CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As exasperating as it was at times, this was progress for the Bears.
They led from start to finish and earned a relatively drama-free 23-16 road win over the Panthers on Sunday. They’ve swerved and stumbled, but they’re 5-1 for their best start since 2012.
That means a Bears team that benched its quarterback, has three starters out for the season and was a few plays away from starting 0-5 is on track for the playoffs.
“I don’t want to take away the excitement from our team that we’re 5-1,” coach Matt Nagy said. “It’s really easy to say, ‘Man, we’re just looking for 50 points a game and get the run game going.’ And we need to. Trust me.
“The good thing is that we’re 5-1, and when we do get this thing clicking, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
In no way was this one fun. But it was a solid and decisive victory.
The essence of it was a painful, but ultimately successful sequence that ended with the Bears getting their first third-quarter points of the season, making them the last NFL team to do so.
They did it in the Bearsiest way imaginable.
From first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, as a chant of “Let’s go, Bears,” rose from a solid delegation of fans amid the crowd of roughly 5,200, they sent David Montgomery up the middle twice for no gain before Nick Foles inched over the line in a rugby scrum.
It was grueling. It was inelegant. But it did the job and put the Bears up 20-6.
As for Foles, it was another topsy-turvy game to add to his collection. After three starts, he still hasn’t been a definitive upgrade over Mitch Trubisky. He wobbled to a final line of 23 of 39 for 198 yards with a touchdown and an interception for a season-worst 70.2 passer rating.
He threw the pick in the third quarter, immediately after Eddie Jackson’s forced fumble and Akiem Hicks’ recovery gave the Bears the ball at the Panthers’ 22-yard line, and it was inexcusable.
As he backpedaled 13 yards behind the line of scrimmage, Foles heaved one off his back foot that never had a chance, and Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn grabbed it easily.
“It was a dumb interception,” Foles said.
If only he realized that at the time. It was by the far the worst of the Bears’ mental hiccups, but the entire game was littered with their trademark clumsiness.
After Tashaun Gipson’s interception minutes into the game set them up at the Panthers’ 7-yard line, the Bears bumbled through a 1-yard pass, a 2-yard run, then called timeout and committed delay of game coming out of the timeout before Foles’ 9-yard pass to rookie Cole Kmet for his first touchdown.
Nagy was livid.
“I had to cool down a little bit on the sideline, to say the least,” he said. “We’re lucky we got that touchdown. I’ll just say that.”
Whoever’s fault the penalty was, Nagy fired a shot with a sarcastic, “I guess it was a little loud.”
That was the first of many infuriating miscues.
Late in the first quarter, on third-and-3, Anthony Miller caught a pass at the first-down marker, then went backward to try for more yardage and was stopped a yard short.
Meanwhile, the running game was inept again, and the Bears averaged 2.5 yards per carry. Nagy called just three runs in the first quarter and four in the second, with Montgomery managing 13 yards on those.
His last run of the half came from the Bears’ 25-yard line with two minutes left, no timeouts and the team hurrying to score. Whether Nagy called that or Foles audibled, it made no sense.
“I understand we want to look at all the negatives and stuff, but really, guys, what’s pretty cool is that our defense played lights out today,” Nagy said of a crew that had three takeaways, pressured Teddy Bridgewater into a 50.4 passer rating and allowed just 3.9 yards per carry.
On top of all Nagy’s good vibes about his team’s potential, the Bears play five of their six NFC North games over the final eight weeks and could be in very good position by then.
“We’ve got a chance to be an extremely good team,” wide receiver Allen Robinson said. “We haven’t really had that breakout, explosive game. But I definitely think that’s around the corner.”
It’s always allegedly right around the corner. But as imperfectly as they played Sunday, it was a small step toward something better.
