Bears coach Matt Nagy appropriately started his postgame news conference with a litany of lament that probably said more about his team than he would care to admit.
“That was a tough game to be a part of,” Nagy said after a deflating, discouraging 19-11 loss to the Colts on Sunday at Soldier Field. “You start off and you end up punting the ball and you get a [block] — that’s a tough start.”
But wait, there’s more. Plenty more.
“Eleven points doesn’t do it,” Nagy said.
“You have to be able to run the ball for more than 28 yards in a game.
“You can’t be one-dimensional when you run.
“Nineteen points on defense, you should be able to win games.
“Third down we were 4-for-14 . . . we need to be better.
“Seventeen yards on 11 attempts in the first half — longest run six yards — there was never a rhythm in the game.
“And too many penalties . . . penalties at inopportune times.
“So what we need to do now is on a short week, we have to pick up the pieces.”
It’s never a good sign when you’re picking up the pieces in Week 5. The Bears lost one game Sunday. But to their fans who have been scarred by years of torment, this disappointing performance looked awfully familiar — more like a red flag than a one-score loss.
The Bears were coming off an exhilarating come-from-behind victory on the road over the Falcons last week. They had the momentum of a positive quarterback change, from Mitch Trubisky to the more polished, Super Bowl tempered Nick Foles.
But when it was time to take a step forward against a tougher opponent, Nagy’s Bears fell flat, with disappointing performances in all three phases. Nagy’s offense was by far the most culpable — 269 total yards (4.6 yards per play) against the Colts’ top-ranked defense. But the defense had its issues, including five penalties. Special teams pitched in with the deflected punt in the first quarter and four penalties.
Maybe it’ll turn out that the Colts indeed are growing into a Super Bowl contender. Maybe their defense — 18th in the NFL last season — will continue to emerge as a force to be reckoned with. Maybe the Bears just faced the wrong team at the wrong time.
But for now, it’s more mystifying than anything else, the kind that leaves you scratching your head and wondering just where this team is headed.
“No, I’m not scratching my head,” Nagy said. “Because when you scratch your head is when you wonder if it’s effort. And none of it was effort.
“Our guys all care. You would love to be 4-0 right now. We’re not. We’re 3-1. It’s the first time all year that we lost a game. So being in that locker room, just understanding how do we react to that — responding to adversity.
“Can we play better? Absolutely. Can we coach better? Absolutely. And that’s what we’ve gotta do. We’ve got guys that care and when you care, you figure out answers and I hope that’s what we do.”
Though Nagy was proud of the effort, something was missing Sunday, and others noticed. “I felt like we brought a lot more energy than they did,” Colts quarterback Philip Rivers said.
It’s risky to define any team by one game, but the Bears were out-played and out-coached by a team that has been on the same rebuild trajectory for three seasons under general manager Chris Ballard and coach Frank Reich.
And it’s on Nagy and his offense to catch up. The defense responded in the second half. The offense didn’t get going until it was too late. With Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in town on Thursday, they get a quick chance to prove this wasn’t as bad as it looked.
