Bears’ offense proves utterly inept
The Packers’ defense seems to bring out the worst in the Bears’ offense.
In two games vs. Green Bay this season the Bears have 358 yards of total offense — combined.
The NFL average is 350 yards — for one game.
And it’s not as if the Bears’ offense has done well against the rest of the league, at least not during the current six-game slump that includes 5 losses.
Even before the latest breakdown against Green Bay, the offense was 27th or worse in six major categories.
The ineptness in Sunday’s 21-13 loss almost seemed too much for record-setting wide receiver Brandon Marshall to handle.
“Everybody involved in the offense should be held accountable, even if that means jobs,” an emotional Marshall said after catching 6 passes for 56 yards.
“It’s been this way all year. There are no excuses. We still have two games left. There’s still hope but, at the same time, we need to be held accountable.”
The loss dropped the Bears to 8-6 and left them needing to win their final two games — against the Cardinals and Lions on the road — and get help from other teams to make the postseason.
Marshall, who entered the game No. 1 in the NFL with 101 catches and No. 2 with 1,342 receiving yards, has been the only consistently productive player on a wheezing offense.
As a team, the Bears were 28th in total yards and 27th in passing yards after 13 games.
Those numbers will only get worse after Sunday.
The Packers limited the Bears to 190 total yards; 107 through the air.
“It’s the same thing every single game,” Marshall said.
“I love this game. I’m very passionate about this game, and right now it’s affecting me more than it should.”
While the losing streak is getting to Marshall mentally, it’s taking its toll physically on quarterback Jay Cutler.
He threw for just 135 yards while completing 12 of 21 passes and was sacked four times for minus-28 yards. His late-second-quarter interception set up the Packers go-ahead touchdown.
Cutler came in with a neck injury and a sprained knee, and afterward he didn’t look any better.
“I’m not 100 percent, I know that,” he said. “No one is. We’re just going to have to take it day by day, but I will be there on Sunday.”
What the offense needs is for someone else — besides Marshall — to show up.
Against the Packers, running back Matt Forte occasionally flashed something positive, totaling a season-high 64 receiving yards on 5 catches.
But he managed just 69 yards on 20 rushing attempts.
Forte was stonewalled on back-to-back runs from the Packers’ 1-yard line late in the third quarter, when he did not appear to run with authority. The Bears settled for a field goal.
“On the goal line, it’s basically the offensive line has to get movement, and then I look for a hole and try to hit it,” Forte said. “Everybody’s not going to be blocked. There are going to be unblocked players, so my deal is I have to slam it up in there, so that’s what I was doing. You have to give them credit for playing tough defense on the goal line.”
Or you could criticize Forte and the Bears’ offense for playing soft on the goal line.