Bears' defense continues to get little help from offense

To conclude his nearly 17-minute news conference Monday, one day after the Bears dropped their fourth consecutive game, head coach Matt Nagy reminded reporters, "I'm all about positivity, and that's the way we attack it."

Here's a positive of sorts from Sunday's performance regarding the Bears' once-vaunted, still good, but-so-so-tired defense: The 11-plus minutes it spent on the field during the fourth quarter - including essentially the final 8:14 of consequence - actually was an improvement over the first quarter, when it played 12 minutes and 11 seconds, for those counting at home the way they are inside Halas Hall.

So while the little focus not sharply directed toward Nagy's offense is on the Bears failing to get off the field defensively for the majority of the fourth quarter of a somehow 5-point game, perhaps it should be redirected to the first quarter, when it was still fresh and playing with Eddie Goldman yet couldn't stay onsides, stop the Eagles' other back or Zach Ertz.

Or should more of the attention be paid to the 84-yard touchdown drive the defense surrendered immediately out of the tunnel? The one punctuated by former Bear Jordan Howard scoring from 13 out, not through a "monstrous hole," as we wrote in the moment, but something closer to the parting by Philly's interior offensive line of the great Bears' 'D.'

The one where a D-line now missing both Akiem Hicks and Goldman was overpowered and the linebackers and defensive backs couldn't stop Howard, or Ertz, so Eddie Jackson hit him late out of bounds.

To be clear, Nagy mentioned a "couple" of third-down conversions on that final drive he knows his unit would like to have back. Technically, there were four, including two third-and-longs converted over the middle of the 'D' by mismatch weapons they're supposed to be equipped to counter.

But that was when the defense was undoubtedly gassed, too.

Getting off the field, a novel concept Sunday, was difficult but also directly connected to the Bears' offense failing to stay on it.

"When you're on the field that long, yeah, you can (feel a burnout factor from the 'D')," Nagy said. "They can help themselves out on certain third downs, getting off the field. That was a little bit of a struggle. But I'd be crazy to put blame on them for some of that because they've been out there awhile."

Indeed, takeaways - or lack thereof - attract attention, but the Bears' third-down defense also has fallen off, albeit not nearly as steep, from top 5 to top 10 this season. It's also spending an average of three-plus more minutes on the field overall thanks in part to an offense that has sunk from sixth to 26th in the league in time of possession.

"Just communicating with them," Nagy said of how he's guarding his defense against resignation despite its growing burden. "And offensively, the physical side of it, you've got to go out and get points on the board. That'll help them with the burnout factor. You put points on the board offensively.

"Defensively, I have all the belief in those guys and how they're going to handle themselves, even after a four-game losing streak," Nagy continued. "I think what happens is that you see their character jump up even more and you realize that they lead themselves defensively. Just all in all, the whole unit, they feed off of that, so I have confidence they won't get burnout."

Nagy won't make excuses, but he remains mostly complimentary of his defense. It's his Bears' consistent inability to play complementary football that led to a midseason crisis when fans finally were expecting catharsis.