For fans hoping the Chicago Bears would look even a little different in their first game after firing head coach Matt Eberflus, that wasn't quite the case in Week 14. The Bears dropped their seventh-straight game after being out-classed by the San Francisco 49ers.
This game, though, seemed even worse than any other loss this season. Shockingly, the Bears came out completely flat and showed almost nothing in the first half. In fact, the first half of the game saw the Bears total just four yards of offense.
There weren't really any words that did this performance justice. And, funny enough, wide receiver D.J. Moore didn't exactly have the words to describe it either. After the game, Moore essentially pointed out the obvious.
"We didn't have any points in the first half, so we got to start faster," he told CHGO.
What's the remedy? How does this get fixed?
"We got to find a way to get points in the first half, better yet the first quarter," Moore said.
D.J. Moore has no idea what's not working in the Bears' offense
"Nah, we got to execute and do what's called. I don't know what's not clicking, but we need to get it going," the wideout said of the slow starts.
Sometimes, coaches will give the classic responses of practice looking good and then not having any idea of what went wrong on Sunday. Unfortunately, that's all Moore could come up with to describe this one:
"We didn't execute ... practices looked good. Our Friday was good ... we all had the feeling of 'everything was good,' and we come out here and we ain't put up nothing."
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The fact of the matter is, the offense clearly needs a completely different scheme. And, sadly, that's going to present yet another challenge for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. This rookie season is going to get chalked up as a learning year for Williams, but he'll end up learning a totally different playbook in Year 2 and have to start from ground zero.
Through Week 14, the Bears offense is second-to-last in first quarter scoring, averaging just 1.7 points in the first period. It hasn't gotten much better in the second quarter, either, with the Bears ranking 22nd in that category, averaging just 5.8 points there.
Regardless of what happens this offseason, Moore is clearly frustrated and he's tried his best to remain cool. He hasn't been one to wear his thoughts on his sleeve, but knowing the type of person he is, Moore is upset. He knows this team still has plenty of work to do.
And, in all likelihood, that won't include Thomas Brown sticking around as the permanent head coach. The loss to San Francisco all but guaranteed his exit following the season.
Big changes are ahead. The Bears aren't done.