KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chicago Bears wanted nothing more than to get back to the field and change the conversation. After a week of distractions, some promoted the idea the team would have extra motivation.
Instead, the organization discovered more embarrassment in a 41-10 blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. 10 thoughts after one of the Bears’ worst losses in nearly a decade.
They closed last season with a 10-game losing streak, seemingly made some decisions in the final weeks to maximize their draft standing and carried about $90 million in dead salary-cap space with the goal of rebooting the operation in 2023 and taking a step forward.
Three games is still a relatively small sample size, and the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs appeared primed to break out after a slow start to their season. But the Bears are doing nothing to show any improvement from a year ago, and this looked as terrible as anything since the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers hung 50 points on them in consecutive games during the 2014 season.
General manager Ryan Poles came downstairs at Halas Hall to speak to the media Thursday morning in a bid to reset the tone after the calamitous Wednesday.
“To make it really, really clear, I know the outside noise, but no one in our building is panicking,” Poles said. “No one is flinching at any situations, not our owner, not our president, our head coach, not myself, none of our players.”
If no one was panicking after defensive coordinator Alan Williams abruptly resigned and quarterback Justin Fields cited “coaching” when talking about factors that weren’t allowing him to play freely, someone might want to start now.
The gap between the Bears and the upper echelon of the NFL remains as great as ever. The offense was dysfunctional Sunday and the defense was noncompetitive.
The Arizona Cardinals opened the season as the favorite to “win” the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft. Guess what? They blew leads in narrow losses to the Washington Commanders and New York Giants and then stunned the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
The Houston Texans were projected to be terrible. They blew out the Jaguars 37-17 on Sunday in Jacksonville. Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud has passed for 906 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions through three games.
The Bears are 0-3 for the first time since 2016 — a 3-13 season — and there’s little to suggest they’re going to come out of this funk anytime soon. How are they viewed nationally? The Denver Broncos were demolished 70-20 by the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, dropping Sean Payton’s new team to 0-3. The Broncos opened as 2 1/2-point favorites for the Week 4 game against the Bears at Soldier Field.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus leaves the field Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Coach Matt Eberflus was left to grasp for answers after the game, and it’s hard to believe he and his staff will find solutions in the near future of a season that can be grueling when a team hits the skids.
“There have been some good things,” he said. “There have been some good drives. We saw some last week. We saw some in the second half here. So there have been some good things with that.
“Also, defensively, there have been some good things and good moments, and we just have to build upon that. This is a new football team. We’ve got 30-some new guys who are coming together that are playing the game together for the first time for these three games. So there’s a process to that.
“It’s certainly not where we want it to be. But to get there, we’re going to have to have focus. We’re going to have to have fight. We’re going to have to be resilient. We’re going to have to block out outside noise. We’re going to have to do all those things and then keep a positive, optimistic attitude about this as we’re working.
“If we do that, guess what? We keep doing that, it will crack. It will crack. So that’s the biggest thing. That was my message to them in there. And like I said, the opportunity may come right around the corner.”
Eberflus should know that garbage-time production — the offense’s final possession was a 75-yard touchdown drive — is more or less meaningless. The Bears began the possession trailing 41-3 and the Chiefs’ top players had ballcaps on, not helmets. The Bears were blown out for the majority of the game, and Fields finished 11 of 22 for 99 yards with the late touchdown pass to DJ Moore and an interception.
The defense got its first takeaways of the season with interceptions by linebacker Jack Sanborn and backup rookie safety Quindell Johnson. Those came off Chiefs backup Blaine Gabbert as Patrick Mahomes was out of the game after he passed for 272 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensive end DeMarcus Walker called it a reality check for the Bears. That’s the optimistic way of summarizing this start to the season. The flip side is that the Bears’ dreams of trending toward being relevant and competitive this season have been smashed.
Super Bowl XX-winning quarterback Jim McMahon showed his disdain during the second half, calling it “Embarrassing” on social media. It’s unknown if McMahon is aware the Bears have four games scheduled for prime time this season.
