Bears' offense out to lunch all day in ugly loss to Dolphins
The inconsistent, ineffective, unproductive offense on display Sunday at Soldier Field was not what the Bears envisioned in the second year under coach Marc Trestman.
The Bears' star-studded outfit managed just 54 yards and zero points in the first half against a Miami Dolphins team that came in with a 2-3 record but dropped the Bears to 3-4 with a 27-14 drubbing. It was the third Bears loss in three home games.
"(Sunday) was an unacceptable performance by our football team," Trestman said. "We came to work, and we didn't get it done."
No Bears team had been blanked in the first half under Trestman, and the last time it happened at home was in 2010. The Bears went three-and-out twice on four first-half possessions and had just 2 first downs at halftime. Running back Matt Forte, third in the league in yards from scrimmage, got 2 carries in the first half for 11 yards.
"Totally disappointing," Trestman said. "We couldn't put any drives together, we put our defense in a bad way - they were on the field too long, and we just couldn't get any kind of continuity going with our plays."
Not only was the Bears' offense stagnant, it turned the ball over three times.
Quarterback Jay Cutler was intercepted by Reshad Jones when he missed badly on a pass to Martellus Bennett just outside the red zone midway through the second quarter. Jones' 50-yard return set the Dolphins up with a short field at the Bears' 23-yard line, and they needed just three plays to reach the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
"We came out fine in the second half, but that don't get it done," Bears offensive left tackle Jermon Bushrod said. "You have to start fast and finish strong in this league."
The Bears did neither. They opened the second half with a 12-play, 80-yard drive to cut the Dolphins' lead to 14-7. But Miami answered with a 13-play, 83-yard drive to go up 21-7 at the end of the third quarter.
The Bears' second giveaway, in the first minute of the fourth quarter, came on a sack-strip of Cutler by Cameron Wake, who beat Bears right tackle Jordan Mills and then recovered the fumble he caused. That set up a 33-yard Caleb Sturgis field goal to put the Dolphins up 24-7, making the outcome academic.
Bears fans, who have yet to witness a home victory, serenaded their team with enthusiastic boos as it left the field, and who could blame them?
Not Bears tight end Martellus Bennett.
"If I go see a bad movie, I boo," said Bennett, who caught 5 passes for 58 yards. "It's entertainment, it's an entertainment business. We're all entertainers. If you go to a bad show, most people boo, and I think they have the right to do that.
"They paid for their tickets, the show wasn't up to their liking. I usually walk out if I don't like the movie. Transformers 3 was terrible. I didn't stay for the whole film, I walked out."
Maybe it's a good thing the Bears won't be back home until Nov. 16 against the Vikings. They're 3-1 on the road. But it's difficult to imagine away games against New England (5-2) and Green Bay (5-2), bracketing the bye week, as a positive.
There are numerous areas in need of improvement for an offense that was expected to ascend after finishing No. 2 in scoring and No. 5 in passing yards last season.
Cutler, at first, struggled to identify the problem areas in an up-and-down season, but several quickly came to mind.
"We've got to protect the ball," he said. "We've got to convert on third down (they were 5 of 12). We've got to get a rhythm going. We've got to get Matt (Forte) going a little earlier in the game."
Forte finished with 49 yards on 12 carries and caught 6 passes for 60 yards, but the Bears only had the ball for 22:38, not enough time for any of their skill-position players to produce, Pro Bowl wide receiver Alshon Jeffery had 2 catches for 9 yards. Five-time Pro Bowl wideout Brandon Marshall caught 6 passes but generated just 48 yards. Cutler completed 21 of 34 passes for 190 yards and a 74.4 passer rating, his lowest of the season.
"I've just got to lead this group," Cutler said, "and try to find a way to make sure we play clean football for four quarters."
If it doesn't happen soon for an offense that was supposed to carry a team with playoff aspirations, their performance will be irrelevant the next time the Bears are back at Soldier Field.
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