The Chicago Bears (3-5) suffered a 49-29 loss to the Dallas Cowboys (6-2), but it lacked the disappointment that a blowout usually possesses. And that had everything to do with Justin Fields’ continued development.
Fields put together back-to-back impressive outings that has the fanbase feeling confident about the future of this franchise, at the quarterback position. But while the offense was efficient, the defense struggled mightily.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Bears in this loss.
Offense: B+
When’s the last time you could say the offense carried the Bears? Or that they were entertaining? But that’s exactly what they did and what they were in Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys. It starts with quarterback Justin Fields, who has now stacked back-to-back impressive performances. And, quite frankly, that’s all we can ask for this season. Not only did he do it on the ground — rushing for 60 yards on eight carries with a touchdown — but we saw some nice moments in the passing game, although there were some completions certainly left out on the field, be it because of Fields or his receivers. Still, Fields and the offense were able to move the ball up and down the field against a top-three Dallas defense.
The Bears run game continues to be dominant, and they remain the NFL’s best rushing offense averaging nearly 190 yards per game. Against the Cowboys, they ran for 240 yards, where they got contributions from Fields (60 yards, 7.5 YPC, one touchdown), Khalil Herbert (99 yards, 6.2 YPC, one touchdown) and David Montgomery (53 yards, 3.5 YPC). It was the third straight game where Chicago has eclipsed 200 rushing yards, which was the first time since 1968.
Unfortunately, Montgomery’s fumble proved to be costly — both momentum-wise and points-wise — as Micah Parsons ran, untouched, into the end zone to take a 42-23 lead. But, on the plus side, Darnell Mooney got involved in the second half (70 yards on five catches), Cole Kmet scored his first touchdown since Dec. 2020 and N’Keal Harry showed us what he can do in the red zone with a 17-yard touchdown from Fields.
Defense: F
The only reason the defense doesn’t get an F- is because of Eddie Jackson’s interception at the end of the first half, which certainly helped keep Dallas from eclipsing 50 points by game’s end. But it was an absolutely brutal performance by the defense. Or, as Roquan Smith called it, “embarrassing.”
The first half was giving me deja vu from Week 5 against the Vikings, who looked like they couldn’t be stopped in the first 30 minutes only for the Bears to adjust at halftime and keep them in check. Unfortunately, the defense seemed to have skipped the halftime adjustments portion of the program as the Cowboys continued to pile on in the second half.
Chicago gave up a season-high 42 points (minus the Micah Parsons touchdown return), where they had no answer for Dak Prescott through the air or Tony Pollard on the ground. The Bears gave up 440 yards of total offense and the Cowboys scored six touchdowns, including four in the first half alone. The run defense continued to struggle, giving up 200 rushing yards (131 by Pollard). Kindle Vildor, who’s been having a solid season, had a brutal showing against Dallas, where he was picked on early and often. Roquan Smith was wholly unimpressive with just five tackles, and that’s not the performance that’s going to earn you a top-billed linebacker extension.
Special teams: A
The good news? There were no huge mistakes or muffed punts on special teams. Cairo Santos connected on his lone field goal attempt and both extra points. Trenton Gill averaged 50.8 yards on four punts, including a season (and career) long of 62 yards. Velus Jones was back fielding kickoffs and nothing bad happened.
Coaching: C+
This season has shown us that the Bears are a second-half football team. So the fact that the Bears were trailing the Cowboys 28-7 in the first half and still managed to cut the deficit to five points early in the third quarter was an impressive feat. Luke Getsy did get cutesy at times with his play calling, but he did get Darnell Mooney going in the second half. The offense made the necessary adjustments at halftime to find success in the passing game in the second half.
But where were the second-half adjustments on defense? Granted, the Bears gave up only 14 points in the second half compared to 28 in the first half. But it was more of the same against Dallas’ ground game, who had their way with this defense. For a Chicago defense that prided themselves on being a second-half unit, that wasn’t the case against the Cowboys.