Embarrassing
— Jim McMahon (@JimMcMahon)
“We just got smacked in the face the first three games,” safety Jaquan Brisker said. “I’m going to keep saying the same thing. We’ve got to put it all together. We’ve got a lot of stars. We’ve just got to use them to our ability and execute the plan. Trust in each other, keep building our chemistry and have guys out there.”
Said Fields: “All we need is one to get this thing going. I don’t know if I told y’all that last week, but the Lions started 1-6 last year and almost made the playoffs. Just keep that faith. Keep going. In the big picture, it’s the third game of the season. We’ve got 14 left, at least. Just keep going, keep working.”
Wide receiver Chase Claypool had a 15-yard reception on the offense’s first play from scrimmage. It was his only catch of the game.
“We don’t really know what’s happening,” Claypool said. “I feel like we’re putting in the work during the week and it’s just not really translating to Sunday. So we just have to either tweak what we’re doing or do it a little better. But it’s tough to put a finger on.”
Who knows how the Bears will address Williams’ departure this week? Eberflus didn’t rule out the possibility of bringing in someone to join the staff, but it’s pretty clear the head coach will run the defense the rest of the season. He’s back to his roots as a coordinator, giving him even more to figure out after a 3-17 beginning to his tenure.
It sounds like an awful lot of grasping for explanations at this point. Grasping probably isn’t too far away from panicking.
As players were stretching on a sunny Thursday afternoon on the fields behind the Walter Payton Center at Halas Hall, “(We Gon’ Be) Alright” by Kendrick Lamar was blaring on the speakers surrounding the practice field.
Oh, would they love to sing that sentiment into existence.
Bears tight end Cole Kmet is tackled by Chiefs safety Bryan Cook after a reception in the second quarter on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
What a truly bizarre week it was at Halas Hall. As the players completed stretching, Chairman George McCaskey was walking up to the fields. I’m sure the week was unsettling to him with the resignation of defensive coordinator Alan Williams and the headlines surrounding quarterback Justin Fields and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy making the Bears fodder for national talk shows. Wherever you turned to consume NFL news, the Bears were pilloried, the kind of piling on that usually happens for a rudderless franchise in December when it’s only a matter of weeks before a housecleaning.
That’s what is unsettling about where the team is right now. There have been previous seasons that had a sense of helplessness. I’ve certainly covered my share of them. I can’t recall one that felt like it was off the rails before the end of September.
A lot of football is left to be played — 14 games — and that could be a good thing or a whole lot of bad. The only way the narrative can change is if they begin to play better, and I don’t think anyone will be convinced by what they hear. You have to see it at this point.
The shock of the midweek ruckus was initially jarring to players, but there’s a level of resiliency in the locker room. It’s a young roster, and shifting the focus back to football isn’t as difficult as you would imagine. Still, no one can deny the Bears had distractions — plural — to navigate. Is it a reason they got blown out? Probably not.
“I’ve seen a lot of wacky (stuff) since I got here,” said tight end Cole Kmet, who in his fourth season has been with the franchise longer than only three players — offensive lineman Cody Whitehair, long snapper Patrick Scales and free safety Eddie Jackson.
Kmet was in his second season in 2021 when there was a report the team had decided to fire coach Matt Nagy before a Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit. The team did not react, maintaining its schedule and rolling out special teams coordinator Chris Tabor first in the media room that morning to answer an avalanche of questions.
“That Thanksgiving week, that’s a good week to compare it to,” Kmet said. “Little different. The type of chaos? Similar in terms of what you’re having to deal with. Fortunately, I’ve kind of become used to it. You learn to execute and do what you’ve got to do and you take care of your business and move on from there.”
Players were in the dark about Williams’ whereabouts when they went out to practice Wednesday, knowing only that he had been absent for a week for personal reasons. About an hour after practice ended, the team announced Williams resigned. That’s when the Fields-Getsy stuff was swirling too.
“We all came in after practice and kind of heard all the news, whichever story you want to talk about,” Kmet said. “So guys are like, ‘Holy crap!’ We’ve got a meeting an hour (after practice), so you’re kind of figuring out what’s going on.
