5 big takeaways from Chicago Bears’ deflating loss to New England Patriots on Sunday

CHICAGO – It was a disappointing day for Chicago Bears fans on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Quarterback Caleb Williams and the Bears once again failed to score a touchdown for the second game in a row. No. 3 overall draft pick Drake Maye and the Patriots picked up their third win of the season, defeating the Bears, 19-3.

Head coach Matt Eberflus’ team is in trouble. At 4-5, they have matchups with the Packers, Vikings and Lions coming up. More troubling was the offensive effort the Bears put together Sunday.

Here are the five big takeaways from Sunday’s game.

1. A listless effort

Yes, the Bears offensive line was as injured as any across the league (more on that below). But the offensive performance from this Bears team Sunday was among the worst of the Eberflus era. Sunday’s game felt like a flashback to 2022, when the team won only three games and the stadium was half empty in the fourth quarter of games.

Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s group couldn’t do anything against a defense that entered Sunday as one of the NFL’s worst against the pass.

“It just got going a certain way,” Bears tight end Cole Kmet said. “It was hard to get out of the funk of it a little bit. Even when we were moving the ball, it didn’t really get flowing how it really should’ve at times.”

We [aren’t] moving the ball. Three-and-outs are happening too many times and we get in third-and-longs too many times.”

—  DJ Moore, Bears receiver

The Bears’ 142 total yards against the Patriots marked the fewest they’ve amassed in a game this season. The previous low mark came against the Titans in Week 1 when the Bears finished with 148 yards. That game was also the first time the offense failed to score an offensive touchdown. Sunday was the third.

Players after the game said they need to look at film to see what’s causing mistakes. But the Bears know what the mistakes are.

“We [aren’t] moving the ball,” wide receiver DJ Moore said. “Three-and-outs are happening too many times and we get in third-and-longs too many times.”

2. O-line in shambles

The Bears began the day with injuries all over the offensive line. Both starting left tackle Braxton Jones and starting right tackle Darnell Wright sat out Sunday’s game with knee injuries. The Bears started the game with an offensive line that looked like this: Larry Borom at left tackle, Teven Jenkins at left guard, Coleman Shelton at center, Ryan Bates at right guard and Matt Pryor at right tackle.

On paper, this was going to be a tough task. To make matters worse, Jenkins exited the game in the first half with an ankle injury and did not return. Doug Kramer replaced Jenkins, leaving Shelton as the lone starter for the offensive line from when the season started.

“Everyone has to be ready, next man up,” Borom said. “If you’re dressed in this game, you have to be ready for whatever. And I got all the faith in the world in Doug. I think he did a hell of a job being able to step in and do that.”

With an offensive line full of backups, Williams had a hard time making anything happen. He took nine sacks in the game – the most for a Bears QB since Justin Fields’ starting debut on Sept. 26, 2021.

It’s hard for any rookie quarterback to develop good habits and show progress when the offensive line tasked with protecting him is as injured as this Bears group is right now.

“We just got to look all of ourselves in the mirror,” Borom said. “Just critique what’s going on, look at the film. Don’t get sour from it, but learn from it and keep rolling.”

3. Defense not pointing fingers

Most of the time, a game goes well when the defense limits an opponent to 19 points and forces a turnover. That wasn’t the case Sunday.

The Bears made key stops to limit the damage. The Patriots scored only one touchdown on five trips to the red zone.

Bears linebacker TJ Edwards intercepted a pass from Maye in the first quarter. The defense has now created at least one takeaway in eight of nine games this season.

The strong defensive play wasn’t enough to win Sunday, but the defense wasn’t going to point fingers when asked about added pressure because of the offensive struggles. The Bears instead focused on plays they left on the field, like when safety Kevin Byard had a chance to intercept a deep pass in the second half.

“I’m not a finger-pointing business,” Byard said. “I mean, I try to do what I can as a player and playmaker to make plays. I had opportunity to make a game-changing play and I dropped it. So I’m upset with myself about that.”

4. Will the Bears make a change this week?

Could the Bears make a drastic change this week? Eberflus for the first time acknowledged that a change at offensive coordinator is on the table. The Bears hired Waldron last winter with the goal of fixing the team’s offense.

Despite some early success during a three-game win streak, this offense has bottomed out over the last two weeks. The head coach’s own seat is growing hotter too. Eberflus hired Waldron. He’s as much responsible for the offense as Waldron is.

Whatever happens, it will be an interesting week at Halas Hall.

But firing Waldron might not fix all the team’s offensive woes. The offensive line is still injured and the quarterback remains a rookie.

Still, some change might do the Bears some good.

“Obviously, throughout the game there’s going to be times where a defense calls maybe a better blitz, maybe a better coverage, and you would want different plays in that situation,” Williams said. “But it comes down to execution, details and things like that.”

5. Looking ahead

The Bears’ three-game stretch against the Commanders, Cardinals and Patriots was supposed to set the Bears up for its tough second half. Instead, the Bears went 0-3 and now have to play each NFC North opponent twice on top of the 49ers and Seahawks to finish the year.

It starts with a matchup against the Green Bay Packers next week at Soldier Field. After that, they’ve got the Vikings at home and a trip to Detroit for Thanksgiving. There are no easy wins on the schedule to snap this losing streak.

“It just comes to sticking together and that’s really all we have,” Kmet said. “All we have is each other here in the locker room. So, yeah, we’ve just got to stick together here, put our heads down and get back to work.”