Poor grades for Chicago Bears in loss to 49ers
By Andrew Poole
Dec 6, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) throws in the first quarter of their game against San Francisco 49ers at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
Offense: D
Even without targets Eddie Royal, Kevin White and Marquess Wilson, the Chicago Bears still had plenty of talent available Sunday to handle the San Francisco 49ers, but the Bears failed to take advantage of the weapons they had.
Dec 6, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) in the first quarter of their game against San Francisco 49ers at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
Cutler played arguably his worst game of the season. He missed multiple deep throws, including one on the Bears’ first possession to Josh Bellamy, when Cutler threw late in the endzone, only to see the pass batted away. The pick-six he threw in the first quarter was brutal and shouldn’t have been thrown, but it looked like Marc Mariani or Bellamy may have missed the block on Jimmie Ward, who ultimately intercepted the quick screen to Jeffery and returned it 29 yards for the score.
Cutler finished the day 18-of-31 for 202 yards and the interception, and scrambled for 10 yards on four carries. It wasn’t as bad a day as Cutler has had in past seasons, but it certainly wasn’t what the Bears or fans expected facing the 27th-ranked passing defense.
We’ll address coaching more on a later slide, but where the Bears badly failed in this game is getting Martellus Bennett and Zach Miller involved. Both are above-average pass catching tight ends, and yet it was almost as if they weren’t playing Sunday. Instead, Cutler zeroed-in on Jeffery, resulting in only four catches on 12 targets. Bennett and Miller – both of whom are trusted by Cutler and have had big games for the Bears this season – were targeted a combined five times, resulting in four catches for a measly 20 yards.
If the Bears are trying to trace the failure in their passing game, it starts right there. Missing Royal and Wilson, the Bears needed to get other targets involved, as they’ve done in other games this year. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen Sunday.
Dec 6, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte (22) runs past San Francisco 49ers middle linebacker Gerald Hodges (51) during the second half at Soldier Field. San Francisco won 26-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
The running game was the lone offensive bright spot, as Forte and company combined for 170 yards on 42 carries. Forte in particular had one of his better games of the season, as he picked up 84 yards on 21 carries and contributed 39 receiving yards on five catches. Rookie Jeremy Langford – while he did have another bad third-down drop in the passing game – ran 12 times for 59 yards, while Ka’Deem Carey tallied the fourth-quarter touchdown that briefly gave the Bears the lead.
The focus on the running game was what most Bears fans expected to see this year. With Forte missing some games that expectation hasn’t always come to pass, but with all three of the Bears’ running backs healthy, expect to see a consistent dose of the ground game for the rest of the season.
Next: Need To Finish The Game