“But you come in (Thursday) morning, and I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the coaches. They just confronted it face on and then we almost just cracked jokes about it because it just is what it is. You just roll with the punches, I guess.”
Safety Jaquan Brisker said shifting to coach Matt Eberflus as the defensive play caller hasn’t been difficult.
“We just believe in Coach Flus,” he said. “Just his plan. We just have to execute Coach Flus’ plan. We really didn’t flinch, all the distractions. We’re going to have distractions. We’re the Chicago Bears. Everybody has something to say.”
Maybe the Bears need to keep listening to Lamar.
“Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alright.”
If Sunday’s effort was a step toward Justin Fields playing more freely and playing his kind of game, the Bears don’t need to see a whole lot more. Fields was 11 of 22 for 99 yards and had a team-high 11 rushes for 47 yards against a Chiefs defense that was missing an impact player in middle linebacker Nick Bolton.
Bears quarterback Justin Fields scrambles in the third quarter against the Chiefs on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Maybe the most glaring play came early in the fourth quarter. On third-and-goal from the Kansas City 6-yard line, Fields had Cole Kmet open on a crosser. It looked like an easy touchdown pass. Fields didn’t attempt the pass, took off and tried to run. He appeared to get hit in the helmet by Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill at the end of a 3-yard run.
There have been countless plays this season on which a receiver has been open and Fields hasn’t seen it or hasn’t cut it loose.
Playing winning offensive football takes 11 players. The Bears have a lot of issues and not everything is Fields’ fault. But teams without elite quarterbacks can’t consistently compete in the NFL. That’s just the way it is, and the Bears seem so far behind right now when it comes to throwing the football, it’s difficult to explain. They have better targets for Fields to throw to now, yet they look worse.
Asked if Fields should be further along, coach Matt Eberflus more or less talked around it.
“There’s no one more determined,” he said. “Justin is working his tail off. And again, we’re finding the flow for him. And we just have to keep doing it. And we have to find how to let him do his thing and explode, and again, it’s not just about Justin. It’s about everybody on the offense.”
No one has questioned Fields’ drive, work ethic or anything of that nature. This isn’t meant to pile on him, but this is such a huge issue in a critical season for him and it actually looks like he has taken a step back. I don’t know if his playing more freely and more designed QB runs would provide a legitimate spark. More on the quarterback in a little bit.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes runs the offense in the second quarter on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Ask three Bears fans at the corner tavern what the biggest problem on the roster is besides quarterback, and you might get three different answers. I’ll tell you what mine would be: The defensive line is going to struggle all season.
The Bears spent a lot of money on stack linebackers in the offseason, signing Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, and they’re not changing the game. The front cannot get to the quarterback. The Bears have one sack, and that came on a play on which Jordan Love held the ball forever in Week 1. They cannot finish at the quarterback, something Matt Eberflus talked about last week after the loss at Tampa Bay in which Baker Mayfield carved up the defense.
The defense was credited with five quarterback hits in Sunday’s loss: two for Yannick Ngakoue and one each for DeMarcus Walker, Justin Jones and Gervon Dexter. Not enough. The front is not creating negative plays, and you have to be able to do that in this age of passing offenses. The players getting paid big money on the second level of the defense won’t make impact plays — nor will the defensive backs — when the line cannot play disruptive football.
Edmunds was credited with a game-high 16 tackles. Remember when Bears fans went bananas over big tackle totals for Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs? Edmunds is playing hard. He’s a good player. It’s hard to see it behind this defensive line.
Talking with one veteran personnel source a few nights ago who spent some time watching the Bears, he wondered if maybe Ngakoue still is working his way into shape. Pass defense is a combination of the rush and coverage, and it’s hard to do against Patrick Mahomes when it’s just coverage. That will be hard to try this week against Russell Wilson too. The Bears aren’t creating disruption or forcing the quarterback to reset the throwing window and move. Quarterbacks are going wherever they want with the ball against this secondary.
