Chicago Bears vs. New England Patriots: Full Report Card Grades for Chicago
Following a 51-23 loss on Sunday afternoon to the New England Patriots, the Chicago Bears head into their bye week with a record of 3-5.
The Patriots moved the football down the field seamlessly on their first drive of the football game and never looked back. They went into halftime up 38-7 behind Tom Brady's marvelous first half.
Brady completed 18 of his 21 passes in the first half with four touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 146.5. He finished the game with 354 passing yards, five touchdowns, zero interceptions and a quarterback rating of 148.4.
In total, New England racked up 487 yards of total offense against a struggling Chicago defense. Chicago finished the game with 384 yards of total offense.
"We got outplayed and outcoached in all 3 phases," said head coach Marc Trestman after the game, via Kevin Fishbain of ChicagoFootball.com.
It is not going to get any easier for Chicago moving forward, and quarterback Jay Cutler said after the game that his team soon has to make a decision about its future, per John Mullin of CSNChicago.com.
"We’re going to take some time off, obviously, with the bye week, come in tomorrow and watch some film...And collectively, as a whole, we have to decide how we want to end this year and how we want to do in this second half. Do we want to just pack it in and hover around .500, maybe a little bit below? Or do we want to use the talent in that locker room to try and make a run for this?
"
The Bears will now have two weeks to sit on this loss before heading to Green Bay in Week 10 to take on the Packers on Sunday Night Football.
Following a win Week 8 in London against the Atlanta Falcons, the Detroit Lions sit firmly atop the NFC North standings with the Packers set to take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday Night Football. If the Bears have any hopes of making the playoffs this season, they are going to need to not only start winning football games, but they are going to need to root for some Detroit and Green Bay losses in the coming weeks.
Here are our report card grades for each Bears unit following their Week 8 loss to the New England Patriots.
Quarterback
1 of 10
After throwing for just 66 yards with one touchdown and one interception—and losing a fumble—in the first half, Jay Cutler finished the game with 227 passing yards on 20 completions with three touchdowns, one interception and a quarterback rating of 108.6.
His second half numbers were slightly inflated by New England playing more of a prevent defense, but Sunday's loss does not fall squarely on Cutler's shoulders.
While he did throw an interception near the end of the first half, it was more of a failed Hail Mary attempt than anything else.
His biggest mistake of the game was his fumble near the end of the first half that was picked up and taken in for a touchdown by New England's Rob Ninkovich. Instead of simply taking the sack, Cutler tried his best to make something out of nothing, but New England was able to knock the football out of his hands.
"Cutler's fumble for the #Bears. #patriots https://t.co/0m7wN4ktpr
— Patriots Girl (@_PatsGirl) October 26, 2014"
While he certainly did not play his best game of the season, it is hard to pin this loss solely on Cutler's performance.
Grade: C-
Running Back
2 of 10
The Bears have struggled in many facets of the game throughout the 2014 season, but running back Matt Forte continues to be the team's most consistent player.
He finished the game with 114 yards rushing on 19 carries. He also hauled in six catches for 54 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown catch in the first half.
After finding some success in the running game early on Sunday afternoon, head coach Marc Trestman, for the second week in a row, decided to go away from Forte for a period time. The offense continued to struggle before Trestman decided to put the football back in Forte's hands.
With the team down as much as 31 points at one juncture, Forte appeared to be one of the few players still giving it his all in the second half.
In addition to Forte's solid game, rookie Ka'Deem Carey played well in a limited role. Carey ran the football six times for 33 yards, including a long of 13 yards in the fourth quarter.
Regardless of who the opponent is, Forte has proven through eight games this season that he is one of the best all-around running backs in the game.
Grade: A
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
A week after calling out his teammates and calling Chicago's loss to the Miami Dolphins "unacceptable," Brandon Marshall's play on Sunday afternoon against New England was unacceptable at times.
Marshall finished the game with just three catches for 35 yards on 10 targets and took a shot at the media after the game on his way to the locker room, via Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times:
"#Bears WR Brandon Marshall tells waiting media to put ears closer to the doors to hear.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) October 26, 2014"
Marshall's intensity level appeared to drop in the second half, often giving up on routes instead of pushing to try and make a play. His struggles Sunday could be attributed to going up against New England's Darrelle Revis, who finished the game with one interception. The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe tweeted:
"Revis pitched his first shutout of the season. Cutler was 0 of 5 with an INT when targeting Revis.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) October 26, 2014"
Alshon Jeffery finished the day with five catches for 59 yards, including a touchdown late in the game.
While Marshall and Jeffery struggled against New England's pass defense, tight end Martellus Bennett had himself a solid afternoon.
