Bears Film Study: Who’s to blame for ugly loss in Arizona?

There's certainly a lack of happiness surrounding the Bears after their second straight loss. On the bright side, those two defeats dropped their record to 4-4. It could be much worse.

So this is a good time for Bears Film Study to play the blame game. Let's decide and rank who is to blame for the unsightly loss in Arizona.

Grind time

The story of this game was the Bears' shorthanded defense getting worn down and run over. The Cardinals have a very good offensive line, and are especially strong at getting to the second level and sealing linebackers.

The Bears were missing three of their four best defensive players (Montez Sweat, Jaquon Brisker and Kyler Gordon). Then with Byron Cowart (coming off his best game) also sidelined, they used a three-man rotation at defensive tackle, which is certainly a recipe for getting worn down. DT Gervon Dexter played 79% of the defensive snaps.

It's easy to look at Emari Demercado's 53-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the first half and say, “That should never happen.” But it was just another example of the Cardinals offensive line having its way. Once Demercado got the ball, the seven closest Bears defenders were all locked up and couldn't get off blocks. Defensive end Austin Booker was unblocked, but had too much ground to cover and couldn't make the tackle.

The Bears needed safety Kevin Byard to at least slow Demercado down so teammates could catch up, but he didn't come close to pulling that off. Maybe 5-foot-7 WR Greg Dortch was too imposing a blocker.

First-half blunders

Two bad mistakes helped blow the game open before halftime. One was Dexter's leverage penalty on field-goal defense. That was a crusher, because a tired defense stood up and forced a fourth-down field goal at the 14-yard line with a sack by Chris Williams. Arizona kept the ball and scored a touchdown.

On the next Bears' drive, Keenan Allen dropped a third-down pass just before Cairo Santos booted a field goal with 30 seconds left. The Bears probably don't reach the end zone there, but if Allen makes that catch, they could at least wind the clock to zero by the time they kicked it, and Demercado never gets his hands on the ball. The Bears could easily have trailed 10-9 at the half instead of 21-9.

Shaky scheme

First-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron hasn't earned much confidence. One example is after the forced fumble by Reddy Stewart, the Bears picked up a first down at the Arizona 35. The next call was a screen pass to D'Andre Swift, except Caleb Williams got pressure and threw it into the ground. Last week in Washington, Williams was sacked on an attempted screen pass. What does it say about the plan when a team can't even execute a screen pass?

Lack of a run game fits into this category as well. Sometimes it's commitment to the run, because Swift had four runs of at least 9 yards. After Williams' 44-yard pass to Rome Odunze, the Bears had a first down at the Arizona 11. The next two plays were incomplete passes, no one open, no chance at success. That's where they need to be able to run the ball. The Cardinals secondary was the second-best position group on the field Sunday, after their offensive line.

But it's tough when there are no blocking backs on the Bears roster. The Cardinals made great use of their H-backs, whether it was Trey McBride or someone else. The Bears tried to load up for a power run in the first half and their extra blockers were Marcedes Lewis and Allen. Two yards and a yawn.

Delayed decisions

Message to Caleb Williams: The easy throw is often the best option. At some point, maybe it's not a bad idea to let him sit and watch a couple games, since backup Tyson Bagent is king of the quick, decisive throw.

The first drive of Sunday's game provided an interesting variety of Williams results. The Bears actually had a nice play called against Arizona's two-deep zone. Allen was open for a nice gain over the middle, but Williams waited a bit too long and one of the deep safeties was able to make up ground and knock away the pass.

On the very next snap, Williams dodged a free rusher, sprinted to the outside and threw a perfect strike to Odunze for an impressive 17-yard gain. Two of Sunday's 6 sacks were probably avoidable with quicker decisions.

Offensive blocking

The Bears offensive line seems to struggle anytime the defense throws up a stunt. Overall, though, the protection wasn't terrible for the first three quarters.

When Arizona pass rushers started to smell blood in the fourth, it got real ugly. Give some credit to Larry Borom, who held his own after coming off the injured list to start at left tackle. However, his closest neighbor, left guard Teven Jenkins, had really rough time.