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The crowd that cries for more blitzing saw Sunday what happens sometimes. Mahomes had receivers running open. When he was the Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator, Eberflus had a marquee player in the middle of the line in DeForest Buckner. The Bears lack a difference-maker. The elite defensive linemen didn’t get to free agency.
It sounds like GM Ryan Poles made a run at Javon Hargrave, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers. I wasn’t sure Hargrave would appeal to Poles because he’s 30, but the Bears knew the issue they had and went after some linemen. You can’t get them all, and this will be a hard defense to watch until the line is improved.
The Bears used 10 starting combinations on the offensive line last season, and three games into this season they already have used three starting units. I will give you the upside here: They might have stumbled into something with Ja’Tyre Carter.
He got really pushed back by defensive end Mike Danna on the fourth snap of the game. It looked like Danna sort of overwhelmed him. But Carter acquitted himself pretty well last week at Tampa Bay, and as a young player — he was a seventh-round pick out of Southern a year ago — the only way he will get better is to get more playing time.
Bears guard Ja’Tyre Carter during the pregame warmup on Sept. 17, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. (Peter Joneleit/AP)
Carter was playing right guard in place of Nate Davis, who was in uniform but didn’t have a full week of practice. I won’t speculate on when Davis will be back in the lineup, but I do know the team has been supportive of him in the grieving process and believes he will help out on the field. If this has accelerated some growth for Carter, that’s a good thing amid a long list of things that haven’t gone right.
When I talked to Carter this summer, he said he was making a point of showing up each morning and picking one small aspect he wanted to improve that day. He wasn’t strapping on his gear and thinking he could get better at eight different coaching points. Maybe the biggest thing was learning to use his length better. He has 33 5/8-inch arms, long for an interior lineman, but putting them to use took work. A lot of it.
Veteran left guard Cody Whitehair said the development has happened quickly for Carter in Year 2.
“Just his confidence and everything,” Whitehair said. “That’s all you can ask for with a guy like that. Really happy with what he’s done the last couple weeks. He’s done a good job stepping in.”
One other point I’d like to make about the line: The evaluator who had questions about Yannick Ngakoue was pretty upbeat about left tackle Braxton Jones, who is out at least three more games with a neck injury. He called Jones the team’s best pass blocker and said Jones’ movement skills, hand usage and ability to play in space are all positive.
He wasn’t making Jones out to be incredible at this point in his career and he didn’t address a few penalties Jones had the first two weeks, but left tackle is a big deal and if the Bears can get some improvement from Jones, it could allow them to direct resources to other positions (think defensive line).
It will be interesting to see if Carter can find more playing time as the season unfolds.
Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is shaken up in the first quarter on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Here’s one thing to keep in mind: I don’t know that we’ve really seen injuries wear this team down yet. We could soon. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson (hamstring) left the game and didn’t return. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was flagged for a rough helmet-to-helmet hit on Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco. Stevenson came out for one play and inexplicably returned right away. Later, he was removed from the game to be checked out for a concussion. He didn’t finish the game, and the Bears later announced it was due to illness.
Middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds had an injury — I never heard what it was — and didn’t make it to the end.
If attrition starts to hit this roster, look out. Free safety Eddie Jackson (foot) didn’t practice last week, and nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon is on injured reserve. So issues are starting to add up.
One thing I don’t subscribe to is that injuries in training camp forced the Bears to limit some players’ preseason playing time, and that’s a reason the team has played so poorly. That’s the line the Bears have been using, and perhaps you buy into it more than I do. There was a handful of players who missed time during the summer: Edmunds, wide receiver Chase Claypool, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, safety Jaquan Brisker, right guard Nate Davis and a few others.
“I think maybe because of the preseason with all the injuries we had, we didn’t have a lot of play together,” Matt Eberflus said. “That’s obviously real. We didn’t get a lot of chances to play in the preseason the way we wanted to and practice like we wanted to — together.
“In terms of the offensive line, the defensive line, the linebackers, there were a bunch of guys who were out. That’s just where it was. That’s the adversity that we had. And that could be a reason. But I’m not saying or making excuses because we should be farther ahead.”