Bennett finished the game with six catches for 95 yards, including a spectacular touchdown grab near the end of the third quarter.
"Not that it made an impact on the game or anything but nice grab by #Bears TE Martellus Bennett for a TD.. https://t.co/6hislFR1vA
— Christian Shanafelt (@ChrisShanafelt) October 26, 2014"
The Patriots entered the game with one of the league's best defenses against the pass, and they did not disappoint. Chicago's wide receivers struggled all afternoon to create space and were unable to come away with any big plays. Bennett's overall performance is the only reason the unit graded out as highly as it did.
Grade: C-
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
On Sunday afternoon against New England, Chicago's Michael Ola started at his third position along the offensive line this season when forced to replace the injured Jordan Mills at right tackle. He previously made starts at left guard and left tackle before Sunday's game.
Even though Ola has played significant time along the offensive line this season, he struggled at times Sunday afternoon.
In addition to Ola's struggles, the line struggled throughout much of the first half to keep Jay Cutler clean in the pocket.
The unit received another blow with left guard Matt Slauson going down with a pectoral injury late in the game, via Jeff Dickerson of ESPNChicago.com.
The offensive line did a nice job of opening up holes for Matt Forte and Ka'Deem Carey in the running game, but they struggled to keep pressure off of Cutler, which resulted in him being sacked three times on Sunday afternoon.
It was not its worst performance of the year, but Chicago's offensive line did very little to help out Cutler and the passing game all afternoon.
Grade: D
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Following Chicago's disappointing loss to the Carolina Panthers earlier in the season, defensive end Lamarr Houston told Chicago's fair-weather fans to "eat dirt." After a disappointing start to his first season in Chicago, Houston finally registered his first sack of the season late in the fourth quarter, but he injured himself celebrating the sack with his team down 25 points.
"This day summed up in one vine https://t.co/EWRr0UoyXa
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) October 26, 2014"
“I probably shouldn’t have celebrated while they were blowing us out, but it happens," Houston said after the game, via Adam Hoge of TheGameChicago.com.
In addition to Houston's embarrassing gaffe near the end of the game, Chicago's defensive line struggled all afternoon to get any pressure on quarterback Tom Brady.
Defensive tackles Jeremiah Ratliff and Stephen Paea showed some flashes off the line of scrimmage Sunday afternoon, but for the most part, the defensive line failed to make an impact.
In addition to Brady playing with a clean pocket throughout much of the game, the team gave up 122 yards on the ground on 32 carries.
Defensive ends Willie Young and Jared Allen were virtually nonexistent in terms of rushing the passer, and they finished with a combined eight tackles. Ratliff finished with seven tackles, while Houston finished with four and rookie Ego Ferguson finished with three.
If Chicago wants to be successful on defense this season, it needs more production from the defensive line. Despite some impressive stops near the goal line in the first half, Chicago's defensive line was once again a disappointment Sunday afternoon.
Grade: D
Linebacker
6 of 10
With linebackers Jon Bostic and Lance Briggs once again out the lineup due to injury, the Chicago Bears were forced to start undrafted rookie Christian Jones at weak-side linebacker against the Patriots.
Jones played a solid game, finishing with 10 tackles and one pass defensed, but he did struggle at times against the run, via John Mullin of CSNChicago.com
"#Bears LB Christian Jones very slow to fill vs sweep on #Bears left side - totally weak at point of attack
— John Mullin (@CSNMoonMullin) October 26, 2014"
Expected to resume his role at linebacker in the team's nickel package, veteran Darryl Sharpton was lost for the afternoon following a hamstring injury in the first half. With Sharpton out of the game, D.J. Williams stayed on the field when the team went to nickel.
Williams finished the game with 10 tackles.
Third-year man Shea McClellin struggled at strong-side linebacker for the second week in a row on Sunday afternoon. He finished the game with seven tackles, including one tackle for loss, but he struggled in pass coverage, particularly against tight end Rob Gronkowski. Jones and Williams both showed flashes at times, but McClellin looked lost for much of the afternoon.
Because of its inability to slow down New England's tight ends in the passing game, the linebacker unit received another poor grade for its performance against the Patriots in Week 8.
Grade: D
Secondary
7 of 10
Faced with the difficult challenge of trying to defend Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, Chicago safety Ryan Mundy struggled mightily on Sunday afternoon.
When trying to tackle Gronkowski in the open field, Mundy opted to go high and was stiff-armed by the former Pro Bowl tight end en route to his third touchdown of the game.
