NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There’s been an assumption that no matter how bad the Bears got, they could still find a way to the playoffs.
They burst that bubble Sunday.
This performance was bad enough to lose to anybody. In a season when NFL scoring is at an all-time high, the Bears were scoreless going into the fourth quarter of their 24-17 loss to the Titans at Nissan Stadium.
This team is capable of anything — in the worst way. There are no surefire wins, especially next week against the 3-5 Vikings.
Calling this a debacle would be too generous. Excusing it because of a rag-tag offensive line would be too lenient. There aren’t enough explanations to make this acceptable. In a season full of scuttled plays, three-and-outs and Matt Nagy seeming to wonder how all this is possibly happening to him, this was a new low.
“Obviously a high level of frustration,” he said. “We didn’t do enough offensively to get the job done ... Recurring theme here on offense. That starts with me.”
Nagy seems like he’d rather get fired than give up play calling, and maybe it’s time for him to choose. He’s an offensive specialist running an offense that’s inept. No coach keeps his job in that scenario.
Don’t be misled by the final score. The Bears’ only meaningful points came on Cairo Santos’ 22-yard field goal with 12:30 left —after the Titans dropped a would-be Nick Foles interception — followed by two garbage-time touchdowns.
It’d be hazardous to your health to read about all the miscues, so in the interest of time and safety, let’s zoom in on their possessions going into and coming out of halftime.
The Bears got the ball at the Titans’ 48-yard line with 1:07 left in the half and self-sabotaged with left tackle Charles Leno’s false start and right tackle Rashaad Coward’s hands-to-the-face penalty.
“There will be a mistake that we make — everybody, whether it’s coaches or players,” Nagy said. “But the ones that bother me are the senseless ones.”
Foles tried to save the drive from first-and-25 by throwing short passes in the middle of the field with no timeouts. He finally threw to the sideline, pointlessly, as the clock ran out.
The Bears were down just 10-0, but came out in the third quarter and did what they always do.
Foles dropped the first snap he took, then gave it to Cordarrelle Patterson for a three-yard loss.
The Bears salvaged that possession and got to third-and-six at the Tennessee 36, and Foles honored one of their most storied traditions by throwing short of the first down. They went 2 for 15 on third downs.
That’s when Nagy made a bad situation worse. The Bears scrambled as if going for it on fourth-and-one rather than kicking a 48-yard field goal. They were probably trying to draw the Titans offside, but rookie guard Arlington Hambright jumped for a false start.
Nagy decided to go for it again, and this time tight end Jimmy Graham jumped. Like magicians, the Bears turned a reasonable field-goal try into a punt.
It’s a handy excuse to blame the decimated offensive line, but that group was struggling even before the injuries and coronavirus positives. Nagy can thank general manager Ryan Pace for that poor construction.
Meanwhile, his offense deteriorated to the point that literally doing nothing would’ve been preferable at times. Just take a knee three times in a row and see if you can score on special teams or defense.
“Unfortunately, that’s kinda where we’re at,” wide receiver Allen Robinson said of the struggle. “I don’t have too many answers on that.”
After wasting that chance in field-goal range, the Bears pushed to the Tennessee 27 before the Titans’ pass rush sent Foles into full panic mode and he threw one straight into the ground for intentional grounding.
There are times when no one knows what Foles is thinking. And there are times when it’s clear he simply isn’t.
After Foles’ penalty, he served up a pass behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-13, connecting with running back David Montgomery for a loss of four yards. Montgomery fumbled, and Titans cornerback Desmond King ran it back 63 yards for a 17-0 lead. The game was essentially done.
The only reason Foles is keeping his job is because the Bears don’t have anyone else to try.
He completed 36 of 52 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns for a season-high 99.4 passer rating that isn’t as sparkly as it looks. He was at a much more Foles-like 82.7 with a little over eight minutes to go and the Titans ahead 24-3.
And forget about trying to run. The Bears have. Their longest rush of the day was outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo getting 11 yards on a fake punt.
Nagy has been using his team’s winning record as a shield from the onslaught of criticism over his 28th-ranked offense, but it’s been worn thin in the free fall from 5-1 to 5-4. The season has been falling apart for weeks, and the Bears are cratering toward total collapse.