Maybe the missed practice time is a legitimate factor, but with a healthy roster, how many more preseason snaps would Eberflus have given front-line players? Twenty? Thirty? That doesn’t make a difference at the start of Week 4.
Bears coach Matt Nagy talks to quarterback Justin Fields in the fourth quarter against the Bengals on Sept. 19, 2021, at Soldier Field. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Justin Fields shares something in common with Mitch Trubisky and Rex Grossman, the previous two quarterbacks the Bears drafted in the first round. The head coach in each case — Matt Nagy (Fields), John Fox (Trubisky) and Dick Jauron (Grossman) — was fired at the end of the quarterback’s rookie season.
Since the regime change after the 2021 season, the Bears have tried to make a go of it with Fields and they’re really attempting to thread the needle. The list of quarterbacks drafted in Round 1 who turned into something after seeing their head coach fired at the end of their rookie season is skimpy.
There have been 21 instances of this since 2000, and while it’s not always an admission the draft pick is an instant failure, that was pretty evident in some cases.
The Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert (Anthony Lynn was fired after the 2020 season) and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence (Urban Meyer was fired near the end of the 2021 season) are the best quarterbacks on the list. I would attach an asterisk to Lawrence as the entirety of Meyer’s brief tenure was a train wreck. Lawrence has developed quickly under the tutelage of Doug Pederson.
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff is on the list. Jeff Fisher was fired as the St. Louis Rams coach after Goff’s rookie season in 2016. Goff reached Super Bowl LIII with Sean McVay and has enjoyed a career resurgence in Detroit. Chad Pennington was 44-37 as a starter after the New York Jets fired Al Groh following the 2000 season. New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (Pat Shurmur was fired after the 2020 season) is on the list. He got paid like a big-time quarterback this past offseason. The Giants (1-2) are struggling and it’s not too soon to wonder if they have buyer’s remorse.
The remaining list of 13 includes some names you may have already forgotten.
| Year |
Team |
Quarterback |
Coach |
| 2019 |
Washington |
Dwayne Haskins |
Jay Gruden |
| 2018 |
Cleveland |
Baker Mayfield |
Hue Jackson |
| 2018 |
N.Y. Jets |
Sam Darnold |
Todd Bowles |
| 2018 |
Arizona |
Josh Rosen |
Steve Wilks |
| 2016 |
Denver |
Paxton Lynch |
Gary Kubiak (retired) |
| 2015 |
Tampa Bay |
Jameis Winston |
Lovie Smith |
| 2015 |
Tennessee |
Marcus Mariota |
Ken Whisenhunt |
| 2012 |
Cleveland |
Brandon Weeden |
Pat Shurmur |
| 2011 |
Jacksonville |
Blaine Gabbert |
Jack Del Rio |
| 2010 |
Denver |
Tim Tebow |
Josh McDaniels |
| 2006 |
Arizona |
Matt Leinart |
Dennis Green |
| 2004 |
Buffalo |
J.P. Losman |
Perry Fewell |
| 2002 |
Detroit |
Joey Harrington |
Marty Mornhinweg |
Why don’t more quarterbacks with draft grades strong enough to have them selected in Round 1 click in these situations? There’s an almost limitless end of explanations. If the coach is fired, the team around the player probably isn’t very good. It takes time to turn around a roster even if you have a quarterback. Changing offensive systems from the rookie season to Year 2 isn’t ideal. In a lot of cases, the quarterback probably wouldn’t have turned out to be very good in any coaching scenario.
“They don’t have to play great right away and you better not expect them to,” one personnel source said. “It’s exceedingly rare when you see one selected that does. You mention Chad Pennington. He didn’t start until his third season. That doesn’t happen anymore unless you’re the Packers and you have Aaron Rodgers. But the quarterback has to flash and he has to do that pretty quickly.
“If that doesn’t happen — if you don’t see it and say, ‘Yes, that’s why we drafted him’ — it’s not going to happen. I don’t care if you bring back Bill Walsh to coach the quarterback. If the coach is being fired, chances are the quarterback hasn’t delivered those ‘a-ha’ moments where everyone in the organization knows you’ve got a chance.”