"Thanks for playing, Ryan Mundy http://t.co/qErQFGbuQC
— Ape-O'-Lantern (@xmasape) October 26, 2014"
"Gronkowski is a beast today. Beat the man-coverage & tossed Mundy out of the way. Too easy.
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) October 26, 2014"
Mundy did finish the game with nine tackles, but his struggles to take down Gronkowski in the third quarter may be the defining moment of his game on Sunday.
After missing last week's game against the Miami Dolphins, free safety Chris Conte was back as a starter against the Patriots before an injury once again forced him out of the lineup. He finished the game with eight tackles, including five solo stops.
Conte was replaced by rookie Brock Vereen. He finished with three tackles in limited snaps.
In addition to Conte bowing out with an injury, rookie Kyle Fuller did not finish the game due to a nagging hip injury, via Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times:
"#Bears rookie CB Kyle Fuller said he felt uncomfortable with his hip pointer. His broken hand didn't deter him at all.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) October 26, 2014"
Fuller was subsequently replaced by undrafted rookie Al Louis-Jean, who finished the game with five tackles. Once Fuller left the game, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady started to attack Louis-Jean's side of the field, evident by these tweets from 670TheScore.com's Dan Durkin and ChicagoFootball.com's Kevin Fishbain:
"Patriots are merciless. Looking exclusively at Louis-Jean's side of the field. #Bears
— dan durkin (@djdurkin) October 26, 2014"
"Almost (if not every) Brady throw to a WR has gone to LaFell, or whoever Al Louis-Jean has been covering since Kyle Fuller went out.
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) October 26, 2014"
Fuller's injury, combined with the poor play of Mundy against Gronkowski, led to Chicago's secondary receiving the worst grade of the game for any of Chicago's positional units.
Grade: F
Special Teams
8 of 10
For the second week in a row, Chicago's special teams unit was essentially a non-factor.
Pat O'Donnell punted the ball four times for 189 yards with a long of 61 yards. The coverage unit limited Danny Amendola to 15 yards on two punt returns, but they surrendered 42 yards on one return to Julian Edelman.
In Chicago's own return game, Chris Williams returned five kicks for 94 yards with a long of 28 yards, while Santonio Holmes returned just one punt for 10 yards.
Kicker Robbie Gould attempted no field goals and only one extra point on the afternoon.
While the special teams unit did very little to alter the outcome of the game on Sunday, it did play a respectable four quarters of football.
Grade: C+
Coaching
9 of 10
More often than not this season, Chicago head coach Marc Trestman has been outcoached by his counterpart on the opposite sideline.
That was no different Sunday against Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
Chicago's offense once again sputtered out of the gate, failing to put up points on its first three drives of the game.
"We lost today. We got beat by a really good football team," Trestman said after the game, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
While the Patriots are certainly a "really good football team," Chicago should have been able to put up a better showing than it did. The offense has struggled all season long out of the gate, and that falls squarely on Trestman's play-calling.
In the midst of Trestman's offense struggling to find a rhythm or consistency, Mel Tucker's defense played one if its worst games of the season.
Tucker had no answers for Tom Brady and the Patriots offense, particularly tight end Rob Gronkowski. As fellow Bleacher Report writer Bear Heiser tweeted:
"Maybe Mel Tucker doesn't want his job? Don't know how else to explain. Players not making plays, coaches not putting them in pos to make 'em
— Bear Heiser (@BearHeiser) October 26, 2014"
Trestman's poor play-calling, combined with Tucker's awful adjustments, or lack thereof, were two of the biggest reasons why Chicago lost to the Patriots.
Grade: F
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | C- |
| RB | A |
| WR/TE | C- |
| OL | D |
| DL | D |
| LB | D |
| Secondary | F |
| Special Teams | C |
| Coaching | F |
| Cumulative Grade | D+ |
After their loss to New England on Sunday afternoon, the Bears now sit with a 3-5 record and appear unlikely to push for a playoff spot this season.
Despite possessing an arsenal of weapons on offense like Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett, the Bears have had far too many lapses on that side of the ball this season for a team with playoff aspirations.
The Bears will now head into their bye week with a matchup with a Week 10 matchup against the Green Bay Packers looming. Defensive end Willie Young knows the team is going to need to stick together moving forward.
“We’ve got to keep it together, keep it together, keep it together,” said Young after the game, via John Mullin of CSNChicago.com. “Don’t make it more complicated than it is.”
Simply put, the Bears are going to have two weeks to prepare for arguably their biggest game of 2014 against the Packers. Their season is already on life support, but a loss in Green Bay will likely ruin any chance they have at righting the ship.
Record/statistical information provided via email from the Chicago Bears or ESPN.com.
Matt Eurich is an NFL/Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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