The Chicago Bears (4-3) went on the road in week eight and dropped a disappointing 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens (2-5).
It was no secret going into Sunday's matchup that the Bears were a banged-up team (so were the Ravens, though they kept some secrets). Still, the players available to the team, coming off a four-game win streak, seemed mostly out of sync all day across all three phases.
The numbers never lie, and these four tell the truth about exactly how the Ravens handed the Bears their first loss since Sept. 14:
40%
The passing game was less-than-efficient in Baltimore, with one of the few bright spots being the play of Rome Odunze, who accounted for exactly 40% of the offense's air yards.
Fellow 2024 NFL Draft top 10 selection Caleb Williams finished the game with 285 total passing yards, and Odunze's 114 yards, on seven receptions, was a big part of the reason why. When the unit moved up and down the field early in the game, it was largely due to Odunze, who tallied 57 yards -- half of his game total -- on the first two drives combined.
Odunze had a harder time producing downfield as the game went on, especially when the Bears were trailing by enough that they were de facto glued to airing it out. In fact, after the Bears' second field goal of the first quarter, Odunze did not catch his next ball until the final frame. Nonetheless, despite the ups and downs that the offense has endured over the first third or so of the season, Odunze's breakout is palpable and will likely be a big part of how this team gets back on track.
13
Both the passing and running attacks struggled on Sunday, but it seems like the Bears failed to learn their D'Andre Swift-lesson of recent weeks, as the lead back finished with just 13 total touches.
Since coming out of the bye, Swift had been the catalyst for the Bears' offense. In their wins over the Washington Commanders and New Orleans Saints, the back averaged over 150 yards and a touchdown per game on 18 carries. His prominence in offense dipped this week, totaling 71 all-purpose yards, the third highest on the team, although Swift did score the Bears' lone touchdown.
Granted, it became more and more difficult to feature Swift as the offense fell further and further behind, but he seemed to lose some of his standing in the backfield, especially considering the fact that rookie Kyle Monangai finished with seven carries, the second-highest mark of his career. Regardless of the reason, the Bears were never able to get Swift going, which impacted the team's ability to play complementary football on both offense and defense.
177
The offense was not the only group to struggle on the ground, as the banged-up Bears defense allowed 117 rushing yards to the Ravens.
For a team that features one of the most dominant rushers of all time in Derrick Henry and one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history in Lamar Jackson, 177 rushing yards does not sound that bad, but the Bears allowed Baltimore to do that without the latter player in the backfield. In his stead, Tyler Huntley made plays on the ground to the tune of 53 yards on eight attempts, which ended up being his career single-game high.
The Bears struggled to get off the field all day, and the problems against the run were a big part of that. All six of the Ravens' scoring drives got into the red zone, and Baltimore used a good mix of Henry, Huntley, and Keaton Mitchell to stay fresh on the ground.
The game marked the sixth time this defense has allowed 120 team rushing yards or more, and Henry was the prime beneficiary, scoring multiple touchdowns in a game for the second time this season and the first since Baltimore's week one loss to the Buffalo Bills.
11
The Bears struggled on offense and defense, but overall, the lack of mental focus was the team's most glaring weakness, as evidenced by the 11 penalties.
Of course, whenever discussing penalties, it is important to remember that not all are created equal. Some flags come down to aggressive hands slipping or subjective calls made by referees in real time, but the Bears put themselves behind the eight-ball on multiple instances due to self-inflicted mistakes.
Perhaps no play was a better example than Tory Taylor's mid-second quarter punt, which was downed at the one-yard line. An illegal formation penalty forced the Bears to re-kick, which eventually led to the Ravens getting the ball at the 22-yard line.
Read more: Ben Johnson directly calls out Caleb Williams for biggest mistake in Bears' loss
20 yards in field position because of a simple mistake is a big deal, and so is Loveland's false start on a red-zone third-and-one (which was nonetheless converted, but the point remains). Until the Bears clean up their penalties, they will continue to find their margin of error razor-thin, something a relatively inexperienced ad-developing team can ill afford.