As the Chicago Bears season ended with a 21-9 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the question lingers: What next?
A Bears team that finished the regular season 8-8 and got into the playoffs as the NFC’s No. 7 seed because of an Arizona Cardinals loss looked overmatched against the second-seeded Saints.
Now Bears Chairman George McCaskey must decide how to proceed with a franchise that has two playoff berths in the last three years but lost the games in different styles of disappointment.
On Sunday, a Bears offense that had a December resurgence against some of the worst defenses in the NFL was held to 239 yards — 99 of them coming on the last meaningless touchdown drive — and didn’t find the end zone until the final play of the game against a Saints defense that ranks among the top five in the league in several categories.
In potentially his last start in a Bears uniform, quarterback Mitch Trubisky completed 19 of 29 passes for 199 yards and a 19-yard touchdown to Jimmy Graham as time expired. Trubisky is set to become a free agent this offseason.
The Bears converted 1 of 10 third downs, their first conversion coming on the final drive.
The Bears defense was playing without starting inside linebacker Roquan Smith and cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Buster Skrine. In place of Smith, the unit started Manti Te’o, who had been on the practice squad all season.
The Bears held the Saints to seven first-half points and got a first-half takeaway on Tashuan Gipson’s forced fumble and John Jenkins’ recovery. The Saints broke through in the second half to score two touchdowns, though quarterback Drew Brees was stopped short of the goal line on a fourth-and-1 leap with 2:19 to play.
Brees completed 28 of 39 passes for 265 yards with two touchdowns, and running back Alvin Kamara had 23 carries for 99 yards and a score.
The Bears were troubled by penalties all game long and finished with nine for 50 yards.
That included tight end Cole Kmet getting flagged for a debatable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Bears’ only scoring drive after he threw the ball to the official. Wide receiver Anthony Miller was ejected for shoving Saints defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, the same player Bears wide receiver Javon Wims punched in the teams’ first meeting this season.
The Saints advance to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next weekend in New Orleans.
