DETROIT — What in the world are we supposed to do with this one, this latest embarrassment from the Chicago Bears, the team’s record-setting ninth consecutive loss that went into the books Sunday as a 41-10 pummeling by the Detroit Lions?
“I don’t know, man,” Bears center Sam Mustipher said inside a worn-out visitors locker room at Ford Field. “It was just an ass-kicking, to be honest with you. Disappointing for sure.”
This wasn’t just an ass-kicking, though. This was the Bears playing the role of Scut Farkus in “A Christmas Story” right about the time Ralphie took a snowball to the glasses and blew a fuse.
With little warning, the Bears endured a seemingly endless flurry of punches — right to the kisser and with no help in sight.
The 504 yards they gave up were the most a Bears defense has allowed in a four-quarter game since Week 16 of 2013 in Philadelphia. Matt Eberflus, architect of the current defense, wasn’t pleased on his way out of the stadium and likely will be even more discouraged when he reviews the video for all of his team’s flagrant violations of his H.I.T.S. principle.
Eberflus won’t have any takeaways to break down. He’ll be hard-pressed to find much hustle, intensity or situational smarts either.
“It doesn’t sit well,” Eberflus said.
And the Bears’ abysmal showing on offense, which produced just nine first downs and 10 points against the league’s worst defense? That was pretty discouraging, too, with the Bears having an equal number of punts, sacks allowed and pass completions. (That number was seven for those wondering how far their jaw should drop.)
Consider this the most troubling offensive showing in a bumpy season.
“It’s really frustrating,” said tight end Cole Kmet, the only Bears player to reach the end zone in the team’s 13th loss. “It’s hard not to be frustrated. Every level I’ve ever played at, I’ve been a winner. I want to win. That doesn’t go away.”
The Bears went right down the field on the opening possession. Nine plays, 75 yards, touchdown. Looked good. Felt good.
On a gadget short-yardage play the Bears had been hoping to get to for weeks, Kmet went under center on third-and-1 for an apparent sneak. Instead he took the snap and pitched to quarterback Justin Fields in the backfield. Fields turned that into a 31-yard gain as part of a first quarter in which he ran for 105 of his 132 yards.
“It’s nice just carrying out a fake and then watching Justin run,” Kmet said.
Fields returned the favor three plays later, hitting Kmet for a 13-yard touchdown to put the Bears ahead 7-0.
Said Mustipher: “Anytime you come out like that, you score on the opening drive and you really move it, you do think you’re going to have success moving forward.”
From there, though, over the final 55 minutes and 54 seconds, the Bears were outgained by 344 yards and outscored 41-3. Their embarrassing moments seemed to triple their big plays.
Things already were slipping away early in the second half with the Bears behind by two scores and needing a whole lot to go right to jump-start a rally. But on the Lions’ first possession of the third quarter, the Bears had them backed into a third-and-18 corner inside their 20.
That’s when D’Andre Swift broke loose on a draw play for 35 yards with linebacker Joe Thomas getting Velcroed to a block, Dominique Robinson and Nick Morrow missing tackles and no one in the secondary coming to their aid.
“Missed tackles,” Eberflus said. “One of our defensive linemen missed a tackle. (Swift) spun out of that and then our corner lost leverage and our safety lost leverage.”
On the next play, rookie receiver Jameson Williams erupted for 40 yards on an end around, and the Lions capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Jamaal Williams.
Story of the day, right?
Swift had two touchdowns, a 17-yard run in the second quarter and a 21-yard reception in the third. He wasn’t touched on either — and barely impeded.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff, meanwhile, was decisive and efficient, completing 21 of 29 passes for 255 yards with three touchdowns and a 133.5 passer rating.
In its first seven series, the Bears defense gave up five touchdowns and a field goal.
Fields and the offense weren’t any better. Coming into Sunday, no NFL team had allowed more points or more yards than the Lions. With the game indoors and the Bears offense entering the day as healthy as it had been in weeks — with receivers Chase Claypool, Equanimeous St. Brown and Dante Pettis and offensive linemen Cody Whitehair and Teven Jenkins all able to play — things seemed set up for a productive day.
Instead, the league’s worst passing attack had its worst outing of an abysmal season with just 30 net yards. Fields completed only 7 of 21 passes for 75 yards. He fumbled in the second quarter as he tried to take off on a scramble but held the ball out with his right hand.
And on the final play of the first half, he threw an interception to Aidan Hutchinson on a play that seemed all sorts of discombobulated as the Bears tried to squeeze something out of a possession that began at the Lions 45 with 7 seconds left.
That was just one snapshot in a collage of ugliness. The offensive line was shaky all day. Fields didn’t seem very settled in the pocket. And during one long, agonizing, maddening stretch, the Bears went nine consecutive possessions without creating multiple first downs.
Jenkins was lost to another neck injury on the first drive. Bears wide receivers combined for three catches and 36 yards. Running backs David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert totaled 55 rushing yards on only 11 attempts.
By afternoon’s end, the Bears had little to build on and so much more to clean up. Included in that process will be an effort to calm Claypool, who had more sideline outbursts (one) than receptions.
The veteran receiver, upset with the offense’s struggles, was visibly upset on the Bears bench.
“It’s good to have emotion in a game,” Fields said. “But you just have to know how to control it. And you can’t let it come out like that. Because at the end of the day, that’s not helping anybody.”
Fields tried to set a steady and focused tone as he processed the continued ineptitude of a passing attack that has been held below 100 net yards four times this season while topping 200 yards just once.
Sunday’s struggles were pronounced.
“This isn’t going to kill me on the inside,” Fields said. “It’s simple. You learn from the mistakes and get better from them. I’m not the type of person to (groan) on this and that. I’m not that type of person mentally, spiritually. I’ve been through tough times before. My only response is to keep working, keep getting better, keep learning, keep growing.”
For the most part, Bears players seemed more agitated than accepting of Sunday’s failures, aware of the embarrassment they had suffered.
“Every man has to look himself in the eye and decide how they want to finish this season,” Morrow said. “If you’re a man who wants to finish and try to compete, then you’ll compete. If not, you’ll lay down.”
But that goes only so far. And with one week left in a last-place season that has confused a large segment of the fan base, the Bears seem to have much more to worry about than they have to be confident about.
In 103 seasons, no Bears team has lost more often or gone this long without a victory. To downplay that as trivial or insignificant to the long-term goals would be foolish.
