We don’t deserve the Bears defense.
A group that swarms to the ball, punches ball-carriers in the mouth, makes stops, and plays with tremendous swagger deserves better. But instead, Chicago’s offense penned a familiar story on Monday Night Football. It was a tale of anguish and pain. Both literally and figuratively. And in the end, our knights in orange-tinted armor lost to the Minnesota Vikings by a 19-13 score.
The offense mustered just two first downs in the second half. Save for a remarkable 104-yard return by Cordarrelle Patterson to start the second half, nothing was cooking for Chicago’s offense.
If it wasn’t the play-calling, it was the protection that let the offense down. If it wasn’t the protection, it was quarterback missing throws. On the occasions in which the quarterback made throws, the pass-catchers missed an opportunity to make a play. And don’t even get me started on a ground game that has no lanes to run through because the offensive line is in shambles. It’s a vicious cycle of football pain.
To add injury to insult, Nick Foles left the game on a cart late in the fourth quarter. Head Coach Matt Nagy told reporters Foles’ leg and hip are being checked out. Earlier in the second half, Akiem Hicks limped to the sideline after chasing down Kirk Cousins and never returned. Everything that could go wrong, did just that for the Bears. And in prime time no less. Ouch.
The Bears dropped to 5-5 with the loss, while the Vikings improved to 4-5. But if you’re looking for good news, it’s that this team can’t hurt us next week because they’ll be on the bye. That means we’ll get to enjoy football without the stresses of watching Chicago’s offense operate. But when the Bears get back to the playing field in 13 days, they’ll be facing an Aaron Rodgers led Packers team at Lambeau Field. GULP.