Fields started 10 games as a rookie under Nagy and struggled. There were issues around him and you can make a valid case the system hindered him. But had there been glimpses of promise, maybe Nagy would have retained his job.
“Didn’t see it from Justin in 2021,” the executive said. “Didn’t see it last season. I haven’t watched the Bears this year, but if they’ve got noise between him and (offensive coordinator Luke) Getsy, I’m going to guess I don’t have to put on the tape to know this show hasn’t changed.”
All of the quarterbacks on the list played in different circumstances, but the overwhelming majority failed to get a foothold as a starter. As the project continues to play out with Fields, the Bears are working against the odds that he will break through. This isn’t a suggestion they should have kept GM Ryan Pace and Nagy into Fields’ second season but a portrait of the outcome for other first-round quarterbacks caught in a coaching change after Year 1.
Lombardi was one of the first analysts to turn on former Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky. This may be a major turnoff to some Bears fans and readers, but Lombardi isn’t saying anything different about Fields from what talent evaluators with other teams have said for quite some time. They just haven’t seen Fields perform as a passer.
Lombardi spent the first third of his podcast, “The GM Shuffle,” last week describing in great length the issues Fields and the offense have in the aftermath of the quarterback’s comments Wednesday, which included a reference to “coaching” when explaining why he thought he has been thinking too much. Lombardi went back and forth with co-host Femi Abefefe, who has been a supporter of Fields. This is as raw as it gets to criticism of the quarterback.
Bears quarterback Justin Fields with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy during a game against the Packers on Sept. 10, 2023, at Soldier Field. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
“I don’t understand how Justin Fields became this guy everyone wants to run and defend,” Lombardi said. “Does anybody watch the tape? Here is the question I want to ask you. You get your headset on. You get your play sheet. You call plays for this guy. Because if you and I sat down and watched tape, and if we watched that Bears game against Tampa and we watched it closely and I showed you exactly what Luke Getsy called in the game and what (Fields) didn’t throw and what he didn’t do, you would say, ‘Well, it’s hard to call plays for this guy.’
“That’s why (Getsy) calls so many screens. Because Getsy knows at least he can complete a screen. Can we stop the nonsense, please? He’s throwing the coaches under the bus because he knows he’s got a sympathetic audience in Twitter. Now, he peeled it back. But who cares? He’s 5-22. He misses open receivers. He doesn’t throw to receivers. He leads the league in negative plays. At some point, when does somebody say, ‘It’s the player’? What scheme are you going to run? What plays are you going to call for this guy? What plays are you calling? If you’re Ryan Poles and you’re sitting up there in the press box and you want to blame Luke Getsy, and you can blame him, but the next guy coming in will get fired too.
“Here’s what I want to know: When did he play loose? When did he play his game over the last 27 starts? Tell me what tape I should go watch of him playing himself that doesn’t involve running around. I will be happy to watch it. When you’re complaining about the play calling, you’re complaining about the pass plays. Got a guy running wide open down the seam, he just holds the ball and takes a sack. Got a guy wide open in the flat, he throws it 5 yards in the dirt. They call all sticks and he throws it into the middle. They’re calling stuff to get completions. He’s looking at his play sheet saying, ‘What am I gonna call?’ You can’t defend this guy.”
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Lombardi went on to explain Fields isn’t mastering basic passing concepts with any consistency and it is hamstringing the entire operation.
“Even when he’s given high-low reads, he doesn’t throw it,” Lombardi said. “He doesn’t trust his accuracy. His accuracy is a disaster. He can’t control the football, and if you watch his motion at Ohio State, I said this when he came out. If Tom Brady were to evaluate all of the quarterbacks in that draft, Fields would have been the least he liked because his motion is all over the place. It isn’t tight enough. He might hit one. He’s gonna miss two.
