Rozner: This was one ugly, chaotic Bears loss

There are times when you watch a game and you really feel like it's a shame that anyone had to lose.

This was the rare case when it was a shame that anyone had to win.

It was that poorly played.

New Orleans defeated the Bears 26-23 in overtime Sunday at Soldier Field, overcoming an absurd number of mistakes on the field and those made by head coach Sean Payton, while missing their entire receiving corps.

Somehow, the Bears were worse.

Panicking at 5-3 might be a bit of an overreaction, but it all seems to be getting away from Matt Nagy right now.

The Director of Postgame Dancing has not had a chance to show off his moves the last two weeks, and if you thought the Bears were the worst 5-2 team ever, now you've seen the 5-2 Saints with an ancient quarterback who looked better suited to ordering hot soup at a deli on a cold fall day.

Neither of these teams, at least how currently playing, could compete with the best of the NFC, and had they tied Sunday it would have been an appropriate conclusion.

Where do you even start with this one?

The Bears are the most penalized team in the league, and the penalty of the year as we stand goes to receiver Javon Wims, who got tossed for throwing haymakers at an opponent and shouldn't be on the team by the time the squad meets later this week.

All of this mess lands directly on Nagy's desk.

"We've talked to him and told him that it's not how things go here," Nagy said postgame. "One of Javon's strengths is his character and who he is as a person. He has since apologized, but there's no part of that in this game. That's not how we roll here. We'll be talking to him."

OK, so a stern lecture is forthcoming. Never mind that it took the Bears from second-and-5 and put a struggling offense in second-and-20, but it's part of a bigger discipline issue.

When asked about it, Nagy took the opportunity to throw Nick Foles under the bus, an interesting moment considering the lengths to which he went to avoid ever criticizing Mitch Trubisky.

"There are issues there and that's what bothers me. Reading it from a wrist band and I'm struggling with that right now. That has to change," Nagy said, referring to delay-of-game penalties. "When you have somebody throwing punches, when you have things that are going on right now with the offense, it takes away everything you work hard to get to."

Well, who's responsible for penalties and miscommunication with the QB if it's not the play-calling head coach?

There was the awful clock management, the late play calls, players not knowing where to line up, and Nagy's strange timeout near the end of the first half that left the Saints with enough time to score a late touchdown and cut the deficit to 13-10.

The Bears at times committed to the run and you could see the effect it had on the New Orleans defense, the play-action freezing the rush and opening up opportunities for Foles to throw it downfield.

But then in overtime, after David Montgomery opened the drive with a 4-yard run, he went to the sideline and the play-action to Cordarrelle Patterson fooled no one as Foles took a 9-yard sack.

There really is no understanding what goes through the mind of the Bears' genius with the fancy sheet of calls.

Foles made a couple terrible throws, but he also led the Bears back from 10 down in the final 4 minutes of the game and got his team to overtime, and made a pair of brilliant throws in the first half that Trubisky never would have made.

But this isn't about Trubisky anymore.

If you're still pining for him, ask yourself what you expect to see now that you didn't see in his 44 NFL starts. Foles is an average quarterback, but Nagy needs a professional who knows the offense and can read a defense.

That's why Nagy made the change. He didn't think he was getting Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes. He's hoping to get the Foles who was able to succeed in Philadelphia.

It's probably worth remembering, however, that when Foles had his best seasons in Philadelphia, he had a great offensive line, a great scheme and a superb run game.

The Bears have had no run game to slow down the pass rush, Nagy as a playcaller, and a bad offensive line that has suffered enough injuries that it's a serious concern for the rest of the year.

Foles is Foles. He's the lesser of two evils and he's what GM Ryan Pace has given his head coach.

Amid what appeared to be total chaos Sunday, Nagy was quick to remind everyone that the Bears are 5-3, but the false starts, the weird calls, the penalties and all the rest of it leaves you scratching your head.

Or firing remotes at the flat screen.

Nagy's answer is always the same, that it's weird and he can't understand it, but he's fired up to get after it and figure it out.

Any time now would be fine.