3 Takeaways from Bears' Week 9 Loss
The Chicago Bears left Week 9 with a feeling that is starting to become familiar in the 2020 season.
The Bears lost their third straight game on Sunday to the Tennessee Titans, and offensive inefficiency was one of the major reasons why they fell short of a sixth victory.
Matt Nagy's team was shut out for three quarters, and it failed to earn a 100-yard rushing game for the sixth consecutive week.
If Chicago fails to find fixes for its current offensive situation, it could drop further out of the NFC playoff picture.
The Bears will enter Week 10 a half-game out of the final wild-card position and only one game ahead of the San Francisco 49ers, who could become the latest team to vault them in the standings.
Offense Was Ineffective for 3 Quarters
Chicago's first scoring play on Sunday occurred with 12 minutes and 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Before Cairo Santos' 22-yard field goal, the Bears did not do much to advance the ball through their Nick Foles-led offense.
In the first half, the Bears punted on five occasions, had one turnover on downs and another drive ended because time expired.
In the third quarter, the Chicago drives ended with a punt and a Tennessee fumble return for a touchdown.
The scoring drive that produced Santos' field goal lasted 15 plays, but it should not take an NFL team that long to produce a sustainable drive that turns into points.
The combination of Foles' inefficiency, no running game and Tennessee's defense coming up with a few plays was the perfect formula for the Bears to drag their poor offensive form into Week 9.
During their three-game losing streak, the Bears are averaging 16.6 points per game, which is not good enough for a team looking to qualify for the postseason.
Running Game Is Still Non-Existent
Chicago's last 100-yard ground game occurred in Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons.
In the first three weeks, the Bears averaged 138 rushing yards. Since then, they averaged 54.5 rushing yards per game.
David Montgomery managed 30 rushing yards on 14 carries on Sunday, which was his third total under 35 yards this season.
The Bears have tried to find a spark by giving Cordarrelle Patterson the ball, but most of the running plays involving him have been easy for defenses to stop.
Offensive line issues can be blamed for the halt in production, but at some point, Nagy and his staff have to call better plays and get Montgomery involved in creative ways.
That simply has not happened with Foles at quarterback, and the Bears have turned into a below-average one-dimensional offense with the former Super Bowl winner under center.
For the Bears to mount any type of challenge for a postseason spot, they must become better in the ground game to provide Foles with some type of offensive support.
Turnover Problem Needs to Be Fixed
Even though they struggled mightily to move the ball in the first three quarters, the Bears were still only down 10 points in the middle of the third.
Then Desmond King returned a fumble 63 yards for a touchdown and created an insurmountable lead for the Bears in their current offensive state.
The Montgomery fumble and Anthony Miller's giveaway in the fourth quarter extended a concerning trend for the Chicago offense.
In all but one game this season, the Bears have turned the ball over. Sunday marked the fourth time in which they produced two giveaways.
Sunday's fumbles occurred in crucial moments of the game in which the Bears may have had a shot to be competitive in the second half.
Instead, the Titans earned a touchdown off one fumble and took two minutes off the clock late in the fourth quarter after the other giveaway.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90
Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference