No one was yelling Super Bowl or bust about the Bears going into this season. They didn’t even have to be good.
In the wake of firing Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy, the bar was at an all-time low for Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus: Just give some hope that this team is headed in the right direction.
Six games in, signs of progress are scant.
The 12-7 loss to the Commanders on Thursday was dispiriting — an uninspiring performance against an awful opponent.
“We’re right there,” Eberflus said. “We’re going to get over that hump.”
It doesn’t feel nearly that close.
Quarterback Justin Fields has played exactly one good game, and it’s too late in the season to keep calling this an adjustment period to the new offense under coordinator Luke Getsy. This was his sixth game in the system, and he has been working on it in practice for months.
Facing one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL, Fields didn’t get the Bears on the scoreboard until midway through the third quarter on a 40-yard touchdown heave to Dante Pettis. It was an excellent throw, both in terms of Fields’ accuracy and his recognition that he had a free play because the Commanders had too many men on the field, but there haven’t been enough of them.
His performance against the Vikings felt parade-worthy only because of how dismal the passing game had been. With clearer perspective, it would only be significant if it was a gradual step toward something much better.
He went backward Thursday. Fields was 14-for-27 passes for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception for a 71.5 rating. His pick came at the Commanders’ 5-yard line, when he bounced a pass off defensive tackle Efe Obada’s helmet.
Fields is chiefly responsible for his play, but the Bears haven’t properly outfitted him. He’s playing with budget-friendly offensive linemen and receivers, and that makes an already hard job much harder.
The Commanders sacked him five times and had seven other quarterback hits.
“It’s a talented front seven, but when you’re looking to be a good team, you’ve gotta protect the quarterback so he can deliver time and time again,” center Sam Mustipher said.
Getsy is equally unproven, and while he conveys confidence at every turn, his assessment of the offense often veers sharply from what is evident to everyone else on game days.
It was inexcusable that the Bears opened the Vikings game with a delay of game, and even more egregious that they committed one on fourth-and-11 in Commanders territory with 2:34 left.
There are big questions defensively, as well, and that’s a larger concern because it’s Eberflus’ field of expertise. The early indicators that he had the defense on track have faded.
The Bears looked far better defensively against the Commanders than they did four days earlier when Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins lit them up, but that’s thanks largely to a step down in competition.
The Commanders entered the game 26th in scoring at 18 points per game, a hair ahead of the Bears.
The rookies could spark some optimism, but who exactly is thriving other than safety Jaquan Brisker?
Third-round wide receiver Velus Jones is off to a rough start and fumbled away another punt Thursday, this time at his 9-yard line to set up the Commanders’ go-ahead touchdown with 7:21 left.
“I was trying to do too much,” Jones said. “I should’ve let it go into the end zone.”
Second-round pick Kyler Gordon needs much more time to develop into the cornerback they envision, and left tackle Braxton Jones has ample work to do to secure his spot for 2023.
Maybe the Bears will fix some of this — merely being watchable would be an upgrade — but that requires a lot of trust. And as a first-time general manager and coach, Poles and Eberflus aren’t entitled to that. Real results are required.
