Film study: Are Bears able to change bad plays? There were plenty vs. Vikings

The all-22 game film from Sunday's loss to Minnesota wasn't any less discouraging than the live action.

While the Bears defense is making minor improvements, the offense continues to display head-scratching strategy from start to finish. Presnap recognition seems nonexistent at times, which doesn't bode well for turning things around.

The Bears' first offensive snap of the game was one of the worst examples, a sack by Minnesota's D.J. Wonnum. The Bears were in empty backfield and the Vikings had six players at the line of scrimmage. All six rushed, at least initially, the Bears could only block five and it was an easy sack two seconds into the contest.

Technically, Vikings middle linebacker Jordan Hicks rushed forward, contacted the center and dropped back in coverage. So they rushed five but thoroughly confused the Bears.

The thing was, the Vikings did nothing to disguise their intentions. Wonnum was lined up like a defensive end, hand on the ground, ready to run. And not only did no one attempt to block him, Justin Fields never even checked to see if he was being chased. Fields looked to his right the whole time and could have fired a quick throw - it needed to be really quick - but never saw Wonnum coming from the blind side.

Two runs by Fields managed to get a first down after the sack put them in second-and-17. So that was positive, but the Bears' next first-down play lost 5 yards.

This one was a pitch to Darrynton Evans. The Vikings seemed to suspect what was coming because safety Josh Metellus walked up to the line of scrimmage directly in front of Evans, with no Bear in position to block him.

This was absolutely the wrong play to run and it should have been obvious once the Bears lined up. But they ran it anyway and Metellus buried Evans as soon as he caught the ball. Coaches love to say a quarterback's most important job is getting out of a bad play. None of that is going on here.

Fields was sacked on the next play as Teven Jenkins didn't adjust to a Vikings stunt and Evans went out for a pass instead of helping block. Time to punt.

There was another tough-to-watch first-down play on the Bears' second drive. While the Vikings blitzed, fullback Khari Blasingame hit Metellus on the edge, then released for a pass. But the process was so slow, Fields got blasted by Metellus as he threw the ball, all for a 1-yard gain. Those QB hits add up, as the Bears found out later.

Beginning of the end:

One sad part about Fields' thumb injury is the Vikings regularly sent six players on the rush. But on the play where Fields got hurt they only sent three. With Minnesota dropping eight in coverage, Fields wasn't sure where to go. He had Darnell Mooney deep over the middle between the two safeties. It was third-and-7, so that was a decent option. D.J. Moore was available with a good throw.

But as Fields hesitated, Darnell Wright and Ja'Tyre Carter couldn't hold off Vikings outside linebacker Danielle Hunter and a hard hit led to a dislocated thumb. Two plays earlier, the Bears kept seven players in to block, with just two receivers in the pattern, but D'Onta Foreman couldn't block blitzing safety Brian Asamoah and Fields had to run. He was caught and tackled hard by Hunter just before reaching the sideline.

He's a great runner, but the less Fields gets hit, the better. And add Hunter to the list of tall, athletic, versatile linebackers that are dominating NFL defenses. The Bears need one of those badly.

Best play:

For the offense, it was the 17-yard run by Velus Jones when he took a pitch from the tailback spot. Going back to last year, this is what the Bears do best, run behind the fullback or multiple tight ends, while moving their linemen.

Mooney locked up Metellus, Blasingame pancaked cornerback Akayleb Evans, Wright got downfield and put a decent block on safety Camryn Bynum. A great block would have sprung Jones for a TD.

After this the Bears stuck with power runs and gained 29 yards on the next three plays. Then with second-and-goal at the 4-yard line, they ran two of the worst red-zone plays imaginable, with Fields having no chance against two straight Vikings blitzes. Maybe the Bears should have stuck with what they do best a little longer.

Quick hitters:

Linebacker Jack Sanborn is really good. He was on the field for just 33% of the defensive snaps, plus special teams, and finished tied for the team lead with 8 tackles. ... Another bummer from Sunday was on Minnesota's fumble return for a TD, Metellus beat Larry Borom one-on-one to force the fumble, safety vs. left tackle. ...

Backup QB Tyson Bagent didn't always execute throws, but his best trait in this game was being decisive and recognizing when those six-man rushes meant he had to throw the ball immediately.

Twitter: @McGrawDHSports