Rozner: Bears put up no fight in Minnesota

The feel-good story that was the Bears at 4-5 a month ago doesn't feel all that good anymore.

The Bears (5-9) have dropped four of their last five with a less-than-inspired, 38-17 loss in Minnesota Sunday afternoon and can once again point to an awful offensive line as the primary reason.

That coincides with the five games since Hroniss Grasu returned to the lineup at center, replacing a very effective Matt Slauson, who shifted back to guard and the Bears' offense hasn't been the same since.

Not that the defense has played well during this stretch, but the Bears' slow starts on offense with consistent sacks and three-and-outs has put the Bears' undermanned defenders in a difficult spot.

"Doesn't matter who we played today," said QB Jay Cutler. "We weren't gonna win playing that kind of offensive football."

A mistake-filled first half began with a terrific 49-yard kick return from Deonte Thompson to midfield and a first-down carry by Matt Forte for 35 yards to the Vikings' 15, but a Grasu hold put the Bears in a hole.

A sack left them in third-and-25 and a punt pinned the Vikes inside the 10, but Minnesota responded with a 13-play, 93-yard touchdown march, yet another long opposition opening drive.

The next two possessions also ended with sacks and punts, and with 11:40 left in the first half, Cutler had to tie a shoe for left tackle Charles Leno, the perfect metaphor for the Bears' 2015 offensive line.

"Same stuff that has hurt us since the start of the year," Cutler said. "Holding call on the big run, I threw an interception, strip-sack and protection was a little shaky today. It's not all on the offensive line. It's a group effort."

Two Bears offside penalties wiped out good defensive stops, kept drives alive and led to touchdowns both times as Minnesota went up 17-7 at the half.

John Fox eschewed his conservative nature and opened the second half with an onside kick that the Bears recovered with great field position again, but Kyle Long was beat for a sack-strip for the second time in as many weeks and Minnesota recovered the fumble.

The Vikes quickly walked down the field and scored again for a 24-7 lead and the game was over early in the third quarter.

Cutler had a pick, a fumble and 5 sacks, Alshon Jeffery left with injury yet again, the Bears committed 6 penalties and their effort was perhaps their weakest since Week 2 or 3 of the season.

The Bears had three chances to get to .500 this season and lost all three, and since winning in Green Bay on Thanksgiving, the Bears have lost three straight and gotten worse each week.

Not exactly how you want to close out a season and impress a coaching staff.

"We're all professionals. I'm sure we'll get this out of our system and get ready for Tampa Bay," Fox said. "It is what it is. We're officially eliminated from the playoffs.

"We're not gonna have a winning season. We're gonna have a losing season. No different than the math was a month ago. Math is still the same."

Fox should probably stay away from math.

"We've lost three in a row," Fox said. "We haven't done that all season."

Well, yeah, unless you include starting the season 0-3.

"Our record is what it is," Fox said. "We have a chance to win two games or not win two games."

On that score, he's correct.

"We'll keep marching forward," Fox insisted, "and find guys who can be part of the core moving forward."

So after 14 games, just what is the Bears' identity?

"We're gonna find out," Cutler said. "Two games left and find out who has some character.

"I know the locker room's down. You will find out what we have in the locker room, who wants to fight and who wants to finish this up right the last two games."

As Fox said, the Bears were officially eliminated from the playoff race Sunday, not that they've really had a chance since losing to Denver at home and falling to 4-6 a month ago.

Still, after losing their first three they've managed to make a rebuilding year interesting while switching players in and out of the lineup in a desperate attempt to find replacements and look ahead to 2016.

But with two games remaining, it's all about playing out the string now - and the feel-good has disappeared.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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