The Chicago Bears lost 19-13 to the Minnesota Vikings in their Week 10 matchup. It was another terrible game for the offense, with Chicago’s only touchdown coming off of a Cordarrelle Patterson kick return touchdown. The defense played well, but not well enough to account for the disappointing offensive performance. Here are 3 takeaways from Week 10 for the Bears.
The defense cannot carry Chicago to a win
The Bears defense showed up against the Vikings on Monday Night Football. They shut down star running back Dalvin Cook, allowing only 96 rushing yards on 30 carries. They had two takeaways, and only gave up 19 points to an impressive Vikings offense that had much momentum going into the game. However, this performance did not even matter due to the offense’s inability to move the ball.
The defense also consistently set Chicago’s offense up in good position. Twice, the Bears offense started drives in Minnesota territory. However, the Bears offense only scored three points off of these two opportunities.
The two big takeaways ended up amounting to little as well, as Chicago scored a total of three points off of the interception and fumble recovered by the defense.
Chicago’s one touchdown is not even credited to the offense. It is solely based on a Cordarrelle Patterson 104 yard kick return for a touchdown.
Despite all the help that the Bears offense received from the defense and special teams, they did absolutely nothing. They only had one drive where they got over 26 yards, and that 70 yard drive ended in a field goal.
This sort of offensive struggle for the Bears has been a pattern throughout the 2020 NFL season. Good field position and defensive play means absolutely nothing if the offense cannot move the ball at all. Chicago’s stellar defensive play is being wasted, as the offense is not even average enough to be carried to a win.
Chicago’s third quarter struggles will continue
One Chicago’s biggest problems is their play in the third quarter. Leading up to the game, the Bears had the worst third quarter point differential in the league. They had only scored 7 third quarter points through 8 games.
The Bears did not improve in this category against the Vikings.
They scored seven points in the quarter, but this score only came off of a Cordarrelle Patterson return touchdown. The offense did absolutely nothing to contribute.
In fact, the offense really could not have been worse. In three third quarter drives, they gained -2 yards and did not get a single first down. In only one of their drives did they gain positive yardage.
Punt returner Dwayne Harris also fumbled a punt, setting up the Vikings in field goal range.
The Bears defense only allowed six points, so Chicago technically had a positive point differential in the third quarter. However, the Bears performance in this regard did not really improve due to their lifeless offense.
The Bears offensive issues go beyond play calling
On Friday, head coach Matt Nagy handed over play calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. This lit a spark of hope for Chicago, as many hoped the change would revamp the dysfunctional offense. However, on Monday night the offense looked even worse.
Just two plays into the first offensive drive, quarterback Nick Foles threw an interception. To be fair, it was not Lazor’s fault – a bad throw and poor effort by receiver Anthony Miller caused the interception. Either way, it was not a promising start for the new play caller.
On the next drive, the Bears offense impressed. They moved the ball 70 yards downfield and came just short of a touchdown, settling for a field goal.
After that, the offense was a disaster.
For the last 45 minutes of the game, Chicago did not sustain a drive beyond 26 yards and gained a total of 79 yards. They only scored three more points, all because of good starting field position.
There are many other factors that go into the poor offense, such as a porous offensive line and bad quarterback play. Chicago proved against the Vikings that whether it is Bill Lazor or Matt Nagy controlling the offense, it will struggle.
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