Rozner: Bad Chicago Bears find new way to lose to bad Packers

It was not the Chicago Bears' prototypical loss to the Packers, which usually involves Aaron Rodgers doing something heroic late to someone named Chris Conte or Cre'Von LeBlanc.

But it was, nevertheless, excruciating.

With Green Bay backups playing all over the field against the vaunted Bears defense, the Packers left Soldier Field with a mind-boggling 23-16 victory Sunday afternoon on an appropriately dark and dreary day on the lakefront.

Amid so much second-half optimism fueled by an irrational narrative that led some to suggest a playoff run, nothing more properly summed up Sunday's misery for the 3-6 Bears than a Green Bay run play with 3:12 remaining.

With the Bears down a touchdown and needing the ball back, Jamaal Williams - the Packers' third-string running back - on second-and-4 took the handoff and standing right in front of him was 2016 first-round pick Leonard Floyd.

Williams shook off Floyd and then carried him like the Bears' linebacker was his little brother, before running over Kyle Fuller, who had an absolutely dreadful day.

By the time Green Bay finished moving down the field and missed a field goal, there were 63 seconds left in the game and the Bears were out of timeouts.

The Bears' final drive consisted of five plays and 18 yards, and the Packers celebrated their first victory for quarterback Brett Hundley in his third career start.

Playing with a bad hamstring, Hundley posted a 110.8 passer rating against the immovable object that is supposed to be the Bears' defense - including a perfect 158.3 in the fourth quarter - becoming the first Packers quarterback not named Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre to start and beat the Bears since Don Majkowski in 1989, according to NFL.com.

It was ugly in just about every way a Bears loss can be ugly, from the penalties, to the miscommunication, to the wretched offense, to the replay challenge of what might have been a touchdown, but instead cost the Bears possession of the football on the 2-yard line.

So, of course, John Fox was trending on Twitter for most of the game, and again his general manager escaped all attention.

But the Bears lost to an awful football team Sunday with an awful team of their own, put together by Ryan Pace, who - coincidentally - owns the same record in Chicago as Fox.

Past the midway point of his third season, Pace has put together teams that have gone 12-29. Yet, Fox is the one everyone believes got himself fired Sunday afternoon while losing a game that on paper should have been an easy win.

"I've never worried about my job security," Fox said after game, "and I won't start going forward."

There's something wrong with the math when there are precious few players remaining from the Phil Emery era and somehow this is all on John Fox.

This is a bad Bears team that can't win when a couple of breaks go against them, and there was certainly no fortune in the Bears' favor Sunday, be it officiating or otherwise.

"You make your own luck," Fox said. "You overcome a lot of things in this league. Sometimes it's calls.

"In a nutshell, in nine games, two of them we didn't give ourselves a chance. But in seven games, we've had the opportunity to win. The reality is we are 3-6."

On that score, there can be no argument.

As for blame, the head coach can't make a bad offensive line good and he can't take players off the street and turn them into a Pro Bowl wide-receiving corps.

He can't go back to the future and know what Mitch Trubisky will be in two years, but today he is ordinary, something considerably less than the Joe Montana projections.

The truth is the Bears lack playmakers just as they did when Pace took over, and when it's on the line the Bears don't have enough guys who can change a game in an instant.

The Bears can fire coaches after the season and put all the blame on Fox, but if Pace doesn't find game-changers in the off-season, next year will look like the first three under Pace.

So far he's compiled a 12-29 resume.

To borrow from John Fox, that's the reality.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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