Bears vs. Titans takeaways: Nagy, Foles hit new low
JJ Stankevitz looks at what went down in the Bears' brutal 24-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
Sunday was a beautiful day in Chicago. It was a perfect day to connect with friends outdoors – socially distanced, of course – with temperatures in the 70’s. You couldn’t pick a more idyllic fall day to stroll around the neighborhood, enjoying the fall colors and the soothing sounds of leaves crunching under your feet.
It was a great day to be outside.
Anyways, the Bears’ offense was awful. Pathetic. Embarrassing.
At halftime, the Bears’ leading rusher was linebacker Barkevious Mingo (one carry, 11 yards).
At halftime, the Bears were 0/8 on third down against the worst third down defense in the NFL.
Just before halftime, the Bears put together one of the worst two-minute drives I’ve ever seen.
And then just after halftime, Matt Nagy kept his offense on the field for a fourth-and-inches in Bears territory. Arlington Hambright false started. Then Jimmy Graham false started. The Bears then punted.
It got worse. After Riley Ridley – yes, Riley Ridley! – converted a third-and-16, Nick Foles was flagged for intentional grounding. Two plays later, Nagy called a screen but there was no blocking for David Montgomery, who then fumbled, with that fumble being returned for a Titans touchdown.
At least the Bears got a 22-yard field goal out of Cairo Santos, I guess.
Here’s all you need to know, though. The Bears finished with two third down conversions in 15 tries (13 percent). The Titans entered Sunday allowing opponents to convert 62 percent of their third down tries.
Hopefully you got outside at some point Sunday afternoon instead of watching one of the Bears’ worst games in recent memory.
The Tennessee Titans’ defense is bad. They didn’t mount much of anything against a Cincinnati Bengals offensive line missing a couple of starters last week. The Bears’ offensive line was overwhelmed by the same defense, and it wasn’t just the replacements at fault.
Germain Ifedi and Charles Leno Jr. – the Bears’ two starters actually playing – made far too many mistakes. It would’ve been one thing if Alex Bars had some issues playing center for the first time in college or the pros, or if Hambright struggled in his NFL debut, or if Rashaad Coward wasn’t consistent starting his first game at right tackle in the NFL. It wasn’t.
Expectations were low for this offensive line after a number of injuries and COVID cases kept five key players out (James Daniels, Cody Whitehair, Bobby Massie, Sam Mustipher, Jason Spriggs). But they weren’t this low. This was awful.
I don’t know what the fix is for the Bears’ offense. Nagy could fire himself as playcaller but the next guy is going to have to contend with an atrocious, depleted offensive line. And the offensive scheme is broken. Foles is broken.
There’s no going back to Mitch Trubisky right now – he’s hurt. Nagy can’t even raise the white flag of another quarterback change (and no, Tyler Bray is not the answer).
The Bears need to try something, of course. This game needs to be rock bottom. But if the Bears looked this bad, this dysfunctional, this pathetic against a sub-par defense, why will they look any better at any point in 2020?
I don’t have an answer. I don’t think Nagy does, either.
