Imrem: Chicago Bears winning games in most unbalanced ways

Apparently someone forgot to send out the memo.

No text. No tweet. No email. No phone call. No nothing.

While we were fixated on the Cubs in the baseball playoffs, the Chicago Bears began resembling an NFL team.

The Bears should have sent out a news release announcing that their record was on the way to being 3-4 when forecasts had them starting 1-6 at best.

Somebody should have mentioned out loud that the Bears are in, or at least on the outskirts of, the wild-card playoff race and even the NFC North race.

Somebody should have hinted that the Bears were capable of recording 2 straight victories for the first time since 2015.

So, seriously, fire the person in the Bears' front office who was supposed to get the news out.

Give the job to marketer/linebacker Leonard Floyd: "We're trying to change the culture. We're trying to wake the city up, bring the city back to loving the Chicago Bears."

Maybe that will start to happen after Sunday's 17-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

The Bears are too odd to more than resemble an NFL team right now: They have fallen into the habit of trying to win games with one unit tied behind their backs.

Last week the Bears' special teams allowed 2 touchdowns on kick returns; this week the offense made only 5 first downs and completed only four of only seven pass attempts.

That's too much "only," even for a team with a rookie quarterback feeling his way around.

"Very strange," is how Mitch Trubisky characterized the way the game unfolded. "We have to be better on offense."

What Trubisky doesn't seem to grasp yet is that Bears head coach John Fox probably was upset his team had to throw that many passes.

Bears teams - good ones and bad ones - traditionally have won or lost with an intimidating defense and productive running backs. The passing game was something featured, well, only in passing.

This Bears team fits the mold with a promising running game and a defense that in time could live up to the franchise's tradition.

Right now we're talking about defenders such as Floyd (25), Kyle Fuller (25), Eddie Goldman (23), Akiem Hicks (27), Danny Trevathan (27), Adrian Amos (24) and …

Eddie Jackson (23)!

Sunday, the rookie safety returned a fumble 75 yards for a touchdown and an interception 76 yards for another.

That's 151 yards on a day the Bears' offense gained 153.

So, the Bears have an emerging defense and two good running backs in Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen.

It's that passing-game issue that gets a little sticky. Every team needs one to be true Super Bowl contenders.

The Bears are certain that Trubisky, a No. 2 overall draft pick with a high ceiling, will provide that final dimension.

"I played really poor," Trubisky said Sunday, not adding that he doesn't have quality wide receivers to target.

Trubisky's grade was more like incomplete. The offense ran a mere 37 plays to Carolina's 69 and those seven pass attempts hardly warmed up his arm.

The Bears' hope has to be that when Mitch Trubisky is ready to be Pitch Trubisky, the defense and running game will be fully grown.

When that happens - if that happens - the Bears will more than resemble an NFL team.

They'll be good enough to wake up the city.

mimrem@dailyherald.com