The harshest and most acutely accurate critique of how the Bears and quarterback Justin Fields played against the Packers in the season opener Sunday was that it was nothing new.
And everything was supposed to be new this season.
New offensive line. New wide receivers. New and improved Fields. New mindset.
Where was any of that? It looked the same as it has for the last three decades or so as the Packers rolled the Bears 38-20 at Soldier Field. It was a continuation of the droning misery the Bears endured throughout the Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers eras in Green Bay.
This one was so bad it came with an apology. After noting four times that this ‘‘sucks,’’ Fields said he was ‘‘sorry to teammates [and] all the fans that were rooting for us.’’
The Bears talked about the upgrades all offseason and even had addition by subtraction going for them with Rodgers finally leaving and unknown Jordan Love replacing him. Most of it was just talk because the scene Sunday felt awfully familiar. The Packers now have won nine consecutive games in the series, the longest streak in the rivalry since they took 10 in a row in 1994-98. That means any Bears player who arrived in 2019 or later — most of the roster — has known nothing but losing in this rivalry.
‘‘I haven’t won one of these yet,’’ said tight end Cole Kmet, who grew up in the suburbs and has been frustrated by the futility since he was a kid. ‘‘Now you’ve gotta wait until Week 18 to get back at ’em.’’
That’s assuming the Bears will be good enough to try to get revenge by that point. Based on how this one went, why expect that?
‘‘The guys that we’ve got, the new crew of guys and the resiliency of the group,’’ Kmet said. ‘‘I mean, we’ve gotta be able to show it to you guys and back it up, but we just have faith in one another.’’
Fields’ performance is at the top of a long list of complaints about this one.
It’s not a big ask to insist that an NFL quarterback pump life into the passing attack and steer clear of destructive mistakes, but Fields meandered in the passing game for most of the afternoon and imploded with a fumble in the third quarter and a pick-six in the fourth.
He threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney in between those debacles, but that merely pulled the Bears to 24-14. The Packers had control the entire second half.
Fields finished 24-for-37 for 216 yards and a 78.2 passer rating, plus he rushed nine times for 59 yards with the Packers ultra-mindful to ‘‘keep him in the pocket and make him throw,’’ defensive end Kenny Clark said.
Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy seemed to be calling the game with minimal confidence in the rebuilt offensive line, which is missing left guard Teven Jenkins for the first four games. Everything about it looked a lot like last season.
The trouble started on the opening drive when the Bears ran aground at their own 40-yard line. They tried a sneak with Kmet at quarterback on third-and-one that failed. Then they sent Fields on a sneak on fourth down and missed by inches. That put Love in perfect position.
“Tough to start the game like that,” Kmet said. “We came out nice on those first few plays, and you could feel the energy in the guys, and it just kind of came to a halt.”
Almost immediately after falling behind 31-14 early in the fourth, Fields took a rare shot downfield but was locked on Mooney going across the middle the whole time and didn’t realize linebacker Quay Walker was tracking him.
‘‘That’s on me,’’ said Fields, who added that he had options in DJ Moore on the left sideline and checkdowns to Kmet and running back Roschon Johnson.
At that point, with the Packers up 38-14 and the game essentially over, Fields had only 144 yards passing — a shade under his average last season, when he finished last in the NFL. And the 78.2 passer rating he posted was in line with his career average.
Fields targeted Moore — the best player the Bears have on either side of the ball — only twice, and he had two catches for 25 yards with Packers Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander shadowing him for most of the game.
‘‘He’s not going to go for 100 every game,’’ Fields said. ‘‘Of course, I wish he did. That’s just not how it’s going to happen. He’s definitely going to get more touches in the future.’’
There’s nothing this franchise does better than promise things will get better.
There are always wishes, always explanations, always reasons why everyone should just calm down and be patient. But rarely are there results.
The general tone in the locker room was disappointment coupled with some version of, ‘‘It’s only Week 1.’’ A little while ago, it was ‘‘only the preseason.’’
If it keeps looking like this, it soon will be, ‘‘It’s only Week 5.’’
‘‘It’s only Week 12.’’
‘‘It’s only January.’’
It’s not supposed to go like that anymore. The shelf life on that kind of thinking expired at the end of last season. Everything was supposed to be new, but very little was different Sunday.
It’s conceivable the Bears eventually will turn it around, but that’s pure faith at this point because there hasn’t been much evidence.