“Quarterbacks have to be accurate, and accuracy is not defined by completions. Accuracy is defined by location of the football based on the route, and he doesn’t trust his accuracy. So he’s scared to throw the ball sometimes. He just doesn’t make any plays. He gets sacked all the time. This is not a fender bender that he’s getting sacked so much. It’s been happening forever. It’s been a pattern of reckless sacks forever. It’s not like he’s completed 80% of his passes and now he’s down to 55. This is pretty much what we saw last year.
“So now all of a sudden it’s Getsy’s fault? I urge everybody, all of these guys that get on Twitter and describe the plays and go over it, you call plays for him. You get a headset on. You game plan against Todd Bowles and his defense and you start calling plays and you tell me what you’re going to get. Once you take away clear dig, indigo — that’s the first play of the game, he completed it and he completed it later to DJ Moore. Moore is frustrated. He’s wide open on a couple of plays and he can’t even get him the ball. Why do we defend Fields? Why is everyone in a rush to defend Fields? He’s had (28) games as a starter. He’s yet to produce quality quarterback play as a thrower.”
There was more from Lombardi. You probably get the gist of it.
I went to the Chiefs locker room after the game to get a sense of what they thought about the Bears in the week leading up to the game.
“We know the type of talent that they have on that team and we know teams in this situation, if you let them breathe life, it’s the NFL,” safety Justin Reid said. “Any given Sunday something can happen. We prepared for them, the type of team we know they could be and possibly still can be later in the season. Which is to have Justin Fields be your starting quarterback, run all over the schoolyard, make all the throws and then their wide receivers and their skill groups balling out, running routes and making catches. So we were preparing to take them as seriously as we could because we want to play up to our standards at all times.”
Wait a minute. When has Reid seen Fields making throws all over the field before?
Bears defensive end Dominique Robinson tackles the Chiefs’ Justin Reid in the second quarter on Sept. 24, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
“I’ve seen his tape from college and I don’t ever judge a man off what the last game is,” he said. “I try to judge a man by what his ceiling is. We’re the defending Super Bowl champs. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot regardless.”
For backup offensive lineman Nick Allegretti, there’s a personal nature to it. He graduated from Lincoln-Way East and played at Illinois before the Chiefs drafted him in the seventh round in 2019. Everyone he grew up with — family and friends — are Bears fans. He was too.
“It’s hard for them,” Allegretti said. “I’ll be honest with you. They love watching me have success. It’s been nice for them to have me on the Chiefs so they can watch me because it’s been tough for Bears fans.
“I’ll tell you what, that team today played their ass off, though. They’ve got a lot of stuff to figure out, obviously. You watch them and they are physical and they play hard for 60 minutes. That’s hard to do when you have a lopsided score like that. A lot of teams give up in a game like that. There was zero give-up.
“It’s tough, though. I’m trying to be careful here. I was a Bears fan before I got to the league. I was an Olin Kreutz and Roberto Garza guy. Those are my guys. They’re the reason I play offensive line. Obviously, genetics play a part too.”
Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is unable to catch a pass as Bears cornerback Terell Smith defends during the first half on Sept. 24, 2023. (Charlie Riedel/AP)
I’m not going to try to build this matchup of 0-3 teams into something it is not. But the Bears have not started a season 0-4 since 2000 and have done so only four times in the Super Bowl era.
“The challenges that come with losing a game like that … we just have another opportunity to bounce back next week,” wide receiver Chase Claypool said. “Us and Denver are in a similar position coming off a pretty bad loss (the Broncos lost 70-20 at Miami), so the next game will be a big determinant of what kind of team we are.”
10a. What do the next two months or so look like? Check out the next seven opponents:
10b. Ten tackles for rookie cornerback Terell Smith with one tackle for a loss and a pass deflection. The fifth-round pick got substantial playing time with Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson going out. It will be interesting to see what the coaches think of his tape. Smith was having a solid start to training camp when some soft-tissue injuries knocked him off a little bit.
10c. Alshon Jeffery, a second-round pick in 2012, had his No. 1 jersey retired by South Carolina on Saturday night. Jeffery is third on the Bears all-time receiving list with 4,549 yards, amassed in five seasons.