its Week 8 NFL Power Rankings, and the Chicago Bears took a tumble after their latest loss. Here’s where they stand heading into Week 9.

Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

The Chicago Bears were riding a four-game winning streak into Week 8's clash agains the Baltimore Ravens, but sloppy play and and underwhelming performance by the offense led to a 30-16 loss and swirling questions around QB Caleb Williams' development.

Indeed, Ben Johnson put some of those questions to rest when he said that Williams' Week 8 showing was his best in a few weeks, but the sour taste of defeat remained.

In fact, it's going to linger for a while.

Chicago's standing in NFL Power Rankings took a hit, too.

For example, ESPN's latest league power ranking dropped the Bears two spots, from No. 14 down to No. 16.

At least the World Wide Leader is still a believer in coach Ben Johnson.

"The Bears are a competent, well-coached football team under Johnson," ESPN's Courtney Cronin wrote. "The results aren't always there, as red zone efficiency and penalties continue to be a problem. But Chicago put together a four-game win streak, and it has buy-in that feels different than other seasons. Johnson has preached accountability, which he has demonstrated in his honest reflection on decisions and calls that didn't work. That's a breath of fresh air as the culture shifts inside Halas Hall."

Accountability will be a point of emphasis after Week 8, when Chicago was flagged 11 times.

"We've got to play a cleaner game, complement each other better," Johnson said on Mnday.. "We had good field position on offense a number of times and we simply didn't score enough points. We have to eliminate the penalties. We're shooting ourselves in the foot way too much and we've got to be more efficient in the red zone."

Now, it's up to the locker room to respond.

"We've talked about it with the players," Johnson said on Monday. "We'll certainly make sure that they understand. Especially now that we lost a game and penalties were a big culprit as to why we didn't have the success we wanted to, I think it really opens pandora's box up here where, 'Hey, all hands on deck here, we've got to get this thing fixed.' We've been harping on it as a coaching staff and when it results in a loss, I think it just magnifies the issue that was at hand